Online transaction solutions company Ecount said it soon will launch its PrivateBuy service, calling it “the
industry’s first product that allows consumers to shop anywhere online
anonymously.”
The company said that PrivateBuy “combines the convenience of shopping online
with the privacy and security of not having to disclose personal information
such as name, billing address and credit card number.”
Ecount said the product is expected to be available to the public in
mid-summer.
It will allow consumers with concerns about Internet privacy or identity
theft to make
anonymous donations, send anonymous gifts and make discreet purchases.
PrivateBuy is a stored value account that enables consumers to shop
anonymously anywhere online, the company said. But unlike competing anonymity
solutions, PrivateBuy does not require the user to convert money into new
types of currencies and will be universally accepted by merchants because it
runs over their existing processing infrastructure.
Users fund their account on the secure PrivateBuy site and are given unique
PrivateBuy account information that can be used just like a credit card. To
provide anonymity, the PrivateBuy account information is used in place of the
shopper’s name, credit card number and billing address. Any e-tailer that
accepts credit cards can seamlessly and readily process PrivateBuy
transactions, the company said.
PrivateBuy allows users to shop online with the same anonymity as if they
were paying with cash at any brick and mortar store, the company said.
“Consumers want a way to shop online without disclosing their personal
information and merchants want to attract these consumers without having to
implement a proprietary processing infrastructure,” said Matt Gillin,
president and chief executive officer of Ecount.
“Until
now, consumers have only been able to anonymously browse online, but when
it came time to make a purchase, they were forced to reveal too much of their
personal information. With PrivateBuy, we’re giving consumers the other half
of the equation — anonymity — and continuing to offer them unparalleled
flexibility in how and when they use their money.”
PrivateBuy provides a password-protected purchase history available only via
the
secure PrivateBuy.com site; account holders will never receive a mailed
statement, the company said.
Founded in 1997 as C/Base, Ecount’s products include ecount.com, personal Web
accounts for sending, spending and receiving money online, and
Webcertificate.com.
