MiniPay: Charging per click on the Web

Many promising Web applications could benefit from a payment mechanism for small amounts (micro-payments). Payment by credit cards, which is the common method for on-line consumer purchasing, involve substantial per-transaction fee and delay, and are therefore inappropriate for micro-payments. We present MiniPay, a simple system for supporting micro-payments. MiniPay features low cost, negligible delay, natural user interface, scalable design, support for multiple currencies, and high security - including non-repudiation, overspending prevention, and protection against denial of service. MiniPay is currently being piloted with several potential providers. © 1997 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.