i like it rolm

Just thought I'd post it again. http://www.atwonline.com/magazine/article....?articleID=1427

In China, the biggest nut that Continental needs to crack, "BilltoBill seems like an industry leader," Stachowiak says. "We are definitely looking into those guys" to reach the nation's 81 million Internet users. BilltoBill, owned by Melbourne, Australia-based Oriel Communications Ltd., enables websites to sell into China using a variety of "electronically integrated" online and offline payment services.

While credit card growth is slow in China, debit cards have taken off in a big way, soaring from about 14 million in 1995 to about 500 million in 2000, according to People's Bank. Each bank issues its own debit card and BilltoBill provides a "gateway" to all of them. It also accepts credit cards issued by local Chinese banks. Other options include bank transfer, cash payment at bank branches and courier payments.

In Europe, where credit cards are widely accepted but usage is nowhere near the levels of the English-speaking world, alternatives range from the sophisticated to the mundane. Germany offers a direct-debit option called ELV that is accepted by several low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet. Bibit Global Payment Services, a Dutch company that was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2004, offers a menu of alternatives to online customers ranging from conventional credit and debit cards to on- and offline methods that are tailored to specific countries: Direct debit, open invoicing, ELV, carte bancaire, cash-on-delivery, etc. (Bibit's resemblance to BilltoBill is no accident; BilltoBill CEO Martijn Hovinga was Bibit's VP-business development).

Bibit is targeting low-cost, low-fare carriers that attract the European customers least likely to carry credit cardsyoung "holiday-makers" rather than business travelersbut that want their customers to use the lowest-cost booking channel. Among its clients is Hapag-Lloyd Express, and Expedia is using Bibit for international sales.