Credit Cards Online Information

Shopping sites for kids can't take the place of an allowance.

It says in the news release that 37% of kids ages 5 to 12 and 67% of those 13 to 18 have researched or bought products online. By 2002, kids will account for $1.3 billion in e-commerce. The only thing that stands between them and an even bigger spending spree is the small matter of a credit card--kids don't have cards of their own, so they have to borrow their parents' when they buy over the Internet.

It was only a matter of time before someone came up with a way around that minor inconvenience. Over the past few months, a number of new sites--including DoughNet , ICanBuy and RocketCash --have popped up on the Web to let kids shop without using a credit card. Details vary from site to site, but in general parents use their cards to set up an account or a line of credit for their children. Then the kids use the stash to make purchases from retailers with tie-ins to the site.

To make the whole package more palatable to parents, a couple of sites--ICanBuy and DoughNet--also let kids open a bank savings account and contribute to causes such as the Rainforest Alliance and Special Olympics. Parents set the amount in a child's account, and can monitor and control purchases. Credit card information is confidential, and parents don't have to whip out the card every time their kids want to buy something online. "Our mission is to enable teens, kids and parents to manage money wisely," says Paul Herman of ICanBuy.

Well, I certainly like the idea of kids being able to open a bank account online. And I'm not opposed to spending money per se. Kids do it every day at shopping malls, movie theaters and fast-food restaurants, so why not on the Internet? What bothers me about these sites is that no real money is involved. As a teaching tool for kids, I prefer something more hands-on than clicking a mouse, especially when so many transactions nowadays are paid for with paper, plastic or electronic blips.

HARD CASH. If you want kids to learn how to manage money, it helps if they can see it and feel it. A transaction is more real if they hand over hard currency to a sales clerk--or even to a parent in repayment for something the parent has ordered for them online--instead of drawing down a virtual account that Mom and Dad funded.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:38 AM