8 ms·

Paypal used to have this feature that allowed you to install a browser add-on and you could generate a CC number on the fly that was good for either one time us

Paypal used to have this feature that allowed you to install a browser add-on and you could generate a CC number on the fly that was good for either one time use or recurring use (for subscription services). This feature served two primary purposes: 1) to be able to pay using PayPal on sites that didn't support it 2) to help prevent against fraud which was becoming a massive problem at the time. If the number was stolen, it immediately wasn't good anymore and a hacker/thief could not use the CC number to purchase/steal anything. It was that second aspect that I thought would totally eliminate all credit card fraud and make people comfortable with online purchases on smaller sites. I have no idea why PayPal killed the program, but even before it did, not many people used it. I was the only person I knew that was even aware it existed. EDIT - if anyone is curious, I looked it up. Two ex-PayPal employees explain here: https://www.quora.com/Why-did-PayPal-discontinue-their-one-time-credit-card-numbers https://www.quora.com/Why-did-PayPal-discontinue-their-one-t...

TheCoreh 9y ago
Interesting, my bank does that, and I use it a lot.
astura 9y ago
It's not just PayPal. I think Discover and American Express both had that feature but killed it off. Bank of America still has it and (IIRC) Chase does too.
- doctorsher 9y ago
  Citibank still has this feature as well.
  - astura 9y ago
    Doh! When I said Chase I actually meant Citibank. Chase doesn't to my knowledge. In my defense both start with C....
    - doctorsher 9y ago
      Haha no defense necessary! Carry on :]
snug 9y ago
Isn't this what Apple pay basically does?
- evan_ 9y ago
  Sort of, you just have a single number but it’s different from your regular cc#
  - abakker 9y ago
    Doesn't apple pay change the number every transaction?
ekanes 9y ago
This tech is available and extremely well-implemented via Final Card. I use it and have numbers stored for probably 50 sites/services/etc. Anything where I put a card in online. So next time my card gets compromised because I used it in a restaurant (seems to happen regularly) then none of those have to be reset. Just get a new "physical" card and go on my merry way. Many hours saved. https://getfinal.com/ https://getfinal.com/
- muninn_ 9y ago
  For Final am I still able to do things like, shop through Chase for Chase Ultimate Rewards points?
- iamwil 9y ago
  Aside: are you a pokemon fan? your username is one letter off.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
arfrank 9y ago
I’d suggest you look at what we built at Final. Getfinal.com We took a hard deep look at a massive stagnant industry (credit cards) and use experience and features as differentiators
- sjs382 9y ago
  Too bad it requires an invite code. Do you have one for us? :) I use privacy.com for something similar, but it's a debit card (so it just connects to your bank account) rather than a credit card and doesn't offer any rewards.
  - bwanab 9y ago
    They don't even seem to have a way to apply for an invite.
- rholdy 9y ago
  Been using Final for a while. Love it and love you for building it.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- maxscam 9y ago
  I interviewed with you guys (didnt get hired but that's ok) and this was the first,thing that came to mind. Good luck
- darksim905 9y ago
  the problem is you have to tie a debit account to this, right? Why can't I tie another credit card as a source of funding to this, or Paypal or some other stream? The less organizations that have my debit information, the better.
flush 9y ago
You might be interested in this: https://getfinal.com/ https://getfinal.com/
pattle 9y ago
On the Quora page they explained the main reason behind dropping the product was that fact that users had to install a browser extension to get the CC number, which put people off. Surely they could have very easily sent the CC details to the users by email or SMS (security risks) or better still they could obtain the details by logging into their PayPal account. Seems odds that the execs axed the product over this when they were so many solutions to the problem.
- givinguflac 9y ago
  I suspect it had more to do with pushback from card providers as it likely made tracking users more difficult. Same reason some retailers still don’t support Apple Pay.
  - ABCLAW 9y ago
    This is not why certain retailers aren't supporting Apple Pay. Interchange fees and their associated bulk volume rate discounts are.
philipodonnell 9y ago
I don't think its too tin-foily to assume that there are non-technical reasons why the credit card networks don't want one-time-use credit card numbers, and that PayPal would care more about its relationships with those networks than it does for a product that didn't immediately take off. This is how the innovater's dilemma works. Big entrenched company, too scared to make changes that will jeopardize existing partnerships and businesses, upended by a nimbler competitor that doesn't have to care about those things. It'll happen!
- turc1656 9y ago
  Yeah but in PayPal's case, they were all MasterCard numbers. And keep in mind that since one of the primary uses was to be able to Pay secretly with PayPal on a site that doesn't support it, the number would have to validate through the merchant's existing CC system. MasterCard was clearly on board with the process.
  - philipodonnell 9y ago
    > MasterCard was clearly on board with the process. They might have been when it started, but clearly something changed. If it was desirable, the moment PayPal decided not to continue, MasterCard would have started looking for alternatives. Since they didn't (and haven't), its pretty reasonable to assume they decided intentionally not to pursue it. The two other functioning alternatives listed in this thread, getfinal.com and privacy.com, both Visa. Kinda says it all there.
    - malyk 9y ago
      My mastercard had the same feature sometime along the way that they advertised strongly to me on the website. I think I might have used it once, but it was too much of a hassle to log in to my account, generate the number, go back to the website that I was purchasing from, etc. Hell, i just looked it up and they still have it: https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Virtual-Account-Numbers https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Virtual-Account-N...
mustacheemperor 9y ago
I think Privacy.com (no personal relation) offers a similar service now, though you've got to trust them with access to your money at some point in the process. Edit: Since I started writing this comment others posted the same one - and pointed out it's not really a credit card.
dethos 9y ago
In Portugal we have a company that provides a service that is very similar to what you described (creation of virtual CCs which can only be used 1 time, or X times by one retailer, for subscriptions). The service is called MBway (previously MBnet) and it works very well.
hallalex831 9y ago
Both Bank of America and Citi credit cards do it. They have it available right on their websites, and Citi even has an optional desktop application to quickly generate temporary use cards. I use it all the time for shady subscription services, and also to sign up for "New User" promos multiple times :)
- bhandziuk 9y ago
  I really liked this about my BOA card. I don't use the card any more because the rewards suck but used to make one time numbers if I didn't have my wallet handy.
zbruhnke 9y ago
you should check out capital one go - down to the browser extension its the exact same thing - https://www.capitalone.com/go/ https://www.capitalone.com/go/
artimaeis 9y ago
Another service that offers this: https://privacy.com/ https://privacy.com/.
emodendroket 9y ago
One of my credit cards offers this.
jklein11 9y ago
I don't quite see the point in this. If you are paying with a credit card you aren't on the hook for any fraudulent charges anyway.
- therealmarv 9y ago
  I experienced this 1 week ago. Imagine you used your one and only debit card for a subscription service. The billing system of this subscription service went mad. Guess what: To stop this subscription madness you can only block your whole card. On top of that you have stress to get a new one from your bank and you are several days without a debit card. Or imagine somebody does a fraudulent charge... when it's large and the limit is not big (or connected to your account with a debit card) the money is first lost. You practically loose time where you cannot use that account/card anymore.
  - jklein11 9y ago
    Right, but this problem seems solvable by having multiple credit cards. I would only make an online purchase with a credit card, never a debit card. If there is a charge that I didn't authorize, I can just click a dispute button on my credit card's web app and never have to think about it again.
    - phillias 9y ago
      The critical feature is you can specify a credit limit and expiry period for each virtual number. By keeping the credit limit at a bit above the purchase amount you dont' have to worry about losing a bunch of money if the number is abused, and by keeping the expiry at 2 months (12 months max) you avoid any abuse channels that would take more than 2 months to transact on the dark market. edit: And of course you have the credit card company on your side to assist with fraud awareness and refunds. You won't get this with Paypal, Android/Apple pay, and especially not with any blockchain technologies where there is no intermediary working on your behalf. I keep a Citi mastercard just for the Virtual Account Number feature and use it every time for online and phone purchases. The BofA feature has some severe issues.
dm319 9y ago
Interesting. That's what android pay does.

TheCoreh 9y ago

Interesting, my bank does that, and I use it a lot.

astura 9y ago

It's not just PayPal. I think Discover and American Express both had that feature but killed it off. Bank of America still has it and (IIRC) Chase does too.

doctorsher 9y ago
Citibank still has this feature as well.
- astura 9y ago
  Doh! When I said Chase I actually meant Citibank. Chase doesn't to my knowledge. In my defense both start with C....
  - doctorsher 9y ago
    Haha no defense necessary! Carry on :]

snug 9y ago

Isn't this what Apple pay basically does?

evan_ 9y ago
Sort of, you just have a single number but it’s different from your regular cc#
- abakker 9y ago
  Doesn't apple pay change the number every transaction?

ekanes 9y ago

This tech is available and extremely well-implemented via Final Card. I use it and have numbers stored for probably 50 sites/services/etc. Anything where I put a card in online. So next time my card gets compromised because I used it in a restaurant (seems to happen regularly) then none of those have to be reset. Just get a new "physical" card and go on my merry way. Many hours saved. https://getfinal.com/ https://getfinal.com/

muninn_ 9y ago
For Final am I still able to do things like, shop through Chase for Chase Ultimate Rewards points?
iamwil 9y ago
Aside: are you a pokemon fan? your username is one letter off.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

arfrank 9y ago

I’d suggest you look at what we built at Final. Getfinal.com We took a hard deep look at a massive stagnant industry (credit cards) and use experience and features as differentiators

sjs382 9y ago
Too bad it requires an invite code. Do you have one for us? :) I use privacy.com for something similar, but it's a debit card (so it just connects to your bank account) rather than a credit card and doesn't offer any rewards.
- bwanab 9y ago
  They don't even seem to have a way to apply for an invite.
rholdy 9y ago
Been using Final for a while. Love it and love you for building it.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
maxscam 9y ago
I interviewed with you guys (didnt get hired but that's ok) and this was the first,thing that came to mind. Good luck
darksim905 9y ago
the problem is you have to tie a debit account to this, right? Why can't I tie another credit card as a source of funding to this, or Paypal or some other stream? The less organizations that have my debit information, the better.

flush 9y ago

You might be interested in this: https://getfinal.com/ https://getfinal.com/

pattle 9y ago

On the Quora page they explained the main reason behind dropping the product was that fact that users had to install a browser extension to get the CC number, which put people off. Surely they could have very easily sent the CC details to the users by email or SMS (security risks) or better still they could obtain the details by logging into their PayPal account. Seems odds that the execs axed the product over this when they were so many solutions to the problem.

givinguflac 9y ago
I suspect it had more to do with pushback from card providers as it likely made tracking users more difficult. Same reason some retailers still don’t support Apple Pay.
- ABCLAW 9y ago
  This is not why certain retailers aren't supporting Apple Pay. Interchange fees and their associated bulk volume rate discounts are.

philipodonnell 9y ago

I don't think its too tin-foily to assume that there are non-technical reasons why the credit card networks don't want one-time-use credit card numbers, and that PayPal would care more about its relationships with those networks than it does for a product that didn't immediately take off. This is how the innovater's dilemma works. Big entrenched company, too scared to make changes that will jeopardize existing partnerships and businesses, upended by a nimbler competitor that doesn't have to care about those things. It'll happen!

turc1656 9y ago
Yeah but in PayPal's case, they were all MasterCard numbers. And keep in mind that since one of the primary uses was to be able to Pay secretly with PayPal on a site that doesn't support it, the number would have to validate through the merchant's existing CC system. MasterCard was clearly on board with the process.
- philipodonnell 9y ago
  > MasterCard was clearly on board with the process. They might have been when it started, but clearly something changed. If it was desirable, the moment PayPal decided not to continue, MasterCard would have started looking for alternatives. Since they didn't (and haven't), its pretty reasonable to assume they decided intentionally not to pursue it. The two other functioning alternatives listed in this thread, getfinal.com and privacy.com, both Visa. Kinda says it all there.
  - malyk 9y ago
    My mastercard had the same feature sometime along the way that they advertised strongly to me on the website. I think I might have used it once, but it was too much of a hassle to log in to my account, generate the number, go back to the website that I was purchasing from, etc. Hell, i just looked it up and they still have it: https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Virtual-Account-Numbers https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Virtual-Account-N...

mustacheemperor 9y ago

I think Privacy.com (no personal relation) offers a similar service now, though you've got to trust them with access to your money at some point in the process. Edit: Since I started writing this comment others posted the same one - and pointed out it's not really a credit card.

dethos 9y ago

In Portugal we have a company that provides a service that is very similar to what you described (creation of virtual CCs which can only be used 1 time, or X times by one retailer, for subscriptions). The service is called MBway (previously MBnet) and it works very well.

hallalex831 9y ago

Both Bank of America and Citi credit cards do it. They have it available right on their websites, and Citi even has an optional desktop application to quickly generate temporary use cards. I use it all the time for shady subscription services, and also to sign up for "New User" promos multiple times :)

bhandziuk 9y ago
I really liked this about my BOA card. I don't use the card any more because the rewards suck but used to make one time numbers if I didn't have my wallet handy.

zbruhnke 9y ago

you should check out capital one go - down to the browser extension its the exact same thing - https://www.capitalone.com/go/ https://www.capitalone.com/go/

artimaeis 9y ago

Another service that offers this: https://privacy.com/ https://privacy.com/.

emodendroket 9y ago

One of my credit cards offers this.

jklein11 9y ago

I don't quite see the point in this. If you are paying with a credit card you aren't on the hook for any fraudulent charges anyway.

therealmarv 9y ago
I experienced this 1 week ago. Imagine you used your one and only debit card for a subscription service. The billing system of this subscription service went mad. Guess what: To stop this subscription madness you can only block your whole card. On top of that you have stress to get a new one from your bank and you are several days without a debit card. Or imagine somebody does a fraudulent charge... when it's large and the limit is not big (or connected to your account with a debit card) the money is first lost. You practically loose time where you cannot use that account/card anymore.
- jklein11 9y ago
  Right, but this problem seems solvable by having multiple credit cards. I would only make an online purchase with a credit card, never a debit card. If there is a charge that I didn't authorize, I can just click a dispute button on my credit card's web app and never have to think about it again.
  - phillias 9y ago
    The critical feature is you can specify a credit limit and expiry period for each virtual number. By keeping the credit limit at a bit above the purchase amount you dont' have to worry about losing a bunch of money if the number is abused, and by keeping the expiry at 2 months (12 months max) you avoid any abuse channels that would take more than 2 months to transact on the dark market. edit: And of course you have the credit card company on your side to assist with fraud awareness and refunds. You won't get this with Paypal, Android/Apple pay, and especially not with any blockchain technologies where there is no intermediary working on your behalf. I keep a Citi mastercard just for the Virtual Account Number feature and use it every time for online and phone purchases. The BofA feature has some severe issues.

dm319 9y ago

Interesting. That's what android pay does.