IIRC in the 90s online credit card processing was a minutes-long affair since it would require dialing into the bank's computer system, or possibly calling a hu

IIRC in the 90s online credit card processing was a minutes-long affair since it would require dialing into the bank's computer system, or possibly calling a human banker to check the authorization. IIRC it wasn't uncommon to just do it offline with physical pieces of paper in the mail. Towards the late 90s they got better at rejecting CCs if you did authorize online (especially after PayPal gave away a lot of $5 prepaid ones). ISPs were also pretty liberal with free trials (AOL CDs galore) since it was mostly customer acquisition cost (it wasn't yet established that you had to have an Internet connection like you did a landline and Cable TV) and the marginal cost was low (ideally, the cost of peering -- the ISP basically had some routers and modem banks between an internet exchange and a phone exchange; and the user paid any applicable long distance charges to call the ISP). Whereas now you'd preauthorize the card at signup time to catch this sort of fraud beforehand.