Virtual Debit Card Makes Online Transactions Even More Secure

Always in search of ways to enable online shoppers to feel more secure and less worried about potential online exposure of their vital information, online payment processors constantly research and develop applications to achieve that purpose. PayPal, one of the leading ecommerce sites and providers of online payment services has introduced just such an application. The virtual debit card plug-in offered by PayPal allows you to make secure online payments without exposing your bank account or credit card number. The only drawback is you must have a PayPal account. The PayPal plug-in can fund any transaction on any site on which you are making the purchase as long as they accept MasterCard services.

In conjunction with MasterCard, PayPal now makes available to its customers a virtual debit card via an internet browser plug-in. The plug-in is available for the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers and is downloadable from PayPal's web site. The PayPal plug-in recognizes member e-commerce checkout forms and offers you the option of completing the form utilizing your PayPal contact information. It also offers to generate a completely unique MasterCard number to pay for your purchase on that site even if it does not accept PayPal services.

The unique MasterCard number generated will be linked to your PayPal account and your account will be charged accordingly. The PayPal Plug-in is a debit card service therefore you must have sufficient funds available within your PayPal account to cover the transaction. If you have insufficient money available, you must have previously set up your PayPal account to fund insufficient fund purchases through an alternative means, such as a bank's personal or business checking or savings account, PayPal Buyer Credit (PayPal's own installment plan), or a PayPal Plus credit care. The option to use another credit card as an alternative funding source is not available at this time.

Throughout the entire online payment transaction none of your PayPal account information is ever stored on your personal computer or the one you are using to process the transaction. Everything remains stored on PayPal's secured servers. The PayPal virtual debit card utilizes the same virtual card technology which many large multi-national banks provide to their MasterCard customers who prefer not to provide their permanent credit card number to online retailers when processing online purchases.

As we are all too well aware of, the problem of online transaction security fraud is not uncommon. There are steps that can be taken to make your online purchases a lot more secure and easier. The PayPal virtual debit card does just that when you deal with MasterCard merchants for your online purchases.

Resource: PayPal Plug-in - PayPal's web site - https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/cps/general/NewPayPalPlugin-outside