Teenage clicks

By DAVID BUDWORTH
Updated:

 

They've grown up with the internet, have lots of spare cash, and feel more at home spending it online than the rest of us. Teenagers are just the sort of people web retailers want to sell to.

But paying for CDs, games or clothes online can be difficult for teenagers who are too young to own a credit card. Most have to resort to using their parent's plastic, which can lead to arguments.

'Teenagers are getting frustrated with seeing things on the web they want to buy, but are denied from doing so, not because they don't have the money, but because they are not old enough to own a credit card,' said Dominic Taylor, managing director of PayPoint. 'They want an easy to use facility that allows them to spend their pocket money,' he added.

Which is where a new pay-as-you-go card specifically aimed at teenagers comes in. Splash Plastic is a prepaid card that can be topped up with cash through a network of 7,400 Paypoint systems in convenience stores across the country. They can load anything between £2 and £150 at a time and then go off to surf and spend.

Users of the card are currently limited to around 100 online retailers. But this includes names such as Dixons, CD Wow!, Gameland and Sports Mart.

The aim is to have 60,000 web-based retailers signed up by the end of the year.

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