I’m Vice President of Billing Operations for ILD Teleservices, by day, and I am an Internet junkie by night (weekend, really).  My usual mission is to find the latest electronic gadget but I always seem to get distracted, and soon find that I’ve been scouring the tangled web for the last 3 hours, reading about and viewing products I had no intention of looking for earlier.

As the VP of Billing Operations for alternative payment provider, ILD Teleservices, I am a little biased when it comes to online payments and the whole check out experience.  I can’t help but look at these merchant websites and wonder why they don’t even make an attempt to offer a simpler payment option for buyers.  Of course, the consumer in me just wants to buy, buy, buy… whether it’s a book download, music, an online game or a subscription, but most e-Commerce sites limit themselves by only offering a single payment option – CREDIT CARD.

Last weekend I was at a point where I wanted to make a purchase, but of course I didn’t have my purse next to me.  So, I had to find my purse, pull out my credit card, grab my glasses to see the tiny 3 digit validation code, and I’ve just lost 10 minutes of my very precious weekend.  Even worse is when I’ve stepped away from the computer to get my credit card and because I’ve been gone too long, I’m then required to re-start the whole online shopping process.  Where’s the convenience in that checkout?  I know I’m not the only person who has gone through this.

Like many other buyers, I also think twice about sharing my credit card digits with an online web store where I have not done business before.  Usually, those are places where I simply landed on their site from…God only knows where.  But then I think about using my credit card on sites with which I haven’t done business before, and I get cold feet.  Both the VP of Billing Operations and the consumer in me wishes more merchants would offer simpler and more convenient payment options – like ILD Teleservices alternative – Bill to Phone.  It is so convenient and so much safer to charge a purchase to my phone bill than go through the credit card process mentioned above.

Have you ever been frustrated with making an online purchase?  Let’s commiserate.

Kathy McQuade is Vice President of ILD’s Payment Services Division, ILD Teleservices, and has worked with ILD since 1997. She always loves to continue the conversation on Twitter, @kmcq45.