WM Notes Are A New Method of Payment Across Europe
Mark Herpel
February 26, 2009
Introducing a brilliant new financial product for the European market. This method of payment is simple to use, very secure and offers its merchants powerful advantages over conventional credit card services. This new payment tool is simply called the "WM note". Don't be confused by its name, there is no printing required! A WM note might also be identified as 'digital unit'.
WM notes transactions only occur through this web site www.Webmoney.EU
I had a chance to chat with Mr. Anatoly Ostrovsky the project manager for Webmoney.EU in Latvia. He walked me through several transactions using the WM notes and explained in detail how their system operates.
Webmoney.EU describes the notes as being, "...a single solution for e-money payments across Europe. "The business is identified as a European e-money system. E-money is an electronic surrogate of cash.
Directive 2000/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council from September 2000 states,
Is the WM note loaded onto some new type of plastic card or is a note used as digital payment with cell phone as Dave Birch often blogs about? Or is the WM note a printed voucher like a Ukash receipt or one of the EMO printed money orders?
Exactly What is a WM note?
The WM note is a financial product unlike any other European product....it's not a paper voucher nor a plastic card. In my opinion, the new WM notes are in a class by themselves and for this European product, Webmoney has taken everyday fund transfers to a whole new level.
The WM note, is a regulated payment instrument for the European market and the issuer follows strict EU guidelines. Digitalmoney.lv is the web site which supports the Latvian company ELMI "Digital Money", SIA and this company issues the notes. Since this company is Latvian, the digital units are denominated in lats and called LVL.LV1.
What is LVL.LV1?
LVL.LV1 - is a code assigned to a WM Note that contains e-money, issued by Digital Money, SIA. This Latvian e-money institution, also known as a type of local credit institution, sells electronic money and guarantees the exchange of its par value.
A WM Note
While chatting with Anatoly, he sends me over this number "4644005438:4712833400661" and explains that this is a test WM note for 100 lats - (about $180 USD) To receive these funds from Anatoly, who is located half way around the world in Latvia, I don't need any sort of bank account, brokerage account, credit card or paper voucher...just these two numbers separated by a colon. (WM Number:WM Note) The numbers physically identify the digital note and there is nothing else required. They didn't arrive in my registered Webmoney.EU account because I don't have one. (there is no such account, it's not required)
You don't need any type account to receive a WM note and the numbers could be transmitted by phone, written paper note, Internet or any other method which works. You don't need to print a voucher to possess a WM note and it does not have to be recorded with any outside device like a cell phone or magnetic card, the manifestation of a note is simply these two numbers batched together. You should however, either cut and paste those numbers to a text file, thumb drive, floppy or write them down. If you lose those numbers, the value is gone forever and cannot be retrieved. I made the goofy mistake of asking Anatoly if I lost my numbers could he retrieve them and get my value back? Then just as my question appeared in his Skype panel, I realized the futility of asking such a question. How would they identify the note as owned by me? I have no registered account, didn't give my name when purchasing or receiving it and the WM number which is the only identifier for the note can easily be changed in an instant. Well....lose the numbers and the value is gone forever.
The silver lining for me, because I always lose stuff, is that because of EU regulations the WM notes have a maximum value of just 150 euro (100 lats max) so even if your computer eats the digits, you won't be out much.
As you can tell these two numbers do not show the actual value behind the note. The long numbers could represent 100 lats or just 1 lat, there is no way to discover its value by looking at those digits. To properly identify the note's value and verify its authenticity, the holder must visit, http://www.webmoney.eu enter the big number and click the 'Verify' button. If the note is valid, you will see a screen saying 'Verified' and the value of the note. These numbers "4644005438:4712833400661" have now properly been identified as representing a value of 100 lats and the note has also been verified as valid.
At this point if I wanted to send someone 100 lats, I would just get these two numbers to them anyway I could: phone, email, snail mail, SMS or smoke signals. Any method the numbers can delivered successfully, that person will receive the note's value. Payment is instant and there is no waiting for transactions to clear.
If you have received a WM note and you want a smaller size, it is very easy to 'split' the value into one or more smaller notes. I have a note valued at 44.50 and want a smaller 10.00 lat note to pay a friend. From the menu I selected 'Split' and enter my existing 44.50 note. As you can see from the screen shot, the 'WM Note before Split' of 44.50 is recognized and an additional new note is created. A blank field for the new note's value is now available and 10 is entered. I proceed to split the note and I'm left with two notes, the original now valued at 34.50 and the new smaller 10 lat note. Opps, a small fee of 1% is taken from the original note pay for the split, so my original note is now only valued at 34.40 lats.
What Can WM notes do for me?
Quite simply, anything which can be sold or bought with a credit card or bank account, can be sold and bought using WM notes. It is cheaper to use the notes, there is NO fraud like you find with credit cards and the product appeals to a much wider audience than traditional credit methods of payment. If you have an online business which sells products or services you will need a way to accept digital funds from customers. By using the Webmoney.eu web site you have a simple to use, cost-effective, and reliable way to accept e-commerce payments using the e-money stored in WM Notes. Some of the best features have been incorporated into the notes.
As a consumer if you are thinking about using the new WM notes, you should know there is a maximum size limit when buying notes and that is just 150 euro. This is a statutory requirement and common across Europe.
How can the WM Notes be purchased?
To issue these notes, you must be regulated. At this time, the WM notes denominated in Latvian currency can only be purchased from the issuer ELMI "Digital Money", SIA using an online bank transfer from a Latvian bank. The transaction from notes to national currency is also handled directly through the local online bank transaction.
(https://digitalmoney.lv/dml-pub/redeem/wire/index.html)
I'm told that soon other businesses in other European countries will be up and running so look for WM notes issued in euro perhaps as soon as this summer.
Anatoly explained that the Latvian market could be considered a very large test market for other European countries. Since retail customers and businesses vary considerably across Europe, there has yet to be any sort of "one-size-fits-all" digi-money payment method. Seeing this as an opportunity, Webmoney.EU is striving to fill this void and the WM notes offer each country a local ability to grow their payment system from within each area. Right now the company is concentrating their efforts on the Latvian market and will soon expand into other countries.
DGC Magazine
WM notes transactions only occur through this web site www.Webmoney.EU
I had a chance to chat with Mr. Anatoly Ostrovsky the project manager for Webmoney.EU in Latvia. He walked me through several transactions using the WM notes and explained in detail how their system operates.
Webmoney.EU describes the notes as being, "...a single solution for e-money payments across Europe. "The business is identified as a European e-money system. E-money is an electronic surrogate of cash.
Directive 2000/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council from September 2000 states,
"For the purposes of this Directive, electronic money can be considered an electronic surrogate for coins and banknotes, which is stored on an electronic device such as a chip card or computer memory and which is generally intended for the purpose of effecting electronic payments of limited amounts."
After reading this, some questions immediately came to mindExactly What is a WM note?
The WM note is a financial product unlike any other European product....it's not a paper voucher nor a plastic card. In my opinion, the new WM notes are in a class by themselves and for this European product, Webmoney has taken everyday fund transfers to a whole new level.
The WM note, is a regulated payment instrument for the European market and the issuer follows strict EU guidelines. Digitalmoney.lv is the web site which supports the Latvian company ELMI "Digital Money", SIA and this company issues the notes. Since this company is Latvian, the digital units are denominated in lats and called LVL.LV1.
What is LVL.LV1?
LVL.LV1 - is a code assigned to a WM Note that contains e-money, issued by Digital Money, SIA. This Latvian e-money institution, also known as a type of local credit institution, sells electronic money and guarantees the exchange of its par value.
A WM NoteWhile chatting with Anatoly, he sends me over this number "4644005438:4712833400661" and explains that this is a test WM note for 100 lats - (about $180 USD) To receive these funds from Anatoly, who is located half way around the world in Latvia, I don't need any sort of bank account, brokerage account, credit card or paper voucher...just these two numbers separated by a colon. (WM Number:WM Note) The numbers physically identify the digital note and there is nothing else required. They didn't arrive in my registered Webmoney.EU account because I don't have one. (there is no such account, it's not required)
You don't need any type account to receive a WM note and the numbers could be transmitted by phone, written paper note, Internet or any other method which works. You don't need to print a voucher to possess a WM note and it does not have to be recorded with any outside device like a cell phone or magnetic card, the manifestation of a note is simply these two numbers batched together. You should however, either cut and paste those numbers to a text file, thumb drive, floppy or write them down. If you lose those numbers, the value is gone forever and cannot be retrieved. I made the goofy mistake of asking Anatoly if I lost my numbers could he retrieve them and get my value back? Then just as my question appeared in his Skype panel, I realized the futility of asking such a question. How would they identify the note as owned by me? I have no registered account, didn't give my name when purchasing or receiving it and the WM number which is the only identifier for the note can easily be changed in an instant. Well....lose the numbers and the value is gone forever.
The silver lining for me, because I always lose stuff, is that because of EU regulations the WM notes have a maximum value of just 150 euro (100 lats max) so even if your computer eats the digits, you won't be out much.
As you can tell these two numbers do not show the actual value behind the note. The long numbers could represent 100 lats or just 1 lat, there is no way to discover its value by looking at those digits. To properly identify the note's value and verify its authenticity, the holder must visit, http://www.webmoney.eu enter the big number and click the 'Verify' button. If the note is valid, you will see a screen saying 'Verified' and the value of the note. These numbers "4644005438:4712833400661" have now properly been identified as representing a value of 100 lats and the note has also been verified as valid. At this point if I wanted to send someone 100 lats, I would just get these two numbers to them anyway I could: phone, email, snail mail, SMS or smoke signals. Any method the numbers can delivered successfully, that person will receive the note's value. Payment is instant and there is no waiting for transactions to clear.
If you have received a WM note and you want a smaller size, it is very easy to 'split' the value into one or more smaller notes. I have a note valued at 44.50 and want a smaller 10.00 lat note to pay a friend. From the menu I selected 'Split' and enter my existing 44.50 note. As you can see from the screen shot, the 'WM Note before Split' of 44.50 is recognized and an additional new note is created. A blank field for the new note's value is now available and 10 is entered. I proceed to split the note and I'm left with two notes, the original now valued at 34.50 and the new smaller 10 lat note. Opps, a small fee of 1% is taken from the original note pay for the split, so my original note is now only valued at 34.40 lats.
What Can WM notes do for me?
Quite simply, anything which can be sold or bought with a credit card or bank account, can be sold and bought using WM notes. It is cheaper to use the notes, there is NO fraud like you find with credit cards and the product appeals to a much wider audience than traditional credit methods of payment. If you have an online business which sells products or services you will need a way to accept digital funds from customers. By using the Webmoney.eu web site you have a simple to use, cost-effective, and reliable way to accept e-commerce payments using the e-money stored in WM Notes. Some of the best features have been incorporated into the notes.
- No charge back
- No set-up fees
- No monthly fees
- Low transaction fees (2% per transaction)
- Selection of Issuer is subject to merchant's preference
- The number of WM notes you can hold is unlimited
As a consumer if you are thinking about using the new WM notes, you should know there is a maximum size limit when buying notes and that is just 150 euro. This is a statutory requirement and common across Europe.
How can the WM Notes be purchased?
To issue these notes, you must be regulated. At this time, the WM notes denominated in Latvian currency can only be purchased from the issuer ELMI "Digital Money", SIA using an online bank transfer from a Latvian bank. The transaction from notes to national currency is also handled directly through the local online bank transaction.
(https://digitalmoney.lv/dml-pub/redeem/wire/index.html)
I'm told that soon other businesses in other European countries will be up and running so look for WM notes issued in euro perhaps as soon as this summer.
Anatoly explained that the Latvian market could be considered a very large test market for other European countries. Since retail customers and businesses vary considerably across Europe, there has yet to be any sort of "one-size-fits-all" digi-money payment method. Seeing this as an opportunity, Webmoney.EU is striving to fill this void and the WM notes offer each country a local ability to grow their payment system from within each area. Right now the company is concentrating their efforts on the Latvian market and will soon expand into other countries.
DGC Magazine
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