WebMoney

WebMoney Transfer
Online payment solution
Founded Moscow (1998)
Headquarters Moscow, Russia[1]
Parent WebMoney Transfer ltd
Website WebMoney official site

WebMoney Transfer commonly known as WebMoney is a global settlement system and environment for online business activities, established in 1998. The system claims to have more than 31 million users. Although WMT Originally targeted mainly at clients in Russia and the Former Soviet Union, it is now used worldwide. WebMoney Transfer Technology is based on providing all its users with interfaces that allow operating and controlling individual property rights for valuables (assets), stored at the specialized entities — the Guarantors.

The system enables Internet users to conduct safe transactions in real time using WebMoney units (WM-units). No bank account or credit card is required to open or operate a WebMoney account. More than 100 000 online shops and services accept WebMoney payments.[2] WebMoney Transfer also provides online financial services, P2P payment solutions, internet based trading platforms, merchant services and online billing systems.

The owner and administrator of WebMoney Transfer system is WM Transfer Ltd. An unrelated Japanese company provides a prepaid cards service using the same name. The Japanese service only supports accounts denominated in yen.

Guarantors

Guarantors (underwriters) — participants of the System located in various jurisdictions and store valuables of various legal nature. Specific features of transactions with proprietary rights for values stored by each Guarantor, as well as their measurement units and the Guarantor’s obligations to exchange those proprietary rights with the currency of the country of its registration, are set out in the Agreements adopted respectively by every member of the System in the course of registering a ‘Purse’, which serves as the accounting attribute of the proprietary rights.

WM-units

The System supports several types of Purses, that keep record of valuables property rights of corresponding types:

Also, Kyrgyzstani som and Uzbekistani som-equivalents (WMS) and (WMY) were introduced, but canceled by central system authority.

The units of measurement of the valuables' property rights stored by the guarantor are WebMoney Title Units (WM) of the corresponding type.

Fee

Signing up and receiving WebMoney (WM units) from other users is free. Sending WM units to other accounts incurs a fee of 0.8% but not less than 0.01 WM and not more than the maximum fees outlined below:

WMZ 50

WME 50

WMR 1500

WMU 250

WMB 100 000

WMG 2

WMX 50

Funding and withdrawal

Funds can be deposited to WebMoney accounts by online and offline bank transfers, debit and credit cards, prepaid cards and vouchers, money transfer systems, by conversion from other electronic currencies, using retail stores, exchange offices and cash-in points.[4] It is also possible to purchase WM prepaid cards in order to fund a purse.

Withdrawing fund is allowed to bank cards (binding of card is needed), to virtual cards, via wire transfer, by conversion into other electronic currencies and using exchange offices.

Applications

WebMoney participants can use purse management software to work within the system.

WM Keeper WinPro can be used on a professional level for MS Windows, as well participants can choose web-site purse with extended functions WM Keeper WebPro or simple web-site purse WM Keeper Standard, these applications allow access to the system services through any operating system. WM Keeper Mobile application is available for Android, Apple iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry OS, Bada, Symbian and Java-enabled mobile devices.

WebMoney System allows purse management through the WebMoney Keeper line for popular social networks, which includes Facebook, Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki applications.[5]

Locations

The main address for technical support is given in Moscow; the main proprietor and administrator is located in London.

The funding and withdrawal points are located in 90 counties.[6]

Security

WebMoney transactions do not require a credit card or bank account, are final, and cannot be retracted.

Security is provided on the system level. While performing transaction, the funds are always either on WM-wallet of the sender or WM-wallet of the receiver with no intermediate state in the system. It is conceptually impossible to lose WM-funds. WebMoney has a list of security settings to protect accounts. It includes three main authentication methods:

And two additional methods:

E-NUM is a two-factor authentication service alternative to sms. API of the service is free and available to owners of external websites. E-NUM provides the second security factor relevant for any closed on-line services and web areas, where secure authentication is necessary (e.g. online banking). E-NUM generates a single-use password, based on the “challenge-response” method and displays the only correct response code, works on all platforms and suits smart wearable devices.

Arbitrage

Official WebMoney website describes Arbitration as an active service that conducts conflicts between WebMoney Transfer System users.

System participant can post public complaints concerning improper result of the transaction or contract, such as payments rejection, payment obligation rejection (rejection to provide product or service), fund transfer objection (in cases of unit theft from a purse) and so on. Two types of complaints are available:

  1. Notice complaint: posted automatically by the system and only informs on the problem.
  2. Blocking complaint:
    • blocks access to WMID to the complaint recipient;
    • demands a deposit from the complainant;
    • involves a comment from the recipient;
    • is considered within 3 days from the publication of the comment by the recipient.

Complaints are filed free of charge by WebMoney members. All complaints are analyzed by the arbitration administration. If the administration finds the facts stated in the complaint valid, it can consider various disciplinary actions, such as blocking access to WMID, deleted websites, etc. Complaints are analyzed and considered within 7 days from registration.[7][8]

FCA licence to issue e-money in EU

In November 2015, WebMoney Europe Ltd. with head offices in Cambridge, United Kingdom announced the FCA licence acquisition that allows to issue e-money in all countries within the European Economic Area.[9]

Criticism

Prosecution in Ukraine

In 2013, the Ukrainian government had seized testing computer equipment from the Ukrainian guarantor and blocked 60 million UAH residing on guarantors’ accounts in Ukraine. Officials of the Ministry of Revenues and Duties of Ukraine claimed that there were major irregularities in the operations of the company and the rules of the operation of the payment system were not agreed with the National Bank of Ukraine. The property of the guarantor is to be transferred to the courts upon the completion of the investigation.[10] A statement made by Ukrainian Officials brands the use of Webmoney as illicit and illegal. One example being Online Pharmacy transactions. On March, 17 the Ukrainian guarantor`s bank accounts were completely released by Ukrainian legal decision.

The service is listed by a Ukrainian private initiative for the boycott of Russian goods and services.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Company Overview of WM Transfer Ltd.". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "WebMoney Europe: We are not just an e-wallet, we create the environment for doing business online". Banks.eu. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "Purse types". WebMoney Transfer Official Site. 2016-04-27.
  4. ↑ WebMoney Transfer. "Top-up method". Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Purse management". WebMoney Transfer Official Site. 2016-04-28.
  6. ↑ https://geo.webmoney.ru/wmobjects/?lang=en
  7. ↑ "WebMoney Arbitrage". arbitrage.wmtransfer.com. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  8. ↑ "Arbitration - WebMoney Wiki". wiki.wmtransfer.com. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  9. ↑ Milacheva, Tatiana (17 November 2015). "WebMoney Gets a European License and is Expanding Its Presence in the European Union" (Press release). London: GlobeNewswire. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  10. ↑ "UAH 60 mln of Ukrainians blocked in WebMoney by tax authorities". QHA. Retrieved 19 December 2014.

External links

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