Prepaid cards may bring flood of teens to e-commerce

At many Web shopping sites, no credit card means no service. Without plastic, though, teens have pretty much been left out.<br><br>E-tailers have tried with varying success to unlock teens' immense

Friday, April 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

At many Web shopping sites, no credit card means no service. Without plastic, though, teens have pretty much been left out.

E-tailers have tried with varying success to unlock teens' immense spending power, but Cybermoola thinks it has the answer: prepaid cash cards.

In early June, the company will begin selling its cards at supermarkets in California as well as through Footaction, which has more than 500 shoe and athletic apparel stores in 44 states. The cards will be offered in $20, $50 and $100 denominations. They're available now at www.cybermoola.com and eventually will be sold at thousands of outlets nationwide.

The cards are the closest thing "to cash on the Internet," says Cybermoola chief executive Eric Freeman. They're used to set up online accounts with the shopper's e-mail address and a personal identification number.

Aside from Footaction, Cybermoola has about 45 retailers lined up to accept online payment through its Web site beginning in June. Among them are J. Crew, Tower Records, Macy's, Target and Banana Republic. "The idea is to extend the convenience of the Internet to anyone without a credit card," says Mr. Freeman, whose Internet site is still under construction.