Macropayments

Macropayments are used for purchases that cannot be billed as a micropayment, usually for goods or services over $5. Prepayment, prompted mobile payment, full mobile Web transactions, and full brick-and-mortar transactions with proximity-based mobile payment are the four most common types of macropayments, and they are covered in more detail next.

Prepayment

A variety of different companies have begun to allow their customers to create prepaid accounts that are debited each time charges are incurred and that stop working when the money in the account has been spent. This mobile payment option allows account holders to track their spending and prevent charges for excess use of the service, by avoiding overage charges. Prepayment accounts are most commonly used for mobile phone bills themselves, but can also be used with public transportation and fast food. With this method of payment, users create an account, usually online, and submit an initial payment to start the service. Periodically, users are sent text messages to inform them of their account balance or remind them to add money to their account, otherwise known as “topping-up.” Because accounts have already been created, the customer has the option of repeating the payment amount and billing information of the last transaction, or adding different amounts or billing information to the account.