What is online payment? How does it work?

Next time you have a debt to settle with a friend, simply tell him to check his email.
Seems impossible? Not with person-to-person online payment services (p-to-p sites, in jargon). Whether you’re paying bets with friends, sending money to your son at college or sending funds to buy a bizarre painting on eBay, these services make it easy. They simply draw funds from your credit card or bank account, then send an email to the recipient, who goes to the site to request the amount. In some cases, beneficiaries get the money very quickly, as soon as the next day. We registered with all the p-to-p services we found (PayPal, eMoneyMail, Ecount and payMe.com) to see how they work. The result may seem magical, but it’s not! It’s real, simply fantastic.