E-mail electronic payments to generate $326 mln in 2005

E-mailed payments for e-commerce transactions will continue to grow rapidly, generating $326 million in revenue for service providers like PayPal in 2005, an increase of 139% from $134 million in 2003, firm Celent Communications reports. E-mailed payments will account for 13% of all U.S. e-commerce transactions in 2005, up from 8% in 2003 and 5% in 2000.

Celent notes that invoicing, while remaining a marginal segment of e-commerce transactions for the near future, will account for 7.3 million e-commerce transactions with a total value of $294 million in 2005, up 61% from 2.8 million transactions with a total value of $69 million in 2003. Telephone billing will capture 24.4 million e-commerce transactions next year for a total value of $439 million, up nearly 100% from 12.4 million transactions with a total value of $273 million in 2003. The value of online micropayments transactions under $5 will amount to $252 million in 2005, up 97% from $128 million in 2003. Celent adds that check or debit cards will account for about 40% of Visa and MasterCard online payments in 2004 and 2005, up from 35% in 2003 and 10% in 2001.