Vague prospects of electronic currencies
By the nature of my work, I participate in the development, refinement and support of many online stores, and, as it happens, I play the role of a “business consultant for e-commerce” for their directors and owners. Quite often they ask me whether it is necessary to connect the possibility of payment with electronic money to the store, and if so, with which ones? And if a couple of years ago I was in every way agitating to support electronic currencies, now, watching the development of the situation, in most cases I answer “you are not yet”.
In this article I want to tell you why.
I do not plan to disclose my sources of information, so please consider the whole article to be fiction (which, of course, numerous experts in this market will confirm in the comments). I even made a formal excuse:
Disclaimer . The story presented here should be considered a work of art that has nothing to do with reality. All the described facts and events take place on the planet Plyuk and are the fruit of the author's sick imagination. Matches with real-life people, companies and TM trademarks are random and unintentional. The author is not aware of any facts of violation of the laws of the Russian Federation, nor are the methods of violation of these laws known. The author agitates in every way in full and without fail to comply with all articles, norms and regulations of the Criminal, Administrative and Tax Codes of the Russian Federation, as well as other laws and regulations in force in the Russian Federation.
Not all payments made via the Internet are made using electronic currencies. In practice, most transactions are carried out through Internet banking. This includes global networks like Visa and MasterCard, as well as intra-bank systems like Alfa-click and Sberbank-on-line. There are three key features that distinguish Internet banking:
1. All transactions are made directly in non-cash rubles, dollars, euros, etc.
2. All operations are carried out by banks, which are subject to detailed legislation, strict instructions of the Central Bank, international concrete rules - and all this with strict accountability.
3. The recipient of funds can not be anonymous.
In general, these are ordinary non-cash bank payments, in which a payment order is submitted by the payer via the Internet, from a mobile phone or via a terminal (ATM).
Real electronic currencies are “candy wrappers” issued by private firms. All these "title units WM" produced by LLC "Guarantee Agency" or, say, the legal claims of Yandex, from a legal point of view, have little more weight than toy bills from the game "Monopoly". All of them are nominated in “real” currencies, but this is nothing more than an advertising ploy to trick users: under no circumstances can you exchange electronic money for real 1 to 1. In a single virtual WMZ, there are no more than 98 real US cents, most likely 95-96, and this is only at the current rate. No one knows in what amounts these “currencies” are issued, but they are provided exclusively by the goodwill of the managers of these LLCs and the balances in their bank accounts at the time of the declaration of bankruptcy (that is, amounts close to zero).
')
Taking advantage of the absence of any legislation in this area, issuers of electronic currencies set such rules in their user agreements, compared to which even the offer of OJSC MMM looks like an unbreakable oath. So, for example, Yandex LLC undertakes to return your money only if you can collect all the necessary documents for filing a claim in court, including cash vouchers and bank payment orders. This is exactly one step not enough to classify such actions as a crime in part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:
Of course, lawyers at Yandex have made every effort so that this last step is not taken, so the actions of this payment system are legitimate in terms of the letter of the Criminal Code. But not his spirit: thousands of people each month lose their money on accounts blocked by Yandex, which they under no circumstances will not be able to return. At its core, it is the acquisition of rights to another's property through the abuse of trust committed by an organized group of persons.
Do not think bad, I do not attack only Yandex, this is the sin of all electronic currencies. For example, the story “Exler vs Webmoney” is widely known ( ch.1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ). The point is not that in “Yandex”, “RBC” or “WebMoney” there are villains-fraudsters who take the remaining scholarships from students. They are not villains, it's just business. The listed companies, unlike students, can afford to hire a powerful staff of lawyers and with impunity to select those pennies earned - so they take it, taking advantage of the moment. Sooner or later, the state will scratch and curb this chaos, but for now the students are alone and must rely only on their heads.
Finally, e-currencies simply by their very nature provide anonymity for at least some of their individual users, who can act as both payers and recipients of transfers.
Theoretically, electronic currencies allow you to make two types of payments: physicist-> physicist (that is, remittances) or physicist-> yurik (that is, payment for goods and services). Yandex is even more strict and only allows translations of physicist-> eric. Although formally transfers between the wallets of individuals in Yandex are allowed, it is impossible to withdraw funds received in this way, such actions are the reason for the prompt blocking of the wallet.
In terms of transfers, e-currencies are catastrophically losing to banks. No one would even think of transferring money to relatives or friends through e-wallets: too much trouble and frankly predatory percentage compared with Kontakt, Anelik and even Western Union. The only exception is anonymous translations, but about them later.
To pay for goods in online stores, electronic currencies, one might say, do not apply. According to my observations, even the ancient Sberbank receipts are used more often. People buy in online stores the same as in regular retail - mainly food, clothing, household appliances, and just using the example of household appliances it is very easy to demonstrate this statement. Let's take, say, a very popular model of the electric shaver Panasonic ES-GA21 , which at the Moscow Yandex Market offers about 60 stores to buy. Thanks to a handy tick, it’s easy to find out that of all of them, Yandex only accept two money: ozone and delivery, that is, department stores, mainly sending books by mail, cowards and other small things on a prepaid basis.
This means that none of the 60 Moscow household appliances stores on the market simply accept electronic currencies. At the same time, many of them accept bank cards, up to departure to the client with a mobile POS-terminal to enter the PIN code.
Of the major clothing stores known to me, only wildberries accept electric money; monopolist in the field of food delivery "Utkonos" is friends with "Ozone", but not friends with Webmoney or "poison." Continuing the theme of food, I do not know the hawkers of pizzerias and sushi bars, who at least knew such words. If we talk about computer stores, those few who still accept electric money from “professional solidarity” or “love of art” do it with an additional margin of 5 percent (this is compared to the usual predatory interest when entering and making a payment).
The bulk of payments for services are the categories of housing and communal services and communications, and here payment terminals and, to a lesser extent, ATMs, but not electronic payment systems are in the lead. We will talk about the largest Russian network of payment terminals (about 200,000 points), the QIWI brand, because of which the ears of the First Processing Bank stick out, until I give you one figure: in 2009 more than 319 billion rubles passed through this network ( ~ 11 billion dollars). For comparison, the Poison and WM have only a few million active users who can not "scroll" hundreds of thousands of rubles for each.
In defense of electronic payment systems, it must be said that there are types of services, such as online games and some other “subscriptions” and “licenses”, in which electronic money still takes root as the main means of payment. But their share in the total flow is vanishingly small.
Statistics inexorably shows that people prefer to pay for goods in cash or, less often, with a card; they simply have no other money. The interest charged on the introduction and transfer of electronic currencies does not encourage any to buy them. Even if someone leads to advertising calls, the very first loss of 500-700 rubles out of every 10 thousand at the fees of payment systems will immediately put everything in its place.
On the other hand, firms also do not want to accept electronic money: the withdrawal of “candy wrappers” in non-cash payments is worth perceptible interest, making such payments in accounting is quite complicated, and the number of such operations is small. Sorry, but this hemorrhoids very few people need.
So, contrary to the stated goals, electronic currencies are not used either for transfers between individuals or for making payments. At the same time, they continue to keep the predatory interest, rip off their users as sticky for any sneeze, block indiscriminately funds on accounts and make almost no effort to attract new customers. And at the same time, they feel great, and the number of different EPSs is growing every year. Doesn't this state of affairs seem a little strange?
So, the only advantage of electronic currencies is the possibility of conducting anonymous transfers between the wallets of individuals. Here, at Yandex.Money and Webmoney, everything is thought out to the smallest detail: there are various ways not only to preserve anonymity, but also to hide (even from the payment system!) The fact of the transfer! At your service are both prepaid cards sold in regular stores and payment terminals, and receiving funds from anonymous Visa or Mastercard Prepaid. All, of course, with a considerable percentage, but then at least it is clear what this percentage is charged for.
Methods of anonymous withdrawal of funds are also offered, in particular, buying all the same Visa prepaid cards, dumping money through anonymous exchangers, etc. In the end, cash withdrawal or a normal bank transfer still requires the presentation of a passport, but not a tax, but a private bank or even a private money changer, and the chain of anonymous transfers itself can be quite confusing.
Who needs anonymity? In fact, an honest man has nothing to hide. But, of course, they are not terrorists. We are talking about the usual tax evasion, electric money has become a substitute for black cash.
The thing is that while the former Moscow mayor was breeding bees and earned his pension in the Swiss pension fund and a cozy cottage in the Alps, a traffic collapse took place in the capital entrusted to him. The trip “for money” in the city began to demand at least half of the working day, that is, time, which is often not available. To send for a black cash couriers from the southern republics, no one risks, and more senior employees can "pass" or "become a victim of robbery."
Initially, the main users of electro money were freelancers, but the legal small business is gradually pulling up. Yes, Putin created a simplified tax regime in Russia, allowing the small business to cash money legally, paying only from 6% to 15% of taxes. But even he could not oversimplify reporting on the simplified system. To get a banal thousand rubles for your work, you need to agree, sign and put the seals of both parties on three or four mandatory documents: the contract, invoice, waybill and the act of acceptance; plus invoice, plus payment to the bank. The bureaucracy “pushed through” all this heap of papers in the industrial era, when millions of people went under each contract, but today many business areas just like killing.
I have a friendly small publishing house in which a little more than a dozen people - proofreaders, editors and layout designers - are directly involved in preparing books for printing. At the same time, they have a financial director, a lawyer, two secretaries, two 1C programmers, five telephone managers and seven (sic!) Accountants - and all this fraternity (18 people!) Is exclusively engaged in issuing papers for a couple of thousand bookstores buying the products of this publishing house .
In a variety of hosting, online advertising systems, and so on, these bureaucrats constitute the overwhelming majority of the workforce. It is clear the desire to somehow reduce their number.
As a rule, small business owners and “self-employed” workers (freelancers) have both a black cash and a desire to pay them and receive them as payment. Especially when it comes to small amounts and unwillingness to execute documents, and especially when it comes to services provided remotely. But all such operations should be carried out anonymously and unprovable, otherwise meetings with the tax and prosecutor's office are inevitable; and this is where electronic payment systems work.
I repeat: EPS does not provide much financial gain. For a full set of services - cash in point A and their issuance at point B - they take on average from 3% to 9%, that is, amounts comparable to taxes. Their main advantage is that they allow not to draw up documents.
It should be noted here that in our country bank secrecy is an empty sound, no presumption of innocence is provided for in the Tax Code, and all organizations with a license for banking operations (including QIWI) are obliged to inform Finmonitoring about all “suspicious” transactions. Since the network can not spend electronic money in the amount of substantially more than the consumed utilities and communications services, they have to be withdrawn. The monthly withdrawal of tens of thousands of rubles of “unspent funds” from Yandex.nede is just such a “suspicious” operation, fraught with the receipt of a “letter of happiness” from the tax. Since in Russia donations are not subject to income taxation only between close relatives, such a letter does not promise anything good. Therefore, freelancers are forced to desperately wriggle, alternately changing banks and exchangers. But they are ready to go for such difficulties, because otherwise they will have to spend a significant portion of their time on accounting.
And at the same time, freelancers continue to rob payment systems, blocking accounts and demanding to receive "personal certificates" or pass identification - that is, by offering a plug, "we either choose money or tax." Of course, freelance forums and communities are flooded with a stream of oncoming negative to the EPS. However, Yandex.Money PR managers “work” with situations that are too damaging to their reputation, raised in major “sercha” forums, and in the most glaring cases even “help” money back. In addition, the main EPSs are formally present at Habré, and this is where their “advertising in the freelancers” probably ends.
A reasonable question arises: if freelancers and small businesses “feed” payment systems, why are EPS so disregard for their clients?
Because EPS know - in their current form, they are living out the last days, and it’s just silly to think about reputation. It needs to be converted into money here and now.
The state does not like competitors in anything, and it really does not like competitors in the collection of taxes. Namely, such electronic payment systems are.
Sooner or later they will be pressed. Actually, the fiscals already understand everything and as much as they try to somehow limit the speed of EPS. In particular, a restriction was imposed on the anonymous deposit and withdrawal of funds in the amount of not more than 15 thousand rubles at a time. But while the attacks follow from the officials of too low a level, and at the moment the EPS does manage to fight off almost without loss. As is customary in our country, this will all end when someone’s wife’s vice-premier’s wife’s nephew is “thrown”, after which crude laws will suddenly be passed and it will be impossible to work.
But the EPS has a more dangerous enemy. These are banks whose lobbies can “bend” any government of any state. The leader of the Russian bankers' union has already said that remittances are the exclusive right of banks, and everyone else in this business has no place. Now the only question is when this sentence will be carried out.
Everything goes to the fact that in the next couple of years all payment systems will have to either agree with the banks, in a good or bad way, or close down. As a result of this merger, you will get something like today's Google Checkout and PayPal - add-ons over Visa / Mastercard and other regular bank transfers, deprived of any anonymity and in demand only in narrow niches where regular Visa does not work (for example, in online auctions).
In Russia, the process of merging EPS and banks is already underway. Once, the almost classic electronic currency “mobile wallet” entered into an alliance with the OSMP payment terminals network and the First Processing Bank, introducing the QIWI system. Wallets in this system are already tied to phone numbers, and anonymity is very, very conditional. Already having all the necessary licenses, this system at the right time will be able to turn their wallets into normal bank accounts, avoiding any problems with future legislation.
Ending the conversation about QIWI, I would like to note that this system, firstly, reached people who did not have a computer at all, and secondly, effectively cut off competitors from replenishing their accounts in cash through terminals, setting prohibitive rates for all of them at a rate of 5 % commission.
Yandex.Money and Webmoney also do not sit still, negotiating with Alfa-Bank, Otkritie Bank, Ocean-Bank, Interkommerts Bank and so on, and launching various joint payment instruments with them. I also do not exclude that they are working to obtain banking licenses or to create or purchase “pocket” banks.
A merger or a very close partnership with banks for modern electronic systems is inevitable, but this means the end of their golden age. They will have to obey the bank rules, and EPS will simply not be able to compete with them.
The main and almost single source of income of electronic payment systems is the interest charged on transfers between wallets and deposit / withdrawal operations. In the banking world for such operations with bank transfer, it is customary to take a fixed fee from 10 to 100 rubles for a payment, but not a percentage. With small amounts, the condition of EPS is certainly more profitable for users, but when buying something significant, a fixed amount becomes more profitable. And in the bank for the money every payment order is manually checked by a transaction officer and, possibly, a security officer. EPS can not afford neither one nor the other.
The fact is that banks earn money by taking money at low interest rates (on credit or in the form of deposits) and issuing loans at higher interest rates. Remittances for them only a side operation for the convenience of customers, not bringing substantial income. In principle, they may not take money at all for money transfers, as in many banks this is done with plastic cards. It is enough for banks that customers simply keep their money in bank accounts, allowing them to quietly scroll through their balances. No, EPS will simply not be able to compete with banks in this area. Yes, they now can not.
There are cash transactions; even banks charge a percentage (usually one) for issuing or collecting cash. But everything is clear, large amounts of cash require verification, protection, and so on. But, as already mentioned, cash transactions are monopolized by the same banks and QIWI, that is, poison and WM, and in this case out of business.
Banks, inspired by the Visa and Mastercard systems, which have drastically improved the security of payments over the Internet in recent years, are now vigorously moving towards both regular and online stores. In a couple of years, processing of cards directly on the bank’s website will be a standard service provided almost free of charge. After this, modern payment systems generally will not have a single advantage justifying their use as a means of payment. And all this will take place against the background of the fact that the state will ban anonymous transfers “in order to fight terrorism”, they will not try to enter the cash EPS market ...
No, I do not see the future of Yandex. Money or Webmoney. If they survive, then in a very, very modified form.
And so I advise friendly online stores not to rush into connecting them.
In this article I want to tell you why.
I do not plan to disclose my sources of information, so please consider the whole article to be fiction (which, of course, numerous experts in this market will confirm in the comments). I even made a formal excuse:
Disclaimer . The story presented here should be considered a work of art that has nothing to do with reality. All the described facts and events take place on the planet Plyuk and are the fruit of the author's sick imagination. Matches with real-life people, companies and TM trademarks are random and unintentional. The author is not aware of any facts of violation of the laws of the Russian Federation, nor are the methods of violation of these laws known. The author agitates in every way in full and without fail to comply with all articles, norms and regulations of the Criminal, Administrative and Tax Codes of the Russian Federation, as well as other laws and regulations in force in the Russian Federation.
What is electronic currency?
Not all payments made via the Internet are made using electronic currencies. In practice, most transactions are carried out through Internet banking. This includes global networks like Visa and MasterCard, as well as intra-bank systems like Alfa-click and Sberbank-on-line. There are three key features that distinguish Internet banking:
1. All transactions are made directly in non-cash rubles, dollars, euros, etc.
2. All operations are carried out by banks, which are subject to detailed legislation, strict instructions of the Central Bank, international concrete rules - and all this with strict accountability.
3. The recipient of funds can not be anonymous.
In general, these are ordinary non-cash bank payments, in which a payment order is submitted by the payer via the Internet, from a mobile phone or via a terminal (ATM).
Real electronic currencies are “candy wrappers” issued by private firms. All these "title units WM" produced by LLC "Guarantee Agency" or, say, the legal claims of Yandex, from a legal point of view, have little more weight than toy bills from the game "Monopoly". All of them are nominated in “real” currencies, but this is nothing more than an advertising ploy to trick users: under no circumstances can you exchange electronic money for real 1 to 1. In a single virtual WMZ, there are no more than 98 real US cents, most likely 95-96, and this is only at the current rate. No one knows in what amounts these “currencies” are issued, but they are provided exclusively by the goodwill of the managers of these LLCs and the balances in their bank accounts at the time of the declaration of bankruptcy (that is, amounts close to zero).
')
Taking advantage of the absence of any legislation in this area, issuers of electronic currencies set such rules in their user agreements, compared to which even the offer of OJSC MMM looks like an unbreakable oath. So, for example, Yandex LLC undertakes to return your money only if you can collect all the necessary documents for filing a claim in court, including cash vouchers and bank payment orders. This is exactly one step not enough to classify such actions as a crime in part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:
Fraud, that is ... the acquisition of the right to another's property through ... abuse of trust ... committed by an organized group, -
is punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to ten years with a fine of up to one million rubles
Of course, lawyers at Yandex have made every effort so that this last step is not taken, so the actions of this payment system are legitimate in terms of the letter of the Criminal Code. But not his spirit: thousands of people each month lose their money on accounts blocked by Yandex, which they under no circumstances will not be able to return. At its core, it is the acquisition of rights to another's property through the abuse of trust committed by an organized group of persons.
Do not think bad, I do not attack only Yandex, this is the sin of all electronic currencies. For example, the story “Exler vs Webmoney” is widely known ( ch.1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ). The point is not that in “Yandex”, “RBC” or “WebMoney” there are villains-fraudsters who take the remaining scholarships from students. They are not villains, it's just business. The listed companies, unlike students, can afford to hire a powerful staff of lawyers and with impunity to select those pennies earned - so they take it, taking advantage of the moment. Sooner or later, the state will scratch and curb this chaos, but for now the students are alone and must rely only on their heads.
Finally, e-currencies simply by their very nature provide anonymity for at least some of their individual users, who can act as both payers and recipients of transfers.
Transactions in electronic currencies
Theoretically, electronic currencies allow you to make two types of payments: physicist-> physicist (that is, remittances) or physicist-> yurik (that is, payment for goods and services). Yandex is even more strict and only allows translations of physicist-> eric. Although formally transfers between the wallets of individuals in Yandex are allowed, it is impossible to withdraw funds received in this way, such actions are the reason for the prompt blocking of the wallet.
In terms of transfers, e-currencies are catastrophically losing to banks. No one would even think of transferring money to relatives or friends through e-wallets: too much trouble and frankly predatory percentage compared with Kontakt, Anelik and even Western Union. The only exception is anonymous translations, but about them later.
To pay for goods in online stores, electronic currencies, one might say, do not apply. According to my observations, even the ancient Sberbank receipts are used more often. People buy in online stores the same as in regular retail - mainly food, clothing, household appliances, and just using the example of household appliances it is very easy to demonstrate this statement. Let's take, say, a very popular model of the electric shaver Panasonic ES-GA21 , which at the Moscow Yandex Market offers about 60 stores to buy. Thanks to a handy tick, it’s easy to find out that of all of them, Yandex only accept two money: ozone and delivery, that is, department stores, mainly sending books by mail, cowards and other small things on a prepaid basis.
This means that none of the 60 Moscow household appliances stores on the market simply accept electronic currencies. At the same time, many of them accept bank cards, up to departure to the client with a mobile POS-terminal to enter the PIN code.
Of the major clothing stores known to me, only wildberries accept electric money; monopolist in the field of food delivery "Utkonos" is friends with "Ozone", but not friends with Webmoney or "poison." Continuing the theme of food, I do not know the hawkers of pizzerias and sushi bars, who at least knew such words. If we talk about computer stores, those few who still accept electric money from “professional solidarity” or “love of art” do it with an additional margin of 5 percent (this is compared to the usual predatory interest when entering and making a payment).
The bulk of payments for services are the categories of housing and communal services and communications, and here payment terminals and, to a lesser extent, ATMs, but not electronic payment systems are in the lead. We will talk about the largest Russian network of payment terminals (about 200,000 points), the QIWI brand, because of which the ears of the First Processing Bank stick out, until I give you one figure: in 2009 more than 319 billion rubles passed through this network ( ~ 11 billion dollars). For comparison, the Poison and WM have only a few million active users who can not "scroll" hundreds of thousands of rubles for each.
In defense of electronic payment systems, it must be said that there are types of services, such as online games and some other “subscriptions” and “licenses”, in which electronic money still takes root as the main means of payment. But their share in the total flow is vanishingly small.
Statistics inexorably shows that people prefer to pay for goods in cash or, less often, with a card; they simply have no other money. The interest charged on the introduction and transfer of electronic currencies does not encourage any to buy them. Even if someone leads to advertising calls, the very first loss of 500-700 rubles out of every 10 thousand at the fees of payment systems will immediately put everything in its place.
On the other hand, firms also do not want to accept electronic money: the withdrawal of “candy wrappers” in non-cash payments is worth perceptible interest, making such payments in accounting is quite complicated, and the number of such operations is small. Sorry, but this hemorrhoids very few people need.
So, contrary to the stated goals, electronic currencies are not used either for transfers between individuals or for making payments. At the same time, they continue to keep the predatory interest, rip off their users as sticky for any sneeze, block indiscriminately funds on accounts and make almost no effort to attract new customers. And at the same time, they feel great, and the number of different EPSs is growing every year. Doesn't this state of affairs seem a little strange?
Who actually uses the electric money
So, the only advantage of electronic currencies is the possibility of conducting anonymous transfers between the wallets of individuals. Here, at Yandex.Money and Webmoney, everything is thought out to the smallest detail: there are various ways not only to preserve anonymity, but also to hide (even from the payment system!) The fact of the transfer! At your service are both prepaid cards sold in regular stores and payment terminals, and receiving funds from anonymous Visa or Mastercard Prepaid. All, of course, with a considerable percentage, but then at least it is clear what this percentage is charged for.
Methods of anonymous withdrawal of funds are also offered, in particular, buying all the same Visa prepaid cards, dumping money through anonymous exchangers, etc. In the end, cash withdrawal or a normal bank transfer still requires the presentation of a passport, but not a tax, but a private bank or even a private money changer, and the chain of anonymous transfers itself can be quite confusing.
Who needs anonymity? In fact, an honest man has nothing to hide. But, of course, they are not terrorists. We are talking about the usual tax evasion, electric money has become a substitute for black cash.
The thing is that while the former Moscow mayor was breeding bees and earned his pension in the Swiss pension fund and a cozy cottage in the Alps, a traffic collapse took place in the capital entrusted to him. The trip “for money” in the city began to demand at least half of the working day, that is, time, which is often not available. To send for a black cash couriers from the southern republics, no one risks, and more senior employees can "pass" or "become a victim of robbery."
Initially, the main users of electro money were freelancers, but the legal small business is gradually pulling up. Yes, Putin created a simplified tax regime in Russia, allowing the small business to cash money legally, paying only from 6% to 15% of taxes. But even he could not oversimplify reporting on the simplified system. To get a banal thousand rubles for your work, you need to agree, sign and put the seals of both parties on three or four mandatory documents: the contract, invoice, waybill and the act of acceptance; plus invoice, plus payment to the bank. The bureaucracy “pushed through” all this heap of papers in the industrial era, when millions of people went under each contract, but today many business areas just like killing.
I have a friendly small publishing house in which a little more than a dozen people - proofreaders, editors and layout designers - are directly involved in preparing books for printing. At the same time, they have a financial director, a lawyer, two secretaries, two 1C programmers, five telephone managers and seven (sic!) Accountants - and all this fraternity (18 people!) Is exclusively engaged in issuing papers for a couple of thousand bookstores buying the products of this publishing house .
In a variety of hosting, online advertising systems, and so on, these bureaucrats constitute the overwhelming majority of the workforce. It is clear the desire to somehow reduce their number.
As a rule, small business owners and “self-employed” workers (freelancers) have both a black cash and a desire to pay them and receive them as payment. Especially when it comes to small amounts and unwillingness to execute documents, and especially when it comes to services provided remotely. But all such operations should be carried out anonymously and unprovable, otherwise meetings with the tax and prosecutor's office are inevitable; and this is where electronic payment systems work.
I repeat: EPS does not provide much financial gain. For a full set of services - cash in point A and their issuance at point B - they take on average from 3% to 9%, that is, amounts comparable to taxes. Their main advantage is that they allow not to draw up documents.
It should be noted here that in our country bank secrecy is an empty sound, no presumption of innocence is provided for in the Tax Code, and all organizations with a license for banking operations (including QIWI) are obliged to inform Finmonitoring about all “suspicious” transactions. Since the network can not spend electronic money in the amount of substantially more than the consumed utilities and communications services, they have to be withdrawn. The monthly withdrawal of tens of thousands of rubles of “unspent funds” from Yandex.nede is just such a “suspicious” operation, fraught with the receipt of a “letter of happiness” from the tax. Since in Russia donations are not subject to income taxation only between close relatives, such a letter does not promise anything good. Therefore, freelancers are forced to desperately wriggle, alternately changing banks and exchangers. But they are ready to go for such difficulties, because otherwise they will have to spend a significant portion of their time on accounting.
And at the same time, freelancers continue to rob payment systems, blocking accounts and demanding to receive "personal certificates" or pass identification - that is, by offering a plug, "we either choose money or tax." Of course, freelance forums and communities are flooded with a stream of oncoming negative to the EPS. However, Yandex.Money PR managers “work” with situations that are too damaging to their reputation, raised in major “sercha” forums, and in the most glaring cases even “help” money back. In addition, the main EPSs are formally present at Habré, and this is where their “advertising in the freelancers” probably ends.
A reasonable question arises: if freelancers and small businesses “feed” payment systems, why are EPS so disregard for their clients?
Because EPS know - in their current form, they are living out the last days, and it’s just silly to think about reputation. It needs to be converted into money here and now.
Foggy payment currency perspectives
The state does not like competitors in anything, and it really does not like competitors in the collection of taxes. Namely, such electronic payment systems are.
Sooner or later they will be pressed. Actually, the fiscals already understand everything and as much as they try to somehow limit the speed of EPS. In particular, a restriction was imposed on the anonymous deposit and withdrawal of funds in the amount of not more than 15 thousand rubles at a time. But while the attacks follow from the officials of too low a level, and at the moment the EPS does manage to fight off almost without loss. As is customary in our country, this will all end when someone’s wife’s vice-premier’s wife’s nephew is “thrown”, after which crude laws will suddenly be passed and it will be impossible to work.
But the EPS has a more dangerous enemy. These are banks whose lobbies can “bend” any government of any state. The leader of the Russian bankers' union has already said that remittances are the exclusive right of banks, and everyone else in this business has no place. Now the only question is when this sentence will be carried out.
Everything goes to the fact that in the next couple of years all payment systems will have to either agree with the banks, in a good or bad way, or close down. As a result of this merger, you will get something like today's Google Checkout and PayPal - add-ons over Visa / Mastercard and other regular bank transfers, deprived of any anonymity and in demand only in narrow niches where regular Visa does not work (for example, in online auctions).
In Russia, the process of merging EPS and banks is already underway. Once, the almost classic electronic currency “mobile wallet” entered into an alliance with the OSMP payment terminals network and the First Processing Bank, introducing the QIWI system. Wallets in this system are already tied to phone numbers, and anonymity is very, very conditional. Already having all the necessary licenses, this system at the right time will be able to turn their wallets into normal bank accounts, avoiding any problems with future legislation.
Ending the conversation about QIWI, I would like to note that this system, firstly, reached people who did not have a computer at all, and secondly, effectively cut off competitors from replenishing their accounts in cash through terminals, setting prohibitive rates for all of them at a rate of 5 % commission.
Yandex.Money and Webmoney also do not sit still, negotiating with Alfa-Bank, Otkritie Bank, Ocean-Bank, Interkommerts Bank and so on, and launching various joint payment instruments with them. I also do not exclude that they are working to obtain banking licenses or to create or purchase “pocket” banks.
A merger or a very close partnership with banks for modern electronic systems is inevitable, but this means the end of their golden age. They will have to obey the bank rules, and EPS will simply not be able to compete with them.
The main and almost single source of income of electronic payment systems is the interest charged on transfers between wallets and deposit / withdrawal operations. In the banking world for such operations with bank transfer, it is customary to take a fixed fee from 10 to 100 rubles for a payment, but not a percentage. With small amounts, the condition of EPS is certainly more profitable for users, but when buying something significant, a fixed amount becomes more profitable. And in the bank for the money every payment order is manually checked by a transaction officer and, possibly, a security officer. EPS can not afford neither one nor the other.
The fact is that banks earn money by taking money at low interest rates (on credit or in the form of deposits) and issuing loans at higher interest rates. Remittances for them only a side operation for the convenience of customers, not bringing substantial income. In principle, they may not take money at all for money transfers, as in many banks this is done with plastic cards. It is enough for banks that customers simply keep their money in bank accounts, allowing them to quietly scroll through their balances. No, EPS will simply not be able to compete with banks in this area. Yes, they now can not.
There are cash transactions; even banks charge a percentage (usually one) for issuing or collecting cash. But everything is clear, large amounts of cash require verification, protection, and so on. But, as already mentioned, cash transactions are monopolized by the same banks and QIWI, that is, poison and WM, and in this case out of business.
Banks, inspired by the Visa and Mastercard systems, which have drastically improved the security of payments over the Internet in recent years, are now vigorously moving towards both regular and online stores. In a couple of years, processing of cards directly on the bank’s website will be a standard service provided almost free of charge. After this, modern payment systems generally will not have a single advantage justifying their use as a means of payment. And all this will take place against the background of the fact that the state will ban anonymous transfers “in order to fight terrorism”, they will not try to enter the cash EPS market ...
No, I do not see the future of Yandex. Money or Webmoney. If they survive, then in a very, very modified form.
And so I advise friendly online stores not to rush into connecting them.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/113809/
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