Users can complete online transactions using the Payment Selector to choose a type of payment. The Payment Selector currently contains the VISA, MasterCard, JCB (only in Japan), American Express, and Discover (only in North America) payment types. Other third-party payment providers are developing payment types that extend the Microsoft Wallet payment platform. Third-party payment types range from a bank debit card to an electronic cash card. In addition, merchants who want to offer branded credit cards can easily write components to plug into the Payment Selector interface. The Payment Selector can store any number of credit card types.
The Payment Selector Add Wizard guides Wallet users through establishing a new credit card by entering credit-card information, providing a billing address, and assigning a password to the credit card. The credit-card information is encrypted and stored in the Wallet protected storage on the client computer.
If a merchant site supports the Microsoft Wallet, shoppers can quickly and easily select their preferred type of payment from the Payment Selector without having to complete HTML forms for billing and credit-card information. The ten credit cards most recently used are displayed in a drop-down list. The remainder of credit cards in the Wallet are displayed by clicking the All payment types button. Payment information is stored securely on the client computer and released to the merchant only if the user enters the credit-card password to approve the purchase amount.
Note A single Payment Selector can store credit cards owned by different people, because each credit card is protected from improper use by a password assigned by the cardholder.