Why Netflix Doesn't Have Prepaid Cards (But Should)

For most online products sold and downloaded by customers and digital services delivered online give people the option to pay with their credit cards or prepaid cards available through most major retailers.

Despite the increasing popularity of prepaying for digital products and services distributed online, one of the Internet's most popular video services, Netflix is still holding on to the requirement that customers put it on plastic to get their movies and tv shows delivered on demand.  

Requiring payment by credit card comes from the founding days of Netflix back in the late 1990's when Netflix was in the mail order DVD rental business when the replacement cost of a DVD that was damaged or reported lost was simply charged on a customer's credit card.

Since Netflix only does streaming outside of the United States and within the US very few Netflix customers still rent discs by mail keeping credit card only payment system is outdated and antiquated.  

Initally it may seem that offering prepaid service would only benefit people who don't have a credit card could get access to Netflix and potentially retailers who would sell Netflix prepaid cards.  The number of existing Netflix subscribers who would switch from credit card billing to prepaid if they had the option would number in the millions.  

For Netflix itself would see a benefit in cost savings from not having to pay processing fees to the credit card companies.  To take a credit card payment the merchant pays anywhere between 1.5 to 5 percent to the credit card companies. Using 3 percent as an average processing fee Netflix pays twenty four cents per subscriber per month to Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.  If a conservative estimate of ten million current subscribers  switch to prepaid billing Netflix would save 2.4 million dollars per month.  

Another benefit to Netflix would be building a lump sum of money that they could use to secure better access to content.  If the ten million subscribers prepay 96 dollars for a year of Netflix, Netflix would soon have 960 million dollars at their disposal to buy or produce content or buy bandwidth to improve the service.

Services sold thorough prepaid may still have a lower class reputation of customers who have been unable to qualify for credit, but that is starting to change due to security breaches in merchants both online only and in the physical world, many are now apprehensive about handing over credit card information.  Providing the prepaid option will help Netflix grow their subscriber base by providing these potential new customers with an alternative to credit cards.  

Prepaid service can help Netflix achieve subscriber through the gift giving market. Giving a six months or a year of Netflix would be a perfect compliment to a Apple TV or Roku box given as a gift as a gift for a birthday or for Christmas would give recipients many of which probably would not become Netflix subscribers.  

What I've mentioned are just a few of the compelling reasons for Netflix to add prepaid as a payment method and get out of the dot-com bubble era world of credit card only.