Rixty Says Goodbye To Transaction Fees

Today the payment service provider Rixty announced that it would cease charging transaction fees to consumers, previously one of the ways the business monetized. Rixty will instead give consumers 100% of the value of their funds in virtual currency. The company will instead monetize through arrangements made with partners who accept Rixty as a payment method. Rixty's goal is to offer consumers a better deal than competing credit-alternative payment methods like mobile pay. 

While Rixty was initially pitched as a teen-oriented payment alternative, Rixty's VP of Community Joel Andren says that it's actually difficult to profile Rixty users demographically. While teens do use the service, Andren points out that there are adults using the service who funnel hundreds of dollars through Rixty rather than using a credit card to buy virtual goods. Andren instead says that the Rixty demographic should be identified as a "broad swathe of the Internet population that wants to pay with cash."

Consumers can funnel cash into Rixty primarily through Coinstar kiosks, though the company has announced plans to sell prepaid cards in the past. Andren argues that one in four Americans doesn't have a credit card, but may still want to buy virtual items online. Adults who need to budget their money tightly may have a credit card for emergencies, but prefer not to use credit at all for entertainment spending. 

Andren says that Rixty has directly partnered with over 40 different online publishers, including social and online games. This is significant growth given that Rixty launched around this time last year with support for "10 to 15" partners. Offerpal Media is also one of Rixty's payment partners, which means that Rixty can in theory be used to pay for virtual goods in any of Offerpal's many game and virtual world partners.

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