No US credit card needed to shop online 'thanks to new site'

Australians will no longer need a US credit card to purchase products on some websites thanks to a new website.

Users of a new payment system will no longer require a US credit card to make purchases.

The web page - hopshopgo.com - provides users with an alternative method of buying goods in around 300,000 international stores which previously vetoed purchases made using Aussie credit cards, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Adrian Christie - a spokesman for PayPal, which has launched the page - said: "The key benefit of this site is that it unlocks so many of the boundaries that previously stopped Australian consumers from shopping at some sites overseas."

But this could be bad news for the nation as it might mean that consumers will be able to purchase products that are much cheaper overseas compared with what they might have to pay in Australia.

This may also see more people spending on their credit cards, but Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon, writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, recently noted that this kind of debt is one of the worst types that someone can have.

By Emma North