But for cash-dependent adolescents in the burgeoning 13-18 year-old market who don''t live in the world of plastic, partaking in e-commerce is yet another hurdle in the world of e-existence. How can kids who still rely on a weekly allowance from parents take advantage of an Internet''s worth of shopping? More important, should they be allowed to take advantage of this consumer craze?

The number of kids online is growing in leaps and bounds. According to Computer Economics, as quoted in CyberAtlas, the number of Internet users under the age of 16 will surpass 77 million by the year 2005. By the year 2002, Jupiter Communications predicts that teens will account for $1.2 billion spent online. That''s nothing to sneer at.

Effectively tapping this market has been and will continue to be the goal of many Net-savvy e-tailers, especially now that software tools that allow teens to shop online without credit cards are beginning to enter the payment solutions market. However, as the number of kids online grows, along with the number of sites that target them as consumers, so do parental concerns about marketers unfairly targeting children and adolescents with seductive advertising.

"There is the need to respect both the privacy as well as the social sensibilities about what is appropriate for kids to buy," says Ramayya Krishnan, professor of Management Science and Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. "The younger the child, the more likely that parents will seek to exercise control on both the amount of money spent as well as the type of things that the child is buying."

So what exactly are Web sites doing to exploit kids'' privacy?

According to Washington, DC-based Center for Media Education''s report entitled WEB OF DECEPTION: Threats to Children from Online Marketing, e-marketers are using gifts and contests to collect detailed data from kids who visit their Web sites. Questions regarding buying habits and requests for personal information such as name, address and phone number can appear in the form of an online contest or survey. Sometimes unscrupulous marketers will even use popular cartoon spokesfigures such as Tony the Tiger, Chester Cheetah, and Snap! Crackle! & Pop! to entice kids into providing this information.

When it comes to marketing gimmicks, kids are naive -- and marketers know this. That''s why in October 1998, Congress passed the Children''s Online Privacy Protection Act. Although the final provisions need to be completed by the Federal Trade Commission, which is scheduled to meet on July 20, 1999, the Act will require that all "Web sites that collect personal information from children under 13 obtain prior parental consent before they collect that information."

The responsibility of developing safe and secure ways of integrating teens and children into the online shopping community without exploiting their privacy is in the hands of each e-merchant.

"Online players that are looking to target these younger consumers risk alienating parents, creating a negative brand image, and fostering greedy consumers," says Anya Sacharow, an analyst with Jupiter Communications Consumer Content Strategies. Therefore, if teens are your target market, then proceed with caution.