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E-COMMERCE SOLUTIONS
E-Commerce or electronic commerce is a process
involving the buying and selling of goods,
services and other processes via electronic
means. The most common among them is the
internet. In recent times, this system has grown
beyond expectations, and today it is a network
heralded everywhere in the world, making
transactions and other processes extremely
simple and fast.
There
are today, numerous businesses and agencies that
will assist you to sell and market products and
services online, and these are what are known as
the e-commerce solutions. They are classifies
basically into 4 main categories – the
transactions involving credit cards,
transactions that are digital cashed,
electronically transferred funds and of course
billing systems via telephones. Each of these
comes with their own advantages and problems,
and they are detailed as below.
Merchant
credit card accounts:
Such
accounts come under the regular merchant
internet accounts system and have many pros as
well as cons.
Advantages –
-
the customers get
familiar with the credit cards
-
They do not have
to start downloading or installing any
special plugins to access them.
-
Impulse buying is
an automatic product of making sales
involving credit cards.
-
The customers
contact details and information is available
for you to store and contact them for future
marketing and sales needs.
Disadvantages –
-
Customers may be
apprehensive about giving out online details
on their finances.
-
Credit cards are
not available with everyone
-
It is not very
helpful in sales of soft downloadable goods.
-
Chargeback’s will
become a major issue
Electronic cash transactions:
This
type of e-commerce involves the customer paying
for the merchant’s services using electronic
money.
Advantages –
-
Credit card
transactions are avoided
-
Chargeback’s’ are
not an issue
-
Micro payments can
be made conveniently
Disadvantages -
-
Most persons may
be unaware of the idea
-
Many feel it is
simply a hassle and prefer the credit cards
-
Is not a global
initiative
-
Impulse buying as
a possibility is lost
Electronic fund transfers:
This is
a process wherein the customer pays for the
transaction through electronic transfers of
money from their bank into the merchant’s bank.
The most common type of such fund transfers are
the writing of electronic checks, which are
transferred via fax, telephone or the email, and
it is digitally signed by the customer.
Advantages –
-
No problems of
credit card dealings
-
Can be availed by
those who do not possess credit cards
Disadvantages –
-
Being a relatively
new technology, people find it unknown and
riskier than other methods
-
Customers may not
be set up with issues of the electronic
checks.
-
International
consumers may be exempted from availing the
service.
Telephone billing systems:
This is
one of the latest approaches in e-commerce,
allowing consumers to buy an item, without
paying on the spot, while the fee gets billed to
their telephone number.
Advantages –
-
No credit card
transaction worries
-
Soft merchandise
is safeguarded with theft and piracy being
eliminated
-
Customers who
don’t have credit cards can avail them
Disadvantages –
-
Customer has to
download plugins and install them
-
Available for soft
goods only
-
It cannot be used
by users of Mac computers
-
Works only with
telephone modems and not with cable or ISDN
lines.
Setup a
credit card processing
merchant accounts to
accept credit cards today! |
