Commerse

The three main types of e-commerce are business to consumer (B2C), business to business (B2B), and consumer to consumer (C2C). B2C is what we know as going to the store and physically buying something. B2B is a way for businesses to supply their consumers by buying products from other businesses. C2C is buying from another person. Websites like eBay and Craigslist are a good example. Consumers can completely bypass any traditional business itself.

There are many electronic payment systems today. Basic web sales consist of you paying money and receiving a physical product. Subscription sales are websites that only let you in if you are a paying member. Cupid.com and AVMA.org are good examples of this. The Free/Fremium give you full content for free, but if you want more they charge you for the special products. The best example I have of this is a video game called Rappelz. The game is free to play for life, but if you want the special armor package it costs real money. The transaction fee is exactly that. You get charged for each transaction you do. EBay is a good example of this. You buy a TV from someone on eBay and part of your payment goes to eBay and the rest to the seller. The last one is the affiliate revenue system. These companies make money by charging websites to help them expand searches, and offer consumers points or rewards for going to these sites.

Information technology expanded the way e-commerce is conducted in every step, from electronic payments to online only purchase. With the ever growing internet, e-commerce is going to be the only way to buy anything very soon.