An e-commerce payment system facilitates the acceptance of electronic payment for online transactions. Also known as a sample of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), e-commerce payment systems have become increasingly popular due to the widespread use of the internet-based shopping and banking.
Over the years, credit cards have become one of the most common forms of payment for e-commerce transactions. In North America almost 90% of online retail transactions were made with this payment type. Turban et al. goes on to explain that it would be difficult for an online retailer to operate without supporting credit and debit cards due to their widespread use. Increased security measures include use of the card verification number (CVN) which detects fraud by comparing the verification number printed on the signature strip on the back of the card with the information on file with the cardholder’s issuing bank. Also online merchants have to comply with stringent rules stipulated by the credit and debit card issuers (Visa and MasterCard) this means that merchants must have security protocol and procedures in place to ensure transactions are more secure. This can also include having a certificate from an authorized certification authority (CA) who provides PKI (Public-Key infrastructure) for securing credit and debit card transactions.
Despite widespread use in North America, there are still a large number of countries such as China and India that have some problems to overcome in regard to credit card security. In the meantime, the use of smartcards has become extremely popular. A smartcard is similar to a credit card; however it contains an embedded 8-bit microprocessor and uses electronic cash which transfers from the consumers’ card to the sellers’ device. A popular smartcard initiative is the VISA Smartcard. Using the VISA smartcard you can transfer electronic cash to your card from your bank account, and you can then use your card at various retailers and on the internet.
There are companies that enable financial transactions to take place over the internet, such as PayPal. Many of the mediaries permit consumers to establish an account quickly, and to transfer funds into their on-line accounts from a traditional bank account (typically via ACH transactions), and vice versa, after verification of the consumer’s identity and authority to access such bank accounts. Also, the larger mediaries further allow transactions to and from credit card accounts, although such credit card transactions are usually assessed a fee (either to the recipient or the sender) to recoup the transaction fees charged to the mediary.
The speed and simplicity with which cyber-mediary accounts can be established and used have contributed to their widespread use, although the risk of abuse, theft and other problems—with disgruntled users frequently accusing the mediaries themselves of wrongful behavior is associated with them.
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