Online Questionnaire about Online Payment System

[BMS]

http://www.my3q.com/home2/92/yxbruce/85502.phtml

could you please help me to fill out it for my essay.

Thank you so much.

[ADAM Web Design]

I filled it in (I put in "poorly designed shopping cart" for question #2, but I'm not sure if it took.)

So do I get a prize? :)

[BMS]

Thank you, Adam.

I am currently writing my final thesis about Online Payment Systems(OPS).

What's the most popular OPS at the moment? Card-based, agent-mediated, e-check or e-cash?

Who knows any online resources about this topic.

Would appreciate any opinion or suggestion from you.

Thank you very much.

[jestep]

Credit Cards through an online shopping cart type system are the most widely used. Assuming that they are setup properly, they are secure, very convenient, almost completely automated and very fast.

Let me know if you have any questions about anything.

[BMS]

It's so kind of you, jestep.
I am really a newcomer to e-commerce.

Could you please tell me something about the Online Payment Systems:

- Features/Characteristics of Online Payment Systems
- Types of payment exist at the moment
- popular payment used
- Technoloies for Online Payment
-- how to pay securely
-- how to protect data and privacy
- Process of Online Payment
- Outlook of Online Payment Systems

Sorry for so many questions.

I am writing my final thesis about this topic, the above questions actually just came to my mind.

As here is the ecommerce forum, there are so many experts discussing exact topic which is related to my thesis.
It would be very helpful if I could get some valuable suggestions and ideas from you.
I will also look for books and other resources later.

Thank you all again for your kind help.

[jestep]

- Features/Characteristics of Online Payment Systems
- Types of payment exist at the moment
- popular payment used
- Technoloies for Online Payment
-- how to pay securely
-- how to protect data and privacy
- Process of Online Payment
- Outlook of Online Payment Systems

I'm not sure what you mean by features and characteristics. Basically you can look at most checkout systems and get features.

Types of payment - Credit and Debit Cards, Electronic Checks, and ACH bank drafting, paypal and other 3rd party processors, same as cash programs (Bill me later, etc.).

Technologies - Payment processing systems are written in just about every current computer language. The most common for online would be php, asp, and Perl.

how to pay securely - As far as a user is concerned, if there is a padlock on the bottom right corner of the computer, the transaction is secure. As fas as a business, the scripts have to be secure, and the connections between the website server and the payment gateway server have to be secure and encrypted.

how to protect data and privacy - Don't store sensitive information online, unless you have a vast knowledge of 2 way encryption or you use a 1 way hash type encryption. Limit employee access to sensitive information. A huge percentage of fraud is due to in-house employees that are less than trustworthy. Don't share email addresses. Most of this is common sense.

Process of Online Payment -
http://www.authorize.net/resources/howitworksdiagram/

This is a great flow diagram from authorize.net on how it all works.

Outlook of Online Payment Systems - Very good. The internet is growing in every dimension. More and more businesses are opening shop online. Payment processing online becomes easier and more secure with every new interest in it.

[BMS]

Thank you so much for your detailed answers, jestep!
Your information is very helpful.

I searched some data and information and found that e-cash is not so widely used and many big companies actually still prefer payment by checks.

What is the problem with e-cash?
Why don't the companies pay by e-checks instead of normal checks? Is the security problem the main obstacle?

[jestep]

ecash is not popular because there is no universal system that facilitates pier to pier money transfers. Businesses would have to sign up for and integrate with a company that provides the service and then be subject to the same fees as with processing a credit card or check online. There are also not a lot of people that use these programs, so it is essentially a big waste of time and resources. There is also little protection from fraud for businesses or consumers unlike credit cards.

As far as the e-check vs. normal check question. Accepting an echeck will include a fee to process it just like when a credit card is processed. Many businesses want to avoid as many fees in every area as possible. I would imagine that the fees, as well as fraud prevention are the main reasons against echecks. echeck acceptance is also fairly new and is growing, so I think that its popularity will be growing a lot.