A Review on a Post on Legal from My E-Commerce blog

I have read a post entitled “New Rules for Cyber Cafes Soon” on Legal from My E-Commerce blog. It is stated in the post that Malaysian government is setting up new guidelines to be enforced on Internet and cyber cafes in order to control these businesses and prevent them from causing social ill.


In my opinion, some of these new rules may be inappropriate to be applied and will cause great losses to those businesses. One of the guidelines is that those cyber cafes have to be closed by midnight. In my opinion, this is quite inapplicable because most of the youngsters visit cyber cafes late at night and stay there for a long time, even after midnight. One of the reasons for them to visit cyber cafes is their long operating hours which extend to late midnight, and some even operate for 24hours. This is the main feature of cyber cafes and it is hard for it to be changed. If the rule is applied, they may experience great losses.

On the other hand, the rule of having a book log to record the entry and departure time of the patrons is inappropriate and unnecessary. Most of the patrons might end up filling up false details, such as false names, false identification card numbers, or even false signatures. It may end up be a useless recording and it is a waste of time doing it.

Therefore, the government should revise those guidelines to ensure its usefulness and that it brings more pros than cons to the society.



However, some new rules are beneficial to the society. For example, cyber cafes are not allowed to use tinted glasses. Some youngsters may skip their tuition classes or run out of schools to go to these places secretly without the knowledge of their families. Therefore, non- tinted glasses may make them feel uncomfortable and reduce the chances for them to do so.



The rule saying that those under 12 years old must be accompanied by parents or guardian and only allowed to stay up to 10 pm is also advantageous. Young children should be discouraged to go to these places, especially without parents’ consents. They should also avoid hanging around at outside til late night.

In addition, the rules which prohibit cyber cafes from selling cigarettes and alcohols, providing gambling, pornography, music and publications with negative element is good for the society. These harmful items and unconstructive elements should be eliminated to avoid those naïve youngsters from being contaminated. It is an important step to be taken in order to build a healthy society.

The Application of Prepaid Cash Cards for Consumers

Are you worry that you will get yourself into debts for using credit cards? That will not be a problem now because there are two good alternatives for credit cards, which are debit cards and prepaid cash cards. Both of these cards offer the same ability as credit cards to purchase products and services.

Many people might think that prepaid cash card is the same as debit card. However, there is a major difference between them. Prepaid cash cards can be loaded with money and used as a debit card, but it is not linked to a bank account with an overdraft facility. We cannot borrow money with a prepaid card; we can only spend the money we have loaded onto it.


Therefore, by using prepaid cash card, there is no risk of running into debt as it has no credit or overdraft facility. Money can be loaded onto a prepaid card by cash at a bank, Post Office, at Payzone or PayPoint terminals or via a bank transfer. However, not all prepaid providers offer all of these loading options, and users need to find out when choosing a prepaid cash card.


Prepaid cash cards can be used for the following purposes:

1) Shopping

It can be used to shop and purchase items as long as the card is accepted at the retail shop. It can also be used for internet shopping and telephone purchases. Prepaid cash card is safer to be used compared to carrying cash around. It also enables us to spend according to our budget.




2) Bill payment

It can be used to pay for our rental, utilities expenses, insurance payment, car payment, and mobile phone’s bill. shop & pay bills online, make hotel & car rental reservations, and purchase goods & services wherever Visa or MasterCard is accepted. Besides that, it is more secure to use prepaid cash card rather than carrying cash around and it enables the person to start spending according to a budget as well.

3) Cash withdrawal from ATMs

Prepaid cash card can be used to withdraw cash from ATM at anytime.



4) Transfer of Money

Some prepaid cash cards provide the service of sending or receiving money via bank wire transfers, between two cards.

5) Toll payment

For example, Touch and Go card can be used at all highways in Malaysia, major public transports in Klang Valley, selected parking sites and theme park.


6) Replacement for travellers’ cash

Carrying prepaid cash card as we travel is much safer than carrying around large amounts of cash.


Here are the websites relevant to prepaid cash cards:

• Advantages of Prepaid Cash Cards

• MasterCard Gift, Travel and General Purpose Prepaid cards

How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

In this new century, many people are relying on computer and Internet to do their chores, including their working tasks. More advance online technology is being developed from time to time to make our daily life more convenient, such as e- banking, e- commerce, and so on. However, since data is sent back and forth through various servers where personal and information and financial data are housed, data that is moving from one server to another server may be intercepted and recorded. Besides that, such personal and financial information that are stored in our computer are also vulnerable to exposure and may be illegally used by people. Therefore, certain safeguards should be used to protect your personal and financial information.

One of the safeguard will be using and maintaining antivirus software and firewall. Antivirus softwares can protect our computers against viruses, worms, and Trojan Horses from stealing or modifying your data on your computer. It is important to always keep our antivirus up to date, and if possible to turn on the automatic update option For example, Norton antivirus and AVG antivirus. Firewall can protect our computers and data from unauthorized intrusions.

Besides that, we should also regulary scan our computer for spyware an adware.These hidden files enable attackers to gain access to your data. Thus, it is necessary to have a legitimate anti-spyware program to scan and remove those files.

We should also consider creating separate user accounts. If your computer is being used by many users, it may be chances that other users may accidentally access, modify, or delete your files. By having separate user accounts, it gives you additional protection.

Next, it is better to always use usernames and passwords. We should create passwords that would be hard for others to guess. If possible, use a combination of numbers and letters. We should avoid using passwords such as identity card number and date of birth. It is also important not to write the password down and carry it in wallet or briefcase. We should also not reveal those passwords to anyone.

When we want to send data to others, it is better to use encryption technique. Encryption is a process of converting readable data into unreadable characters. By encrypting files, unauthorized people will not able to view the data even if they can physically access it.

In addition, we should dispose off sensitive information properly. We should not dispose our ATM or credit card receipts in a public place. We should also ensure that we erase unwanted files in our computer completely and not just simply deleting them. For credit card and bank statements, we should shred, rather than toss those documents.

Other safeguards include:

• avoid clicking on pop-up ads or downloading information from unknown sites
• use your own computer instead of a workplace or public computer to access financial and other sensitive personal information.
• Log out any website’s account rather than just simply closing the account window

We should always follow good security to protect our personal and financial data. For more security tips, you may refer to this website:

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/

References:
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103893/Six-Ways-to-Safeguard-Your-Online-Assets

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-008.html

Identify and Compare Revenue Models of Google, Ebay and Amazon

There are a few revenue models for e- commerce, such as:

Sales Model

It is the most well known revenue stream where the website sells products
or services online. Revenues are generated from the sales of products or fees from service performed.

Transaction Fees Model

It generates revenue by receiving commission based on the volume of transaction made. The higher the value of the sale, the higher the total transaction fee. However, transaction fees can also be charged on ‘ per transaction’ basis, regardless of the volume of transaction.

Subscription Fees Model

It generates revenue by charging users a fixed amount periodically, usually monthly, for a type of service consumed. For example, subscription of e-magazine monthly.

Advertising Fees Model

The websites using this model sell advertising space to potential advertisers. The rates are based on number of impressions, clicks or actions. Previously, most of the advertising rates were based on number of impressions delivered. However, due to low click through rates and downturn in the dot.com era, advertisers now choose to apply performance based models.

Affiliate Fees Model

This model generates revenues by referring users to other business or relevant websites. The website itself may not sell any product or service, but helps in promoting the product.

Google

Google’s revenue model is under the Advertising Fees Model. Google generates most of their revenues from Google AdWords.

Google AdWords is a ‘pay per click advertising program’ of Google. This program allows the advertisers to advertise their products or services to people. When a user uses Google’s search engine, advertisements for related search will appear as sponsored links at either right side or above the main search results.

'Pay per Click Advertising' is is an online advertising payment model in which payment is based on qualifying click-throughs. Every time an advertiser’s advertisment is being clicked, a fee will be charged. The advertisers decide the keywords relevant to their offer which induce the display of their advertisements and the maximum amount they are willing to pay per click for that keyword.

Besides that, Google AdSense is also an advertisement serving program. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, video advertisements on their sites. These advertisements can generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis.

The latest revenue model of Google will be Cost-Per-Action Model, where the site owner gets paid whenever a visitor clicks on an advertisement and performs a specific action, such as purchasing a product from the advertiser.

ebay

Ebay is the largest, most recognized online auction facility in the world. Its major advantages compared to other competitors include enormous brand equity, essentially unregulated market, and significant economies of scale.

The revenue model for eBay is transaction fees model. Majority of the eBay’s revenue is from the listing and commission on completed sales. An additional commission fee is charged for the Paypal purchases. Advertising and other non-transaction net revenues represent a relatively small proportion of total net revenues of ebay.

In addition, eBay's transaction fees model is evenly spread out among a number of categories. For example, in 2004, the revenues are as below:

• Clothing and accessories -- $3.3 billion
• Consumer electronics -- $3.2 billion
• Computers -- $2.9 billion
• Home and garden -- $2.5 billion
• Books/Movies/Music -- $2.4 billion
• Sports -- $2.1 billion
• Collectibles -- $2.0 million
• Toys -- $1.6 billion
• Jewelry and watches -- $1.5 billion
• Business and industrial -- $1.5 billion
• Cameras and photos -- $1.3 billion

Amazon

The revenue model of Amazon.com are the sales model and also affiliate fees model. Amazon's revenue are mostly from media categories such as books, music, and videos. Besides that, Amazon also sells a variety of new and used products for which Amazon receives a commission on those products sold, in the form of affiliate fees.

References:

http://www.organicspam.com/google_revenue_model.asp

http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/essentials/ebay/article.php/3522981

http://content.websitegear.com/article/revenue_introduction.htm

History and Evolution of E- commerce

History and evolution of e-commerce

At the early 1960’s, e-commerce was known as the process of execution of commercial transactions electronically with the help of the leading technologies. In other words, users can execute electronic transactions by using Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). EFT is a system of transferring money from one bank account directly to another without any paper money changing hands.




Later in 1970s, e-commerce enabled business companies and organizations send commercial documentation such as invoices and purchase orders electronically through Electronic Date Interchange (EDI). EDI is the transfer of data between different companies using networks, such as VANs or the Internet. Thereafter, other forms of electronic commerce emerged, such as automatic teller machines, credit cards, and telephone banking.

Since the early 1990s, e-commerce has developed into the huge global internet market that exists today. Before 1991, commercial enterprise on the internet was strictly prohibited. However, in 1992, when the Mosaic web-browser was made available, it was quickly adapted into a downloadable browser, Netscape, and allowed an easier access to electronic commerce. The development of DSL was another key element in the development to of e-commerce. DSL allowed quicker access and a persistent connection to the Internet. The development of Red Hat Linux was also another major factor in the growth of electronic commerce. Linux was an open source and reliable. More importantly, it gave users another alternative for Windows. Thus, Microsoft invested more in many things including electronic commerce in order to stay competitive.


In 1994, the internet started to become popular around the world, and by the beginning of the twenty-first century, more and more companies worldwide were offering their services over the internet. In today’s context, e- commerce is known as the ability to purchase a variety of goods and services over the internet using secure protocols and electronic payment systems.

The early adoptors of e-commerce in Malaysia include Pizza Hut and Malaysia Airline Cargo (MASKargo).

Web 2.0

Web 2.o is a term that is used to describe a second- generation of Internet-based services that let people collaborate and share information online in perceived ways. For example, social networking sites, wikis, and communication tools.

It is evolved from the previous generation of Web 1.0.

Web 1.0 ----------------------------> Web 2.0

• Double Click -------------------------> Google Adsense

• Mp3.com -------------------------> Napster

• Personal Web Sites ------------------> Blogging

• Britannica Online --------------------> Wikipedia

• Content management systems ---------> Wikis

Web 2.0 makes the finding of information easier, and uses RSS technology to notify users about the changes of content in a timely manner. A major characteristic of Web 2.0 is the global spread of innovative Web sites, whereby when a good website exists in a country, similar sites will appear around the world.




The six principles in Web 2.0 are:

1. Sell everywhere- Web 2.0 includes various online channels with additional branded websites, various online marketplaces (such as eBay, Amazon.com, Overstock.com, and others), and online shopping comparison engines (such as Shopping.com, PriceGrabber.com, and others).
2. Target Niche Markets- Web 2.0 is able to reach beyond the traditional prospect base and tap the potential of niche markets.
3. Customers Rule- The content buyers create through forums such as product reviews, blogs, and social networks influences other buyers as much or more than any promotion eTailers create. For example, Youtube and MySpace.
4. Personalised Shopping
5. Integrate and Collaborate- Web 2.0 was built upon many interrelated systems and processes that require information to be exchanged dynamically.
6. Data is the King- Web 2.0 allows collection and management of data from all online channels to enable better business decisions.

References:
http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html

http://www.flysyk02.netfirms.com/Ecommerce/History.htm

http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/A-Brief-History-of-E-Commerce/634686