E-Commerce

What is e-currency?

The first letter “E” of E-currency represent electronic in which means the currency used on the internet related field just like email and “currency” is a money system. E-currency is the money exchanged on electronically through buying and selling products and services on the Internet at lightning speed and most importantly with a high level of security. It is also known as e-money, electronic cash, electronic currency, digital money, digital cash or digital currency. Nowadays, many people prefer buying and selling online, but there are still some risks involved. The most popular example of e-currency is credit cards which is people used for online payment. There are two types of e-currency in the world which is backed by precious metal such as e-gold is backed by gold and backed by hard currency like Paypal.

However, there are several benefits of using e-currency service on the internet like e-gold and pay pal. First, we can use e-currency through the internet that is related to any commercial applications such as shopping and investment. If you cannot get away from your businesses, you can buy and make payment any item by credit card via internet. Second, sometime make payment by credit card have some risk when provide your credit card information to the merchant you do not know them very well and most of them are far away in the other side of the earth. Therefore, we can choose to use another types of e-currency services such as e-gold and pay pal which can brings people a new way not to use their credit card as the only payment method on the internet. Lastly, e-currency services such as e-gold, pay pal and EMO are provide an efficiency capability on the whole process which allow both the buyers and merchant with the convenient way to send and receive the payment just by clicking the confirm button.

Moreover, there are many types of payment methods, one of the payment methods ofe-currency is click and buy. Since 1999, click-and-Buy represent as a leading internet payment system and a quick, secure and simple solution to process the payment systems on the internet. It also is one of the trusted payment systems in the internet and has positive feedback from customers. For examples, UK customers can buy online without ever providing personal bank or card details and can top up click-and-buy account with cash at any stores. Besides that, it makes safe and convenient purchases of internet content and services and provide many benefits to customers which are secure payment, one time free online registration, convenient monthly payment through direct debit, credit card, invoice or prepaid account and provide customer service on 24 hours.



5 reasons why should get into e-currency trading

1. Liquidity
E-currency makes a superior liquidity caused more efficient price stability and better trade execution in the market. However, there are also a number of benefits to making money by trading in e-currency, otherwise, the outstanding liquidity occur in the market bring the biggest benefits and makes it convenient for the traders with trades becoming easier to open and close transactions.

2. Geographical versatility
E-currency represent as a multifunctional tools that can help people to make money on the internet when it comes to where you can trade and when you want to trade. E-currency makes it extremely convenient to anyone, as long as you have an internet connection, you can enjoy to do your business at anywhere in the world, even though enjoy traveling or if cannot get away from your business when on vacation with your family.

3. 24-hour markets
E-currency is a non-stop business at any time anywhere, as they describe e-currency like “the internet never sleeps”. Because of this benefit, you can create a schedule that suitable for your own and trade within any time zone as you needs. In respect that, there are always people trading somewhere around the world and can join each other together.

4. Low minimum investment
With e-currency trading, there is a low minimum investment opening the door to a much more diversified group of people and it costs an arm and a leg to get into certain markets on the Internet. It is also creates a lot of opportunities to make money without spending much on it.

5. Low transaction costs
E-currency considered as a low transaction costs which allow you to do business with minimal fees giving you more profit and more money for you. The only major transaction costs that have to deal with are the spread, which is the difference between the buy and sell price of each currency.


Related links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_money
http://ecommercesite.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/electronic-currency/
http://www.swisscom.ch/res/internet/clickandbuy/index.htm

Mobile payment is a new and rapidly-adopting alternative payment method. In fact, this mobile payment has been adopted well in many countries. Instead of paying with cash, check or credit cards, a consumer can use a mobile phone to pay for wide range of services and digital or hard goods such as:

Ø Music, videos, ringtones, online game subscription or items, wallpapers and other digital goods.

Ø Transportation fare (bus, subway or train), parking meters and other services

Ø Books, magazines, tickets and other hard goods.

There is a tremendous potential for mobile telecommunication networks to become an important electronic payment channel in Malaysia considering that about100% of Malaysia’s 27 million people had a mobile telephone service by early 2009.

According to Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the high penetration rate affirmed mobile phone networks as an increasingly popular channel for Malaysians to perform a plethora of activities beyond voice communication, encompassing all forms of digital communication, commerce, banking and payments. Certainly, payment via text messaging has the potential to grow in importance.

With 27 million mobile phone subscribers in Malaysia, it is believed that there are huge opportunities to leverage on mobile phones to accelerate the migration to electronic payments, to widen the reach and appeal of electronic payment services, and to deliver innovative mobile payment products that offer speed and convenience at minimal cost for the consumers. Besides that, it also provides an opportunity to enable cost-effective method of delivering financial services in the remote areas.

In addition, there is increasing attractiveness of the mobile network as a payment channel because it is a shared integrated network with common security level and common messaging standards which would make it easier to attract consumers. Furthermore, it is also more cost-effective and convenient for consumers, vendors and service providers to execute and receive payments.

With mobile payment, consumers are believed to be more comfortable with low-value transactions because it allows everyone to make payment or receive money at anytime and anywhere with just one text messaging (SMS). In fact, this helps the consumers especially when the consumers are in need of cash but they do not have any in hand, therefore, with mobile payments they do not need to withdraw money from ATM machine which is time-consuming.

As for vendors and business, they can easily do their businesses at anything from anywhere with mobile payment system. This will increase their business opportunities as mobile payment system can be done with lower maintenance cost and transaction.

In Malaysia, there are mobile payments available to citizens such as Redtone, Maxis, Digi, Maybank, Hong Leong Bank, Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd, and mobileExec Sdn Bhd.

In order to encourage consumers to adopt mobile payment system, first and for most, we must know what kind of benefits a mobile payment system can deliver to the users. The following are some of the benefits of the mobile payment system:

1. Compatibility: Compatibility captures the consistency between an innovation and the values, experiences, and needs of potential adopters.

2. Complexity: Complexity and problems with usability have contributed to the low adoption of a variety of payment systems, including smart cards and mobile banking.

3. Relative advantages of mobile payment systems: Mobile payments provide consumers with everywhere purchase possibilities, timely access to financial assets and an alternative to cash payments.

4. Payment system security and trust in payment systems providers: In a mobile environment, lack of consumer perceived security and trust in vendors and payment systems is one of the main barriers to electronic and mobile commerce transactions.

After understanding the benefits of mobile payment system, consumers would be more likely to adopt mobile payment system.

One of examples of mobile payments available in Malaysia is Mobile Money (MM Wallet). Mobile Money is a PIN-based Mobile Payment Solution designed by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd to address the limitations and bottlenecks created by cash, cheques and credit cards. It allows registered users to pay for goods and services at anytime, anywhere using only a mobile phone coupled with a 6-digit security PIN via SMS. To know how Mobile Money works, please click on this link

Related Links:

http://www.mobilepaymentsworld.com/

http://www.mohitagrawal.com/2009/04/mobile-payments-will-consumers-adopt.html

http://www.mobilepayment.com/

http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_overview.asp

www.mobile-money.com

Benefits of using pre-paid cash card

It is now available at thousands of retail locations and you can get cash at more than 1 million ATMs worldwide. Furthermore, consumers can only spend up to the amount of cash they have preloaded onto the card. This means there is no risk of running into debt as it has no credit or overdraft facility. It is a more convenient and safer alternative to carrying large sums of cash which means that consumers can enjoy protection against lost or stolen cards and unauthorized purchases.

Octopus application in Hong Kong

The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card used to transfer electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong. It was launched in September 1997 to collect fares for the territory's mass transit system, the Octopus card system was the first contactless smart card system in the world and has since grown into a widely used payment system for virtually all public transport in Hong Kong. In the beginning, it aims to develop a simple way to pay fares on public transport in Hong Kong and then they extended their reach into simple micro payments for purchases in retail outlets and a simple way for cardholders to gain access to buildings and schools and to identify themselves.

Now, the Octopus is also used for payment at convenience

stores, supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, on-street parking meters, car parks, and other point-of-sale applications such as service stations and vending machines. Hence, it makes their life easier.

The Octopus card has been internationally recognized, winning the Chairman's Award of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance's 2006 Global IT Excellence Award for being the world's leading complex automatic fare collection and contactless smartcard payment system, and for its innovative use of technologies.

Furthermore, the Octopus card uses encryption for all airborne communication and performs mutual authentication between the card and reader based on the ISO 9798-2 three-pass mutual authentication protocol. In other words, data communications are only established when the

card and reader have mutually authenticated based on a shared secret access key. This means that the security of the Octopus card system would be jeopardized should the access key be exposed. A stolen Octopus card reader could be used with stolen Octopus software, for example, to add value (up to HK$1,000) to any Octopus card without authorization.

Types of On-Loan Octopus cards

Touch ‘n Go for e-tailing

What is e-tailing? E-tailing is referring to the selling of retail goods on the Internet. It is synonymous with business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction. With the introduction of e-tailing, many companies are benefited from the convenience of the services. For instance, Touch ‘n Go uses contactless smartcard technology. The card looks similar to a credit card. User can continue using the card as long as it is pre-loaded with electronic cash. It is an electronic purse that can be used at all highways in Malaysia, major public transports in Klang Valley, selected parking sites and theme park.

We can see that it enhances the speed of paying for low value but high frequency transactions. Besides, it is also very convenient because user no longer need to prepare for small change or wait in queue at the cash lane to complete the transaction.

Related links:

http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/prepaid/index.html

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/cards/prepaid-cards-guide1.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card

http://www.hong-kong-travel.org/Octopus.asp

http://www.octopuscards.com/consumer/general/global/en/aboutus.jsp

http://www.touchngo.com.my/WhatTNG.html

Credit card is any card that issued by banks, savings and loans, retail stores, and other businesses that may be used repeatedly to borrow money or buy products and services on credit. It gives credit card holder protection for their purchases, allow them to shop on line, and provide a cushion in case of emergencies. Many people like to use it when they didn’t have enough cash on hands and this made the numbers of credit card debts increase until create the major problems of bankruptcies each year. This is because many people never realized of its consequences of financial and non financial perspectives.

While credit card debt is an example of unsecured consumer debt that accessed through credit cards. Debt results when consumer purchases an item or service through the card system. Debt will be accumulates and increases via interest and penalties when the consumer does not pay the credit card company for the money they have spent. And the late payment penalty itself will increase the amount of debt that the consumer has.

Factors that causes credit card debt

Poor money management is the biggest factor that causes people have accumulated many credit card debts. This is because people are not aware to conduct a monthly spending plan that planning of how much money they going to spent and also do not keep monthly bills or receipt for recording of how much money are left. They also never realized their spending on the items that are useless and do not have any value in their life. As a result, they may be overspending hundreds of dollars each month and end up having to charge purchases on which you should have spent that money. This is because people like to keep on spending with using the credit card without perceived that they are unable to pay back the debts.

Unemployment is the most common factor that causes credit card debt due to the recession of economies. Many people are losing their job and unable to maintain their living expenses, therefore they using the credit card to cover their future living expenses. For examples, households are forced to use credit card for their daily expenses purposes such as groceries and utilities in order for them to maintain their current lifestyle. This is because the main breadwinner of the household has loss his job and could not find a new job for short periods. This may lead to a rise in debt if expenses are not cutting down to cover the reduction in income.

Furthermore, people having credit card debts simply because they do not prepare any money for unexpected expenditures through saving. This is because they using credit card and like to use it for their spending and thereafter left no money to save in the bank. It sounds hardly for them to manage their saving account as they spending their money more than what they have receive. Therefore, without a savings cushion in place, a job layoff, illness or divorce will cause an immediate financial strain and increase in debt.

Moreover, credit card will become one of the sources of funds to pay off the medical expenses if health insurance is not adequate to cover the medical bills due to one of your family members suffers serious illness. This is because the medical industry wants people to make payment at the time service is rendered as they think that the chances of their getting paid will drops if people not make payment. It can be mean that your payment is their income and they prefer more debt for you, less for them. In United States, almost everyone pays their medical expenses through credit cards in order to get immediate treatment.

Prevention of credit card debt

In order to prevent people from overspendidng their budget that they previously set and prevent from debt, people have to make a clear budget and stick on it. It enable them do a realistic assessment of how much money they have take in and the money they have spend. Start by listing their income from all sources and then writing down all their expenses even those that semm insignificant (such as entertainment). It is a helpful way to track their spending pattern, identity necessary expenses and prioritize the rest.

Besides that, the best practices to prevent credit card debts is to have a better self control and discipline so that people able to pay back the full amount each month and use the credit card wisely because they have try to learn not to overspend it. People can control themselves by stop to use the credit card money if their expenses are more than their budget.

Another prevention method will be people can address the problem they face with creditors instantly to identify whether they could give revised on payment arrangement when you facing trouble on to pay off the debts. It can be mean that if the collection money from creditors is not fair, they can refer to Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to identify the debts problems. This is because creditors may approve proposal and accept modified payment plan when hiring a good credit card debt consolidation companies.

Moreover, people have to prioritize their debt repayment in order to prevent from overspendings and fall under deeper debt load. They are advisable to pay off their smaller debts in order to get rid of the highest interest payment first. They are required to list all of their credit card debts and the amount you are paying each month and then pay off the lowest amount first. This is because it will take lesser time and they will feel a sense of satisfaction when you have actually completed their goal and this will boost their confidence. Thereafter, they will use their remaining money to start paying off the second lowest debts.

Related Links:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/debt/debt_manage_2004/top-10-causes.asp

http://www.mozdex.com/prevent-credit-card-debt/