website.qxd  4/9/2003  11:52 AM  Page 9

Website Development & Hosting

E-commerce

E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services across the Internet. An e-commerce

site can be as simple as a catalogue page with a phone number. Or, it can range all the way to a

real-time  credit  card  processing  site  where  customers  can  purchase  downloadable  goods  and

receive them on the spot. E-commerce merchants can range from the small business with a few

items for sale all the way to a large online retailer such as Amazon.com and eBay.com. 

Some definitions relating to e-commerce 

a

Ad Clicks: Number of times that a viewer clicks on an ad banner. 

a

Address Verification: Process used by a credit card processor or other party to verify that

customers  ordering addresses matches their records. 

a

Automated Clearing House: An ACH transaction is an electronic fund transfer through

the .ederal Reserve Bank from a checking or savings account.

a

Authorisation: The process of checking the validity and available balance of a customer s

credit card before the transaction can be accepted. 

a

Bandwidth: The amount of information (web pages, text, graphics, video, sound, etc) that

is downloaded through a connection. 

a

Banner: An interactive ad placed on a web page that is linked to an external advertiser s

website or another internal page within the same website. 

a

 Card Not Present  Merchant Account: An account that allows merchants to process

credit cards without a face-to-face transaction with the purchaser. 

a

Certificate Authority: A Certificate Authority (CA) is a third party who verifies the identity

of  merchants  and  their  sites.  The  certificate  authority  issues  a  certificate  (also  called  a

digital certificate or an authentication certificate) to an applicant company, which can then

put the certificate up on its site. 

a

Commerce Server: The server that manages and maintains all transactional and backend

data for a commerce website. 

a

Cross  Promotion: The  promotion  of  a  website  through  other  traditional  forms  of

advertising such as magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, billboards, etc. 

a

Delayed Settlement Processing: Once a transaction has been authorised, the merchant

must  ship  the  hard  goods  before  a  transaction  can  be  settled.  Delayed  settlements  are

stored online until the merchant selects the transactions for settlement. 

a

Digital Certificate: A Digital Certificate issued by a Certificate Authority certifies that a

merchant and a particular website are connected, just as a photo on your driver s licence

connects  your  identity  with  your  personal  details.  A  Digital  Certificate  verifies  to  the

shopper  that  the  virtual  store  is  actually  associated  with  a  physical  address  and  phone

number, increasing the shopper s confidence in the authenticity of the merchant. 

Copyright  NESIS 2002

9