~welcome to e-commerce world~

Post by Jackie, 3 July 09 @ 10:08 pm

• This card represents talk time that users acquire in advance. For instance, if you purchase a prepaid phone card for RM 10, you can use up to RM10 of talk time depending on the call rates per minute to the destination that you make. People like to use prepaid phone cards because they don’t have to carry coins or notes around, and furthermore, calls can be made from payphones, mobile phones, and landlines. The cards are mostly used for overseas calls as the rate per-minute is cheaper as compared to other telecommunications provider. Besides that, prepaid phone cards can purchase from any grocery stores, phone shops, and even newsstands.

2. Prepaid Debit Card.

• This card is very frequently used all over the world because; it can be used to make international payments without the fuss of waiting for neither bank’s approval for clearance and only a minimal fees is charged for bank transfers. All one needs to do is to ensure the card is loaded with cash and transactions can be carried out. Alternatively, if there is insufficient cash on the card, the users need to reload their cards with money from their bank accounts. The purchase amount will then be directly deducted from amount loaded onto the card. This card is most practical for e commerce transactions.

3. Prepaid Smart Card.

• It uses Mifare contactless technology, which is an internationally recognized standard for contactless smartcard. In Malaysia, the Touch ‘n Go card uses this technology for payments made on highways, public transports, selected parking and theme parks. Each time a user touches their card on the electronic reader, the precise fee imposed will be deducted automatically. As you can see from the picture below, as of this moment, Touch ‘n Go cards can even be used at fast food outlets.

4. Prepaid Gift Card

• Instead of giving someone gift vouchers as a present, why not give them a prepaid gift card instead? MasterCard offers customers an easier gift solution as this gift card can be used at millions of stores located worldwide and the person receiving the card can spend a maximum of the amount that is on the card.

References:

http://www.mastercard.com/uk/personal/en/findacard/prepaidcard/prepaid_gift.html
http://www.mastercard.com/uk/personal/en/findacard/prepaidcard/about_prepaid.html
http://www.therichcom.com/phoneCardsguide.asp
http://www.touchngo.com.my/WhatTNG_card_TNG_1a.html
http://blog.saimatkong.com/index.php/2008/04/13/you-can-use-touch-%e2%80%99n-go-card-to-buy-burgers-by-next-saturday/

Post by Jackie, 3 July 09 @ 10:07 pm

Electronic currency is a digital symbol of physical money. It allows consumers to pay for goods or services by sending a number from one computer to another. It is done by transferring funds electronically, from one party to another, where it is cleared and protected by a strong encryption. This benefits the users as it offers more safety and less risk to them.

Furthermore, as E-commerce is evolving to be used widely, electronic currency is making it simpler for consumers to spend online. Usually, a user can purchase electronic currency by connecting to the Internet and certifying ownership of their account. This is followed by the user withdrawing the required amount and the bank issues a unique random number in an electronic coin format. The electronic coin has a serial number whereby the bank signs with their private key. The user will then store the electronic coins on their hard drive.

A unique type of electronic currency is E-Gold. E-Gold is an electronic currency issued by e-gold Ltd., a Nevis corporation. It is done by integrating an account system that allows the consumers to use gold as money. When one consumer carries out the e-gold payment, only the rights over it changes to the other party. The gold however, is still kept in the treasury vault.

1. Mondex.

• Electronic currency can be transferred by a system called Mondex. Mondex is a type of smart card that keeps 5 different types of currencies and transmits cash on the internet. A consumer can make a purchase from any online vendors that accept Mondex by inserting their Mondex card into the card reader and validating with the vendor’s Mondex device, the value of the transaction will be transferred onto the vendor’s card.
  

2. Mark Twain.

• Another type of electronic currency system is Mark Twain. Firstly, a consumer must open a World Currency Access (WCA) account. The WCA is a money market deposit account that bears interest and is accessible to customers free of the electronic currency program. To use electronic currency from their WCA account, a consumer must make transfer of funds by telephone, facsimile, mail or e-mail, from the WCA account to an individual "electronic currency mint" non-interest-bearing account. Following this, the electronic currency amount is downloaded from the electronic currency mint to the consumer’s computer via the internet. The funds are then transferred again to a pooled account at Mark Twain’s. Vendors who are paid by electronic currency can then cash in the amount received.
  

Electronic currency provides some of the benefits as follow:

1. Confidentiality

• Electronic currency is known to be anonymous. For instance, when a consumer sends electronic currencies to a vendor, the vendor will have no idea who the consumer is. This is a completely different feature as compared to credit cards. Furthermore, using electronic currencies can protect the confidentiality of the consumer as banks are also unable to obtain consumer’s personal information.
  

2. Security.

• Electronic currency is protected by encryption of RSA cryptography which makes it difficult to crack the code. Cryptograph is created by using digital signature. Digital signatures require an electronic private key on the sender’s part and a public key on the recipient’s part. Thus, even though people have doubts about internet safety, consumers carrying out electronic currency transactions are probably more secured while carrying out transactions online as compared to conventional way of doing business.
  

There are still some of the disadvantages of electronic currency:

1. Fraud.

• When a consumer misplaces their private key and funds are withdrawn by an unknown party, the bank will not know about it. The consumer will then be liable for any transaction carried out. Furthermore, if the security code is hacked and message interrupted, the unknown party can commit fraud on the intended recipient of the message.

2. Peer-to-peer double spending.

• This only occurs when consumer decides not to have the bank as an intermediary. This is because if the consumer includes the bank as an intermediary, the bank will check for double spending on behalf of the consumer and stop it immediately. However, if the consumer chooses a peer-to-peer transaction, nothing can be done if there is double spending on a transaction.

Post by Jaeme, 3 July 09 @ 10:07 pm

According to the statistics of credit card debts in Malaysia, the number of Malaysians declaring bankruptcy due to credit card debts has been increasing. However, as of May 2009, the number of people declaring bankruptcy has reduced.

There are a few causes of credit card debts:

1. Less income, more expenses.

• Most of the people have lesser income as compared to the expenses they incur. When their income is unable to cover their expenses, they will conduct payments using their credit cards. At this time, they do not think about the ability of paying back the installments of the debts.
  
  

2. Saving little or none at all

• You should save at least 4 months of living expenses in case of a rainy day. For instance, if you lose your job in June, you will have enough money to maintain your current lifestyle up until September. After these 4 months, you may be able to find a new employment. Therefore, having enough savings for a rainy day is always a worthwhile investment.

3. Poor money management.

• Many families accumulate lots of debts. This is due to them not having a monthly spending plan and keeping their monthly bills properly which makes them unaware of the amount of bills they have to settle. Hundreds of ringgit is charged each month on items which they don’t actually need, at the same time, incurring higher interest.

4. Big medical expenses.

• Unfortunately, medical expenses are quite high, especially on serious diseases. Almost all the hospitals receive credit card payment. When you need treatment and you do not have enough money, you will usually use your credit card to pay, although you may not be able to repay the expenses.

References:

http://www.3debtconsolidation.com/top10-causes.html

How to prevent your credit card debts?

1. Spending plan.

• Spending plan can help you to deal in controlling your monthly expenses. For instance, by having the spending plan, you expenses will not exceed your income.

2. Adjust your shopping habits to reduce credit card debt.

• Some people have a habit of shopping and usually they will spent too much of money that they can’t afford to pay. To reduce credit card debts, consumers need to adjust their shopping habits to may help to reduce your debt.

3. Pay card with higher interest rate first.

• A higher interest rate will always cost more money in the long run. To prevent this situation from happening, paying off the credit card debt with the highest interest rates may save a lot of money.

4. Debt consolidation.

• If you consider to switching your debt from one credit card to another, check the fine print before you start transferring the balance. Usually credit card companies try to sweeten the deal by advertising a zero or a very low interest payment on the balance transfers for a certain period. But then, after the time period is up, the amount of debt left is charged a much higher interest rate. This would only benefit credit card customers who can pay the amount of the debt in full at this low rate, otherwise they will run the risk of incurring higher interest rate on the debt.
  

References:

http://consumereducation.suite101.com/article.cfm/credit_card_debt_solutions#ixzz0K6vny9ST&D

http://consumereducation.suite101.com/article.cfm/credit_card_debt_solutions

http://www.rebuild.org/news-article/top-four-techniques-to-get-credit-card-debt-under-control/

Post by Ching Wen, 3 July 2009 @ 10:06 pm

With the current technological advancement, payment methods for mobile phone bills are becoming more convenient than it has ever been. One of the most convenient ways of payment is using mobile payment.

Mobile payment system can be done via mobile phones. It is where money is transferred from one party to another, by means of an intermediary or directly, without an intermediary. Mobile payment system is also introduced in ticketing, peer to peer fund transfers purchases on the internet and purchase of goods.

There are certain potentials in using mobile payment system. Mobile payment system makes consumers to potentially increase their desire in the purchasing of goods. Furthermore, it makes consumers feel at ease as they can buy the goods at the moment they have the desire to do so. For corporate purposes, it can enhance customer service by introducing new products or services via offering more convenient payment method for purchase. Besides that, it brings a positive effect to the company image; as the companies can save cost compared to traditional payment method. Mobile payment systems have become universally and widely accepted to customer, merchants and companies. Payment through mobile is also handy as consumers do not need to search for ATM machines to withdraw money for making payments. Mobile payment system is much more secured compared to cash or credit card.

There are several examples of mobile payments available in Malaysia:

1. MobileExec

• It provides commercial grade short message service (SMS) to people and business that want fast and reliable messaging services.
  

2. Mobile Money

• A PIN-based Mobile Payment solution for the limitation and bottlenecks created by cash, check and credit card. It allows registered user pay for goods and service at anytime, anywhere by using mobile phone with a 6-digit security PIN via SMS.
  

3. Paybox.

• “Paybox” was set up as a holistic mobile banking system which allows customers to access their accounts at any banks.

There are four types of mobile payment can be used by user, which are stated as follow:-

1. SMS based transactions, which is based on sending SMS for payments. This is the easiest but less secured method. It is less secured because any hacker can read the SMS details. It is also unreliable as the services varies, relying on SMS server traffic.

2. Direct mobile billing method which usually charges a fee for the payment made. However, this method is more secured than SMS, which is attributed by two-way authentication.

3. Mobile web payment using web pages or additional software on user’s mobile to make payment. It is done by wireless access protocol (WAP) to make payments, which is also more secured and works better as compared with the other type of payment methods.

4. Near field communication is a smart card installed in a user’s mobile phone whereby the mobile phone can be used for payments in shopping malls.

Relatively, advantages in mobile payment could affect the consumers’ adoption of mobile payment. By comparing the traditional payment methods with mobile payment methods, consumers are able to make purchases anywhere and anytime.Consumers do not need to wait hours in queue for counter payments; they can merely use their mobile phones to conduct payments which can save time. Furthermore, consumers feel comfortable and convenient carrying out mobile payments due to its low-value transaction costs. Low-value transactions are payments for movie tickets, transportation and so on.

Cost saving is one of the strategies that consumers adopt by using mobile payment system. In making transfer of funds or payments, consumers need to pay transaction cost first. By providing low transaction cost, the consumers tend to adopt mobile payment system.

Furthermore, another type of adoption strategy is by educating the consumers about mobile payment system. By widely spreading and advertising about the mobile payment strategies, consumers will feel more confident and comfortable while using mobile payment systems. This is because some consumers do not have knowledge about mobile payment system and some of them do not even know what mobile payment system is. Therefore, the government or any other related parties should advertise and provide seminars on how to use mobile payment systems. Besides that, the government should promote the relative advantages of using mobile payment, so that consumers will feel more confident while using it.

Although mobile payment brings a lot of benefits to consumers, there are certainly security risk involved while conducting mobile payments. Mobile payment system should include essential features that protect confidential information of the users. Service providers should enhance their security system and carry out updates regularly. These will increase consumer’s adoption of using mobile payment.

Moreover, the service provides should design the websites so that the WebPages fit nicely into the mobile screens.This can create a more user friendly system where consumers do not get confused nor frustrated while using mobile payments.

Lastly, lower selling price of mobile phones can encourage consumers to use mobile payment systems. Consumers are able to perform mobile payments by purchasing a mobile phone for less that RM200, which has General Packet Radio Service(GPRS) enabling them to connect to the internet and to perform mobile payments.

References:

http://project.hkkk.fi/helsinkimobility/papers/Mobile%20Applications_2_3.pdf

http://is2.lse.ac.uk/asp/aspecis/20020144.pdf

http://www.watblog.com/2009/06/03/mobile-payments-to-touch-190-million-worldwide-by-2012-a-detailed-look-at-types-of-mobile-payments/