| Ad
Clicks |
Number
of times that a viewer clicks on an ad banner. |
| Address
Verification |
Process
used by a credit card processor or other party to verify that a customer's
ordering address matches their records. |
| Automated
Clearing House |
An
ACH transaction is an electronic fund transfer through the
Federal Reserve Bank from a checking or savings account |
| Authorization |
The
process of checking the validity and available balance of a customer's
credit card before the transaction can be accepted. |
| Bandwidth |
The
amount of information (Web pages, text, graphics, video, sound, etc.)
that is downloaded through a connection. |
| Banner |
An
interactive ad placed on a Web page that is linked to an external
advertiser's Web site or another internal page within the same Web
site. |
| Card
Not Present Merchant Account |
An
account that allows merchants to process credit cards without a face
to face transaction with the purchaser. |
| Certificate
Authority |
A
Certificate Authority (CA) is a third party which 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. |
| Commerce
Server |
The
server that manages and maintains all transactional and backend data
for a commerce Web site. |
| Cross
Promotion |
The
promotion of a Web site through other traditional forms of advertising
such as magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, billboards, etc. |
| Delayed
Settlement Processing |
Once
a transaction has been authorized, 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. |
| Digital
Certificate |
A
Digital Certificate issued by a Certificate Authority certifies
that a merchant and a particular Web site 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
which can increase the shoppers confidence in the authenticity of
the merchant. |
| Distribution
Channel |
The
method through which a product is sold including retailers, catalogers,
Internet commerce Web sites, etc. |
| Domain
Name |
The
unique name of an Internet Web site. For example, yahoo.com
is a domain name. |
| Download |
The
transfer of information from the Internet to the browsing computer. |
| Drop
Ship |
The
shipping of a product directly from the manufacturer to the customer
without requiring inventory carrying by the retailer. |
| Electronic
Software Distribution |
Software
that can be purchased and downloaded directly from the Internet. |
| Hit |
Each
time a Web server sends a file (HTML or graphic) to a browser, a hit
is recorded in the server file logs. |
| Home
Page |
The
first page through which a viewer usually enters a Web site. |
| HTML |
Hyper
Text Markup Language is the standardized language which allows
Web browsers to interpret Web sites. |
| HTTP |
Hyper
Text Transfer Protocol is a language which allows computers to
communicate with each other. |
| Keywords |
Words
that may be used by viewers searching for information. Keywords can
be purchased from search engine companies so that an appropriate ad
banner may be displayed when a viewer searches on a particular word. |
| Merchant
Account |
A
bank account established with a payment processor for the settlement
of credit card transactions. Any merchant who wants to take credit
card orders must establish a merchant account. Internet merchants
need a Card Not Present Merchant Account. |
| Off-Line
Transaction Processing |
Capture
of order and credit card information for later authorization and transaction
processing through a traditional card swipe terminal or through a
computer. |
| Order
Confirmation |
An
email message notifying a customer that an order has been received
and will be processed. |
| Order
Management System |
A
system that accepts orders and initiates a process that results in
the outbound shipment of a finished good. |
| Real
Time Credit Card Processing |
On-line
authorization of a credit card number in real time informing the merchant
that the card has been approved. |
| Settlement |
Once
the goods have been shipped to the customer, the merchant can key
a transaction for settlement at which time the customer's credit card
is charged for the transaction and the proceeds are deposited into
the merchant account. |
| SSL |
Secure
Socket Layer is an encryption technology on the server that scrambles
important data such as credit card numbers and order information when
it is being stored or passed from one computer to another. |
| Shipping
Confirmation |
An
email message that notifies a customer that an order has been shipped. |
| URL |
A
Uniform Resource Locator describes the location of a document
on the Internet. |
Return
to eCommerce Products home page.
Return to 8 Steps home page. |
