Comparing and contrasting micro-payment models for E-commerce systems

摘要

Current macro-payment systems used by most E-commerce sites are not suitable for high-volume, low-cost produce or service purpose, such as charging per-page for web site browsing. These payment technologies suffer from use of heavyweight encryption technologies and reliance on always on-line authorisation servers. Micro-payment systems offer an alternative strategy of pay-as-you-go charging, even for very low cost, very high-volume charging. However, several different micro-payment schemes exist, not all suitable for all E-commerce uses. We compare and contrast several micro-payment models and outline a new micro-payment technology we have been developing.