At present, in addition to online banking, electronic credit cards and other means, the use of the rapidly developing payment model and payment process of third-party institutions can also relatively reduce the risk of online payment, but the third-party institution must have a certain degree of integrity. In the actual operation process, the third-party institution can be a bank that issues credit cards or other powerful enterprises. When using this online payment model to make online payments, the disclosure of credit card numbers and passwords is only transferred between the cardholder and the bank, reducing the risk caused by transfer through merchants.
The cardholder first transmits account information to the third party in the form of some electronic data (such as email) that replaces the bank account number, avoiding the cardholder from directly disclosing the bank information to the merchant. In addition, it is also possible to log in to the third-party institution interface instead of logging in to the online banking interface to complete the transaction payment. The third-party institution signs relevant agreements with various major banks, allowing the third-party institution and the bank to conduct some form of data exchange and confirmation of relevant information. In this way, the third-party institution can establish a payment process between the cardholder or consumer and each bank, as well as the final payee or merchant.
In the online third-party electronic payment transaction process, the merchant cannot see the customer’s credit card information, thereby avoiding the risk of multiple public transmission of credit card information on the Internet. Take B2C transactions as an example: In the first step, customers choose goods on e-commerce websites and finally decide to buy them. The buyer and seller reach a transaction intention online. In the second step, customers choose to use a third-party electronic payment platform as a transaction intermediary and transfer the payment to a third-party account with a credit card. In the third step, the online third-party electronic payment platform notifies the merchant of the payment and requires the merchant to ship the goods within the specified time. In the fourth step, the merchant ships the goods according to the order after receiving the notification. In the fifth step, the customer receives the goods and verifies them and notifies the third party to pay. In the sixth step, the third party transfers the payment from its account to the merchant’s account, and the transaction is completed.
In the 1990s, websites such as Alibaba and Huicong Business Information moved many B2B business transactions to the Internet with good information management, intermediary services and powerful transaction platforms. B2C and C2C websites such as eBay, Taobao, and Dangdang provide netizens with a platform for free shopping. With the support of “online payment”, online shopping ushered in the third Internet economic boom.