Customer Perceptions of a Thin-Client Micro-Payment System: Issues and Experiences

Two fundamental payment methods exist for online information purchase: macropayment and micro-payment. Traditional macro-payment methods, like credit and charge cards and digital currency, are suitable for large-value, low-volume transactions. However, large-volume, low-value commodities, such as discrete units of information from a website, better suit a micro-payment model. In micro-payment, customers pay for large numbers of small value goods (e.g., per-web page view) with “e-coins”, typically of very small value each. We have carried out an empirical assessment of micro-payment and macro-payment purchasing models for an online newspaper application. We report on the design of our experiment, the two kinds of micro-payment (client and server-side e-wallets) used, and customer feedback. We also carried out an assessment of customer effort and economic trade-off when using these services, and compared the results of this assessment to a survey of customers using each system. We present directions for further online payment research aiming to improve the overall satisfaction and efficiency of payment models for end users. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com ITB9990 IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING This chap er appears in the book, Advanced T pics in End User Computing, Volume 3, edited by M. Adam Mahmood. Copyright © 2004, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.