JP2001351041A - Electronic transaction system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic transaction system capable of completely or almost preventing the generation of a trouble inherent in mail-order business concerned with a transaction. SOLUTION: In a commercial transaction for allowing a commodity selling agency to present the commodity information of a certain commodity to a user 4 through a proper advertisement medium such as a home page of the Internet and allowing the user 4 to select the commodity on the basis of the presented information, show the will of purchase to the selling agency and exchange the commodity with its price, the site of a settlement system is set up by a third person other than the selling agency and the user 4 in order to check the will concerned with the selling/buying of the commodity between the selling agency and the user 4, a virtual account is opened on the site, the user 4 intending to purchase the commodity temporarily transfers the required amount of the commodity on the virtual account. When the selling agency checks the temporary transfer, the commodity is delivered from the selling source to the user 4, the reception of the commodity by the user 4 is checked, and after the lapse of prescribed time such as a cooling-off period, the movement of the price stored in the virtual account to the real account of the selling agency is permitted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the commerce and purchase of merchandise in various online sales, payment of the price, and the occurrence of troubles related to such transactions, including commerce and purchase of goods in an online shopping mall using the Internet. The present invention relates to an e-commerce system capable of preventing the problem from occurring.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, personal computers (hereinafter, referred to as personal computers).
With the development of personal computers and communication networks using them, a number of online shopping malls (also called electronic malls) using the Internet have been operated.

A user who has registered for the use of each online shopping mall sets up the homepage of the shopping mall on his or her personal computer screen, browses product information on various products, and if there is a product to be purchased, the user Shows the intention to purchase the product to the provider or the store operator of the product you want to purchase, and after the agreement between the parties regarding the purchase and sale of the product is established, The economic act of exchanging goods for consideration is executed by the same method as the method described in the above, or by another method as appropriate. This is the same in so-called mail-order sales in which advertisement media are to be printed on paper or radio waves.

[0004] However, the following problems still occur in mail-order sales using e-mail and the like via the Internet, including mail-order sales known in the past.
In many cases, safe and smooth transactions are not made.

[0005] From the standpoint of a product purchaser, (a) a product is not delivered despite payment, (b) a product different from the ordered product is delivered, and (c) cancellation due to cooling-off. There is no refund of payment, (d)
An unordered product has been delivered, (e) an invoice has been sent without the fact that the product has been purchased, etc. There is no payment, a product different from the one delivered in the sale cancellation due to cooling off is returned, the product order itself is mischievous, it is canceled every time the ordered product is delivered, and so on.

In the above problems, in particular, the problem on the consumer side (a) and the problem on the supplier side are related to the fundamentals of commercial transactions. Therefore, if a transaction form that does not cause such problems is established, It is thought that it is convenient for both the demand and supply sides to realize healthy transactions.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic commerce system in which no trouble inherent in mail-order sales relating to the above-mentioned transactions occurs at all, or which is extremely unlikely to occur.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the system of the present invention is configured such that the seller of the product sends the product information of the product to the user through an appropriate advertisement medium such as an Internet homepage. On the other hand, in a commercial transaction in which the user selects a product based on the presented information, indicates the intention of purchase to the seller, and exchanges the product for the price, the user confirms the intention of the seller and the user regarding buying and selling of the product. Therefore, a site of a payment institution by a third party other than the seller and the user is set up, a virtual account is opened there, and a user who purchases the product in the virtual account temporarily transfers a required amount of money, and Upon confirmation with the seller, the merchandise is delivered to the user from the seller, the receipt of the merchandise by the user is confirmed, and By a predetermined time, such as periods of Ringuofu has elapsed, and is characterized in that to move the consideration in the virtual account to a real account commercial sources is allowed.

In the system of the present invention, a virtual account set at a site corresponding to a settlement institution is set and managed by a third party other than the merchandise seller and the user. Confirmation of the delivery and transfer of the consideration in the virtual account to the real account or return of the consideration in the virtual account to the user is performed by a third party who manages and operates the virtual account other than the seller and the user. By doing so, the handling of the consideration of the virtual account is secured, and furthermore, the consideration transferred from the user to the virtual account is transferred to the real account of the seller or returned to the user. The virtual account is automatically canceled from the site of the settlement institution.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a business relationship via the Internet between an electronic mall (electronic shopping mall) and its related companies via the Internet. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing products and consideration (cash) in the transaction of FIG. Or, it is a block diagram schematically showing a flow of information and the like.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes the Internet, and 2 denotes an electronic mall operator who builds and operates an electronic mall (electronic shopping mall) via the Internet 1. The operator 2 is a provider of the electronic mall as a provider. By contracting with the product suppliers A to D, which are the users, and contracting with the consumers a to d, which are the users 4 in the electronic mall,
An electronic mall EC is formed.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a settlement institution in the electronic mall EC, and the institution 5 includes each of the stores A to D and the user a.
-D refers to a site as a third party having no interest in the purchase and sale of goods, for example, a financial institution such as one or more banks designated by the provider 2 or a settlement institution set in the electronic mall EC. When using a financial institution in the market, the financial institution and the provider of the operator 2 of the electronic mall EC contract to act as a settlement institution in the electronic mall EC.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a delivery organization of goods in the electronic mall EC, and the institution 6 is also a provider of the electronic mall EC, in which each of the stores A to D or one or more carriers specified by the provider 2 is the provider. By contracting with a certain operator 2, it acts as a merchandise delivery agency in the electronic mall EC.

In the present invention, there is a case where the provider 2 sets the settlement institution 5 and the delivery institution 6 as one of its internal mechanisms, and thereby the business is performed sequentially.

[0015] The merchandise sales relationship in the electronic mall EC
As an example, it is established as follows, and will be described below. First, each of the users a to d browses the merchandise information in the electronic mall EC in the homepage format provided by the provider 2 from terminal devices such as personal computers owned by each of the users a to d and selects the merchandise they want to purchase. .

If each of the users a to d has a product to be purchased, the user 2 informs the operator 2 or each of the stores A to D of the intention to purchase the product from his / her own personal computer or other appropriate means. The operator 2 or each of the store vendors A to D who have confirmed the intention of the users a to d to purchase the product have a virtual account VB to be used only in the current transaction for each specific user and each of the store vendors dealing with the user. It is set up at a settlement institution 5 such as a bank which can be a third party who has no interest in the store or the user. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, a description will be given in relation to the user a and the user a and the shopkeeper D who buys and sells goods.

In the system of the present invention, a virtual account VB is set up in the settlement institution 5 which is a third party for the user a and the store clerk D, and the user a makes all or a part of the product price. Is transferred to the account VB. In the present invention, this transfer by the user a is a final confirmation of the purchase of the product, and the procedure for shipping the product to the user a is started only after the store D or the operator 2 confirms that the transfer has been made. Is done. Therefore, a virtual account
If there is no transfer from the user a to the VB, it is determined that the final intention to purchase the product is reserved and no preparation for shipment is made.
At this stage, the user a transferred to the virtual account VB
The price of the goods from can not be freely disposed of by any of the parties concerned. Before the goods are delivered to the user a, the store D can transfer the remittance to his / her own account 3B without permission or refund the user a to his / her actual account 4B for a purchase stop due to cooling off. is there.

As described above, the transfer of the consideration of the user a to the virtual account VB in the system of the present invention is for confirming the final intention of the purchase of the product, and the consideration of the transferred virtual account VB is determined by the store operator. D cannot be disposed of freely because, even if the product is not yet delivered to user a or has been delivered, it is used as a fund to refund the return of the product from user a by cooling off. is there.

Therefore, the request from the user a to transfer all or a part of the commodity price to the virtual account VBb is sent to the settlement institution 5.
, The institution 5 uses the electronic key A to deposit money from the user a into the account VB. In this way, when the transfer to the virtual account VB by the user a is confirmed by the settlement institution 5 (or the institution 5 and the store clerk D),
Based on an instruction from the institution 5 (or the institution 5 and the operator 2), the shop opener D delivers the product to the user a via the delivery institution 6. On the other hand, when the delivery completion report from the delivery organization 6 is sent to the store D, and the user a receives the product and the cooling-off period (or another predetermined period) elapses, the user a The unlocking of the outlet of the account VB is allowed by the electronic lock C, and when the settlement institution 5 confirms this permission, the electronic lock A ′ of the settlement institution 5 allows the unlocking of the exit of the virtual account VB. The payment from the user a transferred to the account VB is first transferred to the real account 3B of the store D by the settlement institution 5 (or the operator 2), whereby one transaction is completed.

On the other hand, the user a who has received the product
If the merchandise is returned through the delivery agency 6 for reasons such as dislike of the purchased merchandise during the cooling-off period, the user a indicates the intention of the store owner D to that effect.
(Or the operator 2), since the delivery is performed by the delivery organization 6, the store clerk D uses the delivery organization 6 to collect the product returned from the user a. If this collection is paid, the collection cost is deducted from the transfer amount of the user a of the virtual account VB,
The balance is returned to the user a through the designated account 4B or the like. When the returned goods are returned to the store D by the delivery organization 6, the store D allows the electronic lock B to unlock the entrance of the virtual account VB.
When this permission is confirmed by the settlement institution 5, the institution 5
Unlocks the entrance using the electronic lock A and returns the value of the account VB to the real account 4B of the user a. When the return of the cooled-off product to the store D and the return of the consideration to the user a are properly completed, the user a
And the store owner D return to the relationship before the start of the transaction.

In the above description, although the goods are actually being delivered to the user a properly, the delivery organization 6
If the settlement institution 5 cannot confirm either one or both of the delivery report from the user and the receipt confirmation of the user a by using the electronic key A ′ of the settlement institution 5 even after the cooling-off period. Also enables transfer of the transfer money from the virtual account VB to the real account 3B of the shopper D. This handling is based on the user a's real account from the virtual account VB when the product is returned by cooling-off from the user a.
The same shall apply to the return of the transfer to 4B.

In the system of the present invention, the above-mentioned sale of goods is properly completed between the user a and the shop opener D, or the sale is not completed due to cooling-off, and the consideration and the return of the goods are properly completed. As a result, the virtual account VB set up for buying and selling the product by the user a and the shopkeeper D set in the settlement institution 5 is canceled.

The above description is an example of merchandise trading between the user a and the shopper D, but the other user b
-D and the shoppers A-C are also traded in the same relationship as in the above example.

[0024]

As described above, according to the system of the present invention, when buying and selling goods by each user and each store, a virtual account exclusively used for this transaction is created by each user and each store. A user who intends to purchase a product is provided on a site that will be a payment institution that does not have a payment account, and by temporarily transferring all or part of the price of the product to the virtual account and retaining it, the user confirms the final intention of purchasing the product. Because the payment is made at the payment institution, the store can prevent troubles that have not been paid for the store, while for the user, the price of the product transferred to the virtual account can be obtained by receiving the delivery of the ordered product and cooling off. If the user returns the product by cooling off by not being passed to the store from the virtual account of the settlement institution until the time has passed, the settlement Since the consideration from Seki is returned to the user, there is no room for the trouble that consideration is taken not come back resulting from the merchants be properly return the goods.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a business relationship via the Internet between an electronic mall (electronic shopping mall) via the Internet and a related company.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the flow of goods and consideration (cash) or information in the transaction of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Internet 2 Operator 3 Electronic mall store 4 User 5 Payment agency 6 Merchandise delivery agency AD Product supplier ad User

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A merchandise seller presents merchandise information of the merchandise to a user through an appropriate advertising medium such as an Internet homepage, and the user selects a merchandise based on the presented information and indicates a purchase intention. In a commercial transaction that shows the seller and exchanges the price for the product,
In order to confirm the intention of the seller and the user regarding the purchase and sale of goods, a site of a payment institution by a third party other than the seller and the user is set up, a virtual account is opened there, and the goods are purchased in the virtual account. The user transfers the required amount of money temporarily and confirms this with the seller, whereby the merchandise is delivered from the seller to the user, the receipt of the merchandise by the user is confirmed, and a predetermined period such as a cooling-off period. An e-commerce system, wherein, as time passes, it is allowed to transfer the consideration in the virtual account to a real account of a seller. 2. The electronic commerce system according to claim 1, wherein the virtual account set in the site corresponding to the settlement institution is set and managed by a third-party settlement institution other than the merchandise seller and the user. The procedure for confirming the payment of the consideration to the virtual account and the delivery of the goods and transferring the consideration in the virtual account to the real account of the seller is approved by a third party settlement institution or the institution and the user. The electronic commerce system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the electronic commerce system is made subject to approval of the electronic commerce. 4. The return of the value in the virtual account to the user after the product is properly returned to the seller may be approved by a third party settlement organization that manages and operates the virtual account, or the institution and the selling agency may The electronic commerce system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which is made on condition of approval. 5. The electronic commerce system according to claim 3, wherein the approval is performed by unlocking the virtual account with an electronic key owned by each party. 6. The virtual account is transferred to a site of the clearing house provided that it is confirmed that the consideration transferred to the virtual account is transferred to the real account of the seller or returned to the user. The electronic commerce system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the e-commerce system automatically resolves the following.