ogistics and for digital products Internet transfer, and payment to the seller. The logistics function may be carried out by the market maker, or organiser, or by a further intermediary. The payment function may also be through the market maker, a further intermediary or directly between the participants.
Markets also require the development of trust to prevent opportunistic behaviour as, for example, there may be a delay between the transfer of payment and the receipt of products, or there is the risk the products may not be what they claim to be. This function is required to protect all parties - buyers, sellers and intermediaries.
Ebay, for example, has its 'Safe Harbour' team which is designed to prevent fraud and abuse of their market, and ratings of buyers and sellers which, by identifying unscrupulous traders, works to build trust. They also offer escrow services, whereby payment is held by a trusted third party, in this case the market maker, until the products have been inspected.
Further examples of escrow are QXL's SafePay service for their auction service and Itrustyou.com, an independent party.
Fastparts, which operates (anonymous) auction markets for overproduced electronic components, addresses the quality aspect of the trust issue by inspecting products for quality and offering guaranteed payment.
Facilitation also involves the actual mechanism for trading to take place. In the Internet context this is the actual provision of the electronic marketspace, website, which allows trading to take place. This is provided by the market maker.
Institutional infrastructure 制度基础
This refers to the laws, rules and regulations which apply to market activities which are required to resolve disputes regarding contracts, illegal behaviour and so on. The legal context is a matter of some debate as complexity comes from the international nature of the Internet. The case involving Yahoo and Nazi memorabilia in Summer 2000 was an example of this (BBC 2000).
The rules and regulations are the responsibility of the owner of the market, the market maker. A fundamental regulation is that someone must be registered before they can take place in trading. Norms of behaviour are also required to provide certainty to participants, for example, eBay and Loot have etiquette and punishments for those who break these norms of behaviour in their markets.
Types of electronic market 电子市场类型
Electronic markets can develop from conventional markets or they can replace hierarchical relationships. Berryman et al (1998) distinguish electronic markets as either:
Seller controlled
Buyer controlled
Or neutral
Seller controlled 卖方控制
These markets are usually set up by a single vendor with the aim of maximising sales. Dell and Cisco, which allow buyers to configure and then place orders online provide examples. Dell and others are also offering auctions through their websites.
Groups of sellers can also emerge to create marketplaces. One such example is the global health care system which was set up by leading sellers including Baxter , Johnson and Johnson and Ab
