JP2001216382A - Electronic commerce method and electronic commerce system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carry out an electronic transaction with no anxiety between a buyer and a seller via a communication network. SOLUTION: In this electronic transaction method, a buyer terminal 2, a seller device 4 and financial institutions 5a-5c are connected together via a communication network 1 and the payment for a commodity purchased by a buyer 3 via the network 1 is transferred from the account of the buyer 3 to the account of the seller via each financial institution. When the seller receives the order of a commodity from the buyer 3, an amount equivalent to the commodity price is reserved on the buyer's account of the financial institution and then the amount is transferred to the seller's account when the buyer 3 receives the commodity. The amount equivalent to the commodity price that is transferred to the seller's account is also reserved within the 'clean-off' period of the commodity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic commerce method and an electronic commerce system in which a purchaser purchases various products via a communication network, and more particularly to an electronic commerce method and an electronic commerce system in which a payment method is improved. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in addition to conventional mail-order sales in which consumers receive orders for products by telephone, CTI systems and the Internet, which allow purchasers to receive orders for products from public terminals over public telephone networks, have been introduced. The use of an Internet virtual store (virtual mall) system for receiving an order for a product from a purchaser's terminal has greatly increased. In an e-commerce system that sells various products to an unspecified number of consumers via such a communication network, the consumer (buyer) can use his / her home telephone even if he does not go to a store. Necessary products can be purchased using a personal computer or a personal computer, and the seller does not need to set up a store, so that selling expenses can be greatly reduced.

[0003] The following methods are used for delivery of goods and collection of money in such an electronic commerce system.

(A) A purchaser transfers money to an account of a financial institution designated by the seller. After confirming the payment, the seller sends the product to the buyer.

[0005] (b) The seller automatically withdraws the price from the buyer's account at the financial institution at the same time as the product is shipped. However, in this case, it is necessary to conclude an automatic debit contract with the seller, the purchaser, and the financial institution in advance.

(C) The buyer notifies his credit card number at the same time as placing the order.

(D) The delivery company of the transportation company delivers the goods to the purchaser's home and receives the price on the spot. In this case, payment by a credit card as well as cash is also accepted.

[0008] (e) After receiving the goods, the buyer transfers the price to the account of the financial institution designated by the seller.

[0009]

However, the following problems still need to be solved in the electronic commerce system employing the various settlement methods described above.

[0010] That is, except for the exchange of the product and the price in (d), the product is received only at the destination or the payee. Therefore, the buyer cannot pay the price but the product is not delivered, and the seller cannot completely eliminate the anxiety that the product has been sent but the price cannot be collected.

In the exchange of the goods and the price in (d), a great deal of administrative burden is imposed on the delivery staff of the transportation company. In addition, security considerations are required when handling cash.

[0012] Furthermore, since it is not face-to-face sales, fraudulent transactions in which the purchaser or the seller is disguised as a product or a price is liable to take place are likely to occur.

In a mail-order sales or a door-to-door sales in which such products are sold only through electronic images via catalogs or the Internet, a cooling-off system is provided for the purpose of protecting consumers (purchasers). . However, this cooling-off system does not protect 100% of consumers (buyers), and the seller goes bankrupt,
If the location is unknown, the consumer (purchaser) cannot reliably recover the price even if the product is returned.

[0014] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and by holding an amount equivalent to the price to be transferred from a purchaser to a seller on an account for a predetermined period, the purchaser and the seller can enjoy the service. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic commerce method and an electronic commerce system capable of securely purchasing and selling a product.

[0015]

According to the present invention, a buyer terminal, a seller device, and a financial institution are connected by a communication network.
The present invention is applied to an electronic commerce method in which a purchaser transfers the price of a product purchased through a communication network from a purchaser's account at a financial institution to a seller's account.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the present invention, when a seller receives an order from a purchaser, an amount corresponding to the purchaser's account in a financial institution is suspended and the purchaser obtains the product. Then, the amount corresponding to the price held in the buyer's account is transferred to the seller's account.

In the electronic commerce method configured as described above, the merchandise sold by the seller to the purchaser is separately delivered from the seller to the purchaser by mail or courier, similarly to the conventional method. The price of the product is transferred from the purchaser's account at the financial institution to the seller's account. Note that the purchaser's account and the seller's account do not necessarily have to be at the same financial institution, but may be at different financial institutions.

When the seller receives an order from the purchaser, the amount corresponding to the price of the purchaser's account at the financial institution is held, but is not actually transferred to the seller's account. The amount will not be diverted. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the purchaser from transferring the price to the seller's account even though he has not obtained the product. Also, for the seller, since the purchaser does not divert the reserved price to another, the situation where the product is delivered to the purchaser but the price cannot be collected is prevented beforehand.

In another aspect of the present invention, in the electronic commerce method described above, an amount equivalent to the price of the product transferred to the seller's account is held until the cooling-off period of the product has passed. I have.

Further, in another invention, when a return of the product occurs during the cooling-off period of the product, the amount corresponding to the price of the product held in the seller's account is transferred to the buyer's account. Like that.

In the electronic commerce method configured as described above, the amount equivalent to the price of the product transferred to the seller's account is held during the cooling-off period of the product. If the seller goes bankrupt, the goods returned during the cooling-off period will be returned to the buyer. Therefore, consumers (purchasers) can be further protected.

Further, another invention connects a purchaser terminal, a seller device, and a financial institution via a communication network, and transfers the price of a product purchased by the purchaser via the communication network from a purchaser's account in the financial institution. Applies to e-commerce systems that transfer to a seller's account.

[0023] Then, when the seller receives an order from the purchaser, a purchase price holding means for holding an amount equivalent to the price of the purchaser's account at the financial institution, and when the purchaser obtains the product, the purchaser's account is held. Purchase price transfer means to transfer the amount equivalent to the purchased price to the seller's account, and sales price retention to hold the amount equivalent to the price of the product transferred to the seller's account until the cooling-off period of the product has passed Means, and a return means for transferring an amount equivalent to the price of the product held in the seller's account to the buyer's account when the product returns during the cooling-off period of the product. .

In the electronic commerce system configured as described above, it is possible to obtain substantially the same operation and effect as the above-described electronic commerce methods.

[0025]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an electronic commerce system in which the electronic commerce method according to the embodiment is adopted.

In this electronic commerce system, as shown in the figure, a plurality of buyer terminals 2 operated by a buyer 3 and a plurality of sellers operated by each seller are connected to the Internet 1 as a communication network. The apparatus 4, a plurality of financial institutions 5a, 5b, 5c, a transportation company 6, and a transaction management center 7 are connected.

The purchaser terminal 2 operated by each purchaser 3 is composed of a general commercially available personal computer.
A modem for connecting to the Internet 1 and a browser for browsing the supplied homepage are incorporated. In the purchaser terminal 2, a transaction processing unit 2a downloaded from a transaction management center 7 for purchasing a product via the Internet 1 is provided as shown in FIG. The purchaser 3 may be an individual or a corporation such as a company.

Then, the purchaser terminal 2 accesses the homepage of the transaction processing center 7 via the Internet 1 and sends out a purchase request for the product to the transaction processing center 7 based on the operation guide of the homepage.

Each financial institution 5a to 5 such as a bank
2, account DBs (databases) 11a, 11b, 11c (not shown) storing account balances for each customer's account and deposit / withdrawal history for the account, as shown in FIG. 2, and account DBs 11a, 11b. , 11c are provided with account management units 10a, 10b, 10c (not shown). In addition to ordinary cash, each customer's account stores various kinds of money information that can be used for financial settlement, such as bills, exchange rates, credit lines, securities, and electronic money (electronic currency). .

The financial institutions 5a to 5c may be post offices, insurance companies, securities companies, credit companies, or the like, in addition to the banks described above. In short, it is only necessary that an account for managing the customer's financial information can be opened. Each purchaser 3 and each seller have opened their own accounts with at least one financial institution 5a to 5c.

As shown in FIG. 2, the transaction management center 7 connected to the Internet 1 has therein a transaction reception processing section 7a and a financial processing section 7b. The transaction reception processing unit 7a performs a process of transferring the purchase request input from the purchaser terminal 2 to the seller device 4. The financial processing unit 7b responds to the purchase request input from the purchaser terminal 2 by the financial institution 5a.
To 5c.

Each seller device 4 of the seller is composed of a server or the like which is always connected to the Internet 1.
As shown in FIG. 2, a transaction processing unit 4a for actually selling the product 12 to the purchaser 3 based on the purchase request received from the transaction management center 7 is incorporated. Further, each of the seller devices 4 issues a request to the transport company 6 to deliver the goods 12 to three purchasers' homes.

As shown in FIG. 2, the shipping company 6 delivers the goods 12 to the purchaser 3 based on the instruction from the seller device 4 and, based on the receipt 13 received from the purchaser 3, The notification processing unit 6a is the transaction financial institution 5a-
The delivery notice of the corresponding product 12 is sent to 5c.

In the electronic commerce system having such a configuration, it is assumed that the account of the buyer 3 is opened in one financial institution 5a and the account of the seller is opened in another financial institution 5b. The processing operation of each unit will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG.

The purchaser 3 operates his / her purchaser terminal 2 to access the ohm page of the transaction management center 7 via the Internet 1 and selects a purchased product. Then, the purchaser 3 transmits a purchase request to the transaction management center 7 via the transaction processing unit 2a of the purchaser terminal 2 (S1). This purchase request includes the product code of the purchased product, the name and address of the purchaser 3, the account number of the financial institution 5a, and the like. The transaction reception processing unit 7a of the transaction management center 7 transmits the received purchase request to the seller device 4 of the product via the Internet 1 (S2).

When accepting the purchase request, the transaction processing unit 4a of the seller device 4 returns a transaction acceptance to the transaction management center 7 (S3). The financial processing unit 7b of the cash management center 7 sends a billing notice designating the transaction finance section 5a of the purchaser and the account number, and the transaction finance section 5b and account number of the payee to the transaction finance section 5a of the buyer 3. The data is transmitted via the Internet 1 (S4).

When the account DB management unit 10a of the transaction finance section 5a of the buyer 3 confirms that the account balance of the corresponding buyer 3 in the account DB 11a is larger than the amount of the bill notice, the amount of the bill notice of the account balance is calculated. Put on hold. That is,
The reserved amount is prohibited from being used for purposes other than appropriation of the commodity price. And the account DB management unit 1
0a transmits an amount hold notification to the transaction management center 7 (S5).

When the financial processing unit 7b of the transaction management center 7 receives the amount hold notification, it sends the amount hold notification to the seller device 4 of the product (S6). The seller device 4 that has received the amount hold notification sends a transportation request for the commodity 12 addressed to the purchaser 3 to the shipping company 6 (S7).

The transportation company 6 delivers the goods 12 received from the seller 3 to the home of the purchaser 3 (S8). The delivery member of the transportation company 6 receives the receipt 13 from the purchaser 3 and returns to the transportation company 6 (S9). The notification processing unit 6a of the shipping company 6 notifies the buyer 3 of the transaction financing 5a of the delivery of the purchased product (S
10).

The account DB management unit 10a of the transaction finance section 5a of the buyer 3 releases the hold state of the amount corresponding to the goods held in the account of the buyer 3 and sells the released amount (price). Is transferred to the user's account (S11).

The account DB management unit 10b of the seller's transaction financial institution 5b starts holding an amount equivalent to the price of the product transferred to the seller's account for a limited cooling-off period, for example, seven days. Then, a suspension notification of the corresponding amount is transmitted to the transaction management center 7 (S12). When the financial processing unit 7b of the transaction management center 7 receives the hold notification, the transaction reception processing unit 7a sends a transaction completion notification to the purchaser terminal 2 and the seller device 4, respectively (S13, S14).

Then, when the cooling-off period such as seven days has elapsed, the account DB management unit 10b of the seller's transaction financial institution 5b sends a hold release notice to the transaction financing section 5a of the buyer 3 and the seller device 4, for example. (S15, S1
6). Therefore, thereafter, the seller can freely withdraw the sales price from his own account.

Further, the purchaser 3 discovers that the obtained product 12 has a defect,
Is different from the product you imagined,
During the cooling-off period, the corresponding product 12 can be returned to the seller.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of each unit when the purchaser 3 returns the product 12. FIG.
The same parts as those in the basic sequence diagram shown in FIG.

A transaction completion notice is sent from the transaction management center 7 to the purchaser terminal 2 and the seller device 4 (S
13, S14) Later, when the buyer 3 returns the merchandise 12 to the seller during the cooling-off period (S17), the seller device 4 sends a return notification to the transaction management center 7 (S18). The financial processing unit 7b of the transaction management center 7
Transfer the return notification to the seller's business financial institution 5b (S1)
9).

Upon receipt of the return notification, the account DB management unit 10b of the seller's transaction financial institution 5b releases the held state of the amount corresponding to the held merchandise in the seller's account, and the released amount ( Is returned to the buyer's 3 account (S20). The account DB management unit 10a of the transaction financial institution 5a of the purchaser 3 sends a payment return notification to the purchaser terminal 2 (S21).

When the purchaser 3 has purchased a plurality of products 12 in a lump, but a defect is found in some of the plurality of products 12 and only this defective product is returned, Naturally, only the amount equivalent to the price of the returned goods 12 is returned from the seller's account to the buyer's 3 account.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of each unit when the account balance of the purchaser 3 is less than the purchase price of the commodity 12. The same portions as those in the basic sequence diagram shown in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description of overlapping portions will be omitted.

The financial processing section 7b of the cash management center 7 designates the transaction finance section 5a of the purchaser 3 with the price equivalent of the purchased product and the account number, and the transaction finance section 5b and account number of the seller of the payee. The request notification is transmitted via the Internet 1 (S4).

When the account balance of the buyer 3 in the account DB 11a is smaller than the amount of the bill notification, the account DB management unit 10a of the transaction finance section 5a of the buyer 3 sends the account amount to the buyer terminal 2 of the buyer 3. Is notified (S21). Then, for example, within an allowable period such as three days, the purchaser 3 deposits the shortage amount into his or her account of the transaction financial institution 5a (S2).
2).

When the account DB management unit 10a of the transaction financial institution 5a of the purchaser 3 confirms the payment of the account of the purchaser 3, the request DB of the account balance is put on hold.
In other words, the reserved amount is prohibited from being used for purposes other than appropriation of the commodity price. And account D
The B management unit 10a transmits the money amount hold notification to the transaction management center 7 (S5).

As described above, when a shortage occurs, it is possible to wait for payment from the purchaser 3 and continue the processing.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of each unit when the purchaser 3 does not deposit the shortage amount. The same parts as those in the basic sequence diagrams shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description of overlapping parts will be omitted.

If the account balance of the buyer 3 in the account DB 11a is smaller than the amount of the bill notification, the account DB management unit 10a of the financial institution 5a of the buyer 3 sends the account amount to the buyer terminal 2 of the buyer 3. Is notified (S21). If the buyer 3 does not deposit the insufficient amount into his or her account within the allowable period such as three days, for example, the account DB management unit 10 of the buyer's 3 financial institution 5a.
a transmits a no-payment notice to the transaction management center 7 (S23).

When the financial processing unit 7b of the transaction management center 7 receives the no-payment notification, the transaction processing unit 7a transmits a transaction stop notification to the purchaser terminal 2 and the seller device 4 (S2).
4, S25).

In the electronic commerce method and the electronic commerce system configured as described above, the purchaser 3 operates the purchaser terminal 2 and sends a purchase request for the product to the seller device 4 via the transaction management center 7. Then, namely, Buyer 3
When a customer orders a product, the amount corresponding to the price of the account of the buyer 3 is reserved. This prevents a situation in which the purchaser 3 does not transfer the price to the seller's account even though he has not obtained the product 12. In addition, since the held price is not diverted to the seller, the merchandise is delivered to the purchaser 3, but the situation where the price cannot be collected is prevented beforehand.

Further, since the amount corresponding to the price transferred to the seller's account is held in the seller's account during the cooling-off period, even if the seller goes bankrupt during the cooling-off period, the cooling-off is not performed. The price of the merchandise returned during the period is returned to the buyer 3. Therefore, consumers (purchasers) can be further protected.

As described above, in the electronic commerce system, the delivery (receipt) of the sold (purchased) product 12 is
Collection (payment) of the price of the product is a system that does not disadvantage each other for the buyer and the seller, and the product 1
The system is designed so that trouble does not occur when obtaining the price. Therefore, a general consumer reluctant to e-commerce can be involved in this e-commerce. Also,
It is possible to change the transaction form from small, small transactions to large, large transactions.

When the financial institutions 5a to 5c are credit companies that issue credit cards, for example, when lending money with a credit card, the credit limit of the amount limit that the credit company can lend with the credit card is set. By regarding the account balance of the corresponding customer, it is possible to obtain substantially the same operation and effect as the electronic commerce system of the above-described embodiment.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, each financial institution 5 a to 5 c and the transaction management center 7 form a financial enterprise 14. The processing efficiency of the electronic commerce system can be improved by performing the task of transferring the order to the seller device 4 and the task of managing the accounts of the purchaser 3 and the seller.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, each financial institution 5a to 5c, the transaction management center 7, and the transport company 6 form a financial transport company 15, and this financial transport company 1
In 5, electronic work is performed by transferring the order of the purchaser 3 from the purchaser terminal 2 to the seller device 4, managing the accounts of the purchaser 3 and the seller, and delivering the goods 12. The processing efficiency of the entire commercial transaction system can be improved.

In particular, in the electronic commerce system shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the transportation company 6 incorporates a small-scale financial institution for the purpose of settlement only, and sells the products 12 ordered on its own homepage. It is expected that a new business will be developed for receiving from the buyer and delivering it to the buyer 3.

[0063]

As described above, in the e-commerce method and e-commerce system of the present invention, when transferring the amount of money equivalent to the price from the purchaser's account to the seller's account, the order (order) is replaced with the goods. Until it is delivered (obtained), it is held on the buyer's account. Therefore, the purchaser and the seller can purchase the product and sell the product with confidence.

Further, until the cooling-off period elapses, an amount equivalent to the price of the goods transferred to the seller's account is retained in the seller's account. Therefore, the protection of the purchaser (consumer) is further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an entire configuration of an electronic commerce system to which an electronic commerce method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of each main part in the electronic commerce system.

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing an overall basic operation in the electronic commerce system.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an overall operation when a return occurs in the same electronic commerce system.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an overall operation when an account amount shortage occurs in the same electronic commerce system.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an overall operation of the electronic commerce system when a transaction is canceled.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a modification of the electronic commerce system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of each main part in the modified example system.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of still another modification of the electronic commerce system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of each main part in the modified example system;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Internet 2 ... Purchaser terminal 2a, 4a ... Transaction processing part 3 ... Purchaser 4 ... Seller apparatus 5a, 5b, 5c ... Financial institution 6 ... Transport company 6a ... Notification processing part 7 ... Transaction management 7a ... Transaction reception processing Part 7b ... Financial processing part 10a, 10b ... Account DB management part 11a, 11b ... Account DB 12 ... Product 13 ... Receipt 14 ... Financial enterprise 15 ... Financial transport enterprise

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A purchaser terminal, a seller device, and a financial institution are connected by a communication network, and the purchaser purchases the goods purchased through the communication network from the purchaser's account at the financial institution to the seller's account. In the e-commerce method of transferring to, the seller holds an amount equivalent to the purchaser's account at a financial institution when receiving an order for a product from the purchaser, and holds the purchaser's account when the purchaser obtains the product. An electronic commerce method, wherein an amount equivalent to the payment is transferred to an account of the seller. 2. The electronic commerce method according to claim 1, wherein an amount corresponding to the price of the product transferred to the seller's account is held until a cooling-off period of the product has passed. 3. When the product is returned during the cooling-off period of the product, an amount corresponding to the price of the product held in the seller's account is transferred to the buyer's account. The electronic commerce method according to claim 2, wherein 4. A purchaser terminal, a seller device, and a financial institution are connected by a communication network, and the purchaser purchases the goods purchased through the communication network from the purchaser's account at the financial institution to the seller's account. In the e-commerce system for transferring to the purchaser, when the seller receives an order from a purchaser, a purchase price holding means for holding an amount equivalent to the purchaser's account at a financial institution; A purchase price transfer means for transferring an amount equivalent to the price of the held account of the seller to the seller's account, and a cooling-off period of the product corresponding to the amount equivalent to the price of the product transferred to the seller's account. Means for holding a sales price for holding until the passage of time, and when a corresponding product is returned during the cooling-off period of the product, the corresponding product held in the seller's account. E-commerce Shishitemu, characterized in that the amount of money equivalent of goods and a refund means to transfer to the account of the purchaser.