You should find this to be a relativly comprehensive E-Commerce FAQ. After reading through all of the E-Commerce FAQ, if you have any questions that didn't get answered or if you can recommend an addition to the FAQ please contact Support with the apporpriate information.

1. What is Electronic Commerce?
2. What is SSL?
3. Do I need SSL for electronic commerce?
4. How safe is submitting a credit card number on an SSL page?
5. How do I setup an SSL account or get a Secure Certificate of my own?
6. What is Cybercash?
7. What is Cybercoin?
8. What are some other online payment options?
9. What software does Buzin.net use for its online storefront?
10. What Credit Card Authorization company does Buzin.net use?
11. How do I setup a Merchant Account and start accepting Credit Cards?
12. Will Buzin.net sell my inventory online using its Merchant Credit Card Account?
13. What are some other resources for online commerce?

1. What is Electronic Commerce?
   Electronic commerce usually means a transaction over the Internet involving credit cards or some other form of "electronic cash."

2. What is SSL?
   SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It provides a secure, encrypted transmission mechanism to exchange data, usually between a user's software such as a web browser and a remote server. The encryped data is difficult for anyone to decipher other than the original sender and the recipient.

   If you use Netscape as your browser, you will know you are communicating with a secure site because the key in the lower-left hand corner of the browser window will be complete instead of broken. Take a look at a secure version of this page and notice what happens to the key at the bottom of the page.

   You can also tell an SSL secured page by looking at the URL. If the URL begins with https:// (instead of http://), the document comes from a secure server. To connect to an HTTP server that provides security using the SSL protocol, insert the letter "s" so that the URL begins with https://.

3. Do I need SSL for electronic commerce?
   The Internet is an inherently UNSECURE mechanism for transporting data. Most data will pass through many intermediary points between its point of origin and ultimate destination. Anyone with the appropriate equipment and knowledge may "capture" this data at any of these intermediary points or any other point in a data packet's journey. They may choose to examine the information contained within the data, manipulate it so as to change the original meaning of the data, or even impersonate the original sender. Encryption mechanisms such as SSL create a set of rules that improve the security of internet communication. The rules created prevent eavesdropping, manipulation or impersonation of data.

   Credit card (or other electronic transactions) are the most valuable pieces of data someone could steal from the Internet. Because of this it is imperative to secure communications that involve transmission of credit card numbers.

4. How safe is submitting a credit card number on an SSL page?
   It is very safe where the transmission of the number from your computer to the web server is concerned. However, just like providing your credit card number over the phone or giving your credit card number to a waiter in a restaurant, you should trust the merchant you are giving your credit card number to.

5. How do I setup an SSL account or get a Secure Certificate of my own?
   If you would simply like to use Buzin.net's SSL server with a url of https://www.buzin.net/SITENAME, then you just need to contact Sales with your account information and we will set it up right away. If you would like to setup your own secure certificate then we suggest checking out all the information at Thawte. You can also check out Verisign, they are alittle more expensive but either will work.

6. What is Cybercash?
   Cybercash is one of the leading companies providing mechanisms to facilitate electronic transactions over the Internet. They provide a CGI tool called the CyberCash Register that enables a website to carry out a credit card transaction in real-time over the Internet. When a credit card number is used as payment on a web page, the CyberCash Register will authenticate the card and send the information to the merchants clearinghouse in the same way as if the merchant has conducted a "card swipe." There are no additional charges to the merchant for this feature as Cybercash charges the clearinghouses and banks for the transaction.

7. What is Cybercoin?
   Created by Cybercash, Cybercoin is a method of facilitating micropayments (very small transactions) over the Internet. In addition, payments (micro or otherwise) can be made without transfering a credit card number. The consumer uses a program called the Cybercoin Wallet that carries out the transactions. For more information, visit the Cybercoin FAQ page at Cybercash.

8. What are some other online payment options?
   There are many, but two other popular methods are offered by First Virtual and Modex USA.

9. What software does Buzin.net use for its online storefront?
   Buzin.net uses Aestiva also known as html/os. An extremely flexible html scripting based language, it provides everything necessary to create an online store, including the ability to setup forms for real-time credit card authentication.

10. What Credit Card Authorization company does Buzin.net use?
    Buzin.net uses Merchant Source to process all of its online Credit Card transactions.

11. How do I setup a Merchant Account and start accepting Credit Cards?
    Simply contact Sales and we will get you all the information you need to start accepting Credit Cards online.

12. Will Buzin.net sell my inventory online using its Merchant Credit Card Account?
    No. This brings up many legal and liability questions that we do not want to get involved in.

    Although we wont allow you to use our Merchant Account we can definatly help you to setup your own account and begin accepting Credit Card orders of your own within a few days. Please contact Sales for more information.

13. What are some other resources for online commerce?
    
    1. IWorld's Guide to Electronic Commerce
    2. Electronic Commerce: Doing Business on the Information SuperHighway
    3. Yahoo's Electronic Commerce section
    4. A consumer's Guide to Electronic Payments
    5. Association for Electronic Commerce Professionals International
    6. National Electronic Commerce Resource Center