Your reviews
Subject: Hindrance to E-commerce
With reference to Faisal Khan's article on E-commerce (Mar 2000), isn't the method mentioned for implementing e-commerce in Pakistan expensive and indirect? I think the reason for this is because there is an involvement of Merchant Id Reseller, and the customer is charged on his credit card by the name of Reseller and not by the Pakistani Web site owner's name. Secondly, the Web site owner has to pay additional charges to the Reseller as compared to the system in which there is involvement of Payment Gateways i.e. CyberCash etc. Can you please explain what is the hindrance that is preventing us to use the direct method without using Merchant Reseller Id?
S. Ahmed Amin, Karachi
Faisal Khan's response:
Mr. Amin points out rightly so, that the implementation of Credit Card acceptance from 3rd Tier resellers is expensive, as their is no local bank providing Merchant services that are connected to either CyberCash or ICVerify. Until and unless a local bank is not connected to a payment gateway directly (i.e. have a node here in Pakistan) and also has an interface with a CyberCash (or similar) host, the problems will remain with expensive transaction fees and semi-customization of charges. Lack of awareness in local banks and the current market size prohibits such growth and investment by banks to jump-start merchant activity on the web.
Subject: Cashing In On E-Marketing
India has jumped on the Internet bandwagon and is claiming great success in this field. However, if they studied the outflow of talent, they would soon realize that they are arming US marketing behemoths with low cost expertise who in turn will turn the screws on making ganga's pay for "brands" which their sons have blooded. Watch Clinton and his crew push for patent and
Anti-piracy once the tourist bit is over. Lets stay well clear of exporting our talent and beef up our marketing expertise in offshore markets. We have the capabilities to build value added software products at an unbelievably low cost. Why shouldn't our marketers cash in on this margin?
ALI KHAN, Karachi
Subject: Great Website
I'm currently working in Singapore and although I don't have direct access to your magazine (hardcopy, that is), I was quite impressed with the Web version of SPIDER.
Wajeeha Malik, Singapore
Thank You! Why don't you subscribe to the paper version?
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