B2C Sales

 

.      Customer to customer (C2C or consumer to consumer) markets provide a way to allow customers to interact with each other. Traditional markets require business to customer relationships, in which a customer goes to the business in order to purchase a product or service. In customer to customer markets, the business facilitates an environment where customers can sell goods or services to each other.[1] Other types of markets include business to business (B2B) and business to customers (B2Care).[2]

.  Consumer to consumer (or citizen-to-citizen) electronic commerce involves electronically facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. A common example is an online auction, in which a consumer posts an item for sale and other consumers bid to purchase it; the third party generally charges a flat fee or commission. The sites are only intermediaries, just there to match consumers. They do not have to check the quality of the products being offered.

.   Consumer to consumer[3] (C2C) marketing is the creation of a product or service with the specific promotional strategy being for consumers to share that product or service with others as brand advocates based on the value of the product. The investment into conceptualising and developing a top-of-the-line product or service that consumers are actively looking for is equitable to retail pre-launch product awareness marketing.[3]

.  Advertising is essential towards the success of any business. In the case of customer to customer marketing, advertising often relates to online auctions and listings. As opposed to the pricey costs to advertise in media such as newspapers and magazines, products are already being promoted and publicized once users decide to officially put them on the internet. Potential buyers will become aware of products or services by conducting searches on the websites. Aside from possible fees and commissions imposed by the auction or listing site, advertising in this market does not require a substantial amount of money.

.  Customer to Customer C2C marketing has become very popular in recent years. Customers can directly contact sellers and eliminate the middle man. Moreover, anyone can now sell and advertise a product in the convenience of one's home – enabling one to easily start a business. Therefore, a wide variety of products can often be found on auction sites such as eBay, including second-hand goods. Since the majority of these sales occur over the internet, sellers can reach both national and international  

   Customer and greatly increase their market. Feedback on the purchased product is often requested to aid both the seller and potential customers. The actual buying and searching process is simplified and search costs, distribution costs, and inventory costs are all reduced. Moreover, the transactions occur at a swift rate with the use of online payment systems such as PayPal.

Although online auctions allow sellers to display their products, there is often a fee associated with such exhibitions. Websites may also charge a commission when products are sold.[13] With the growing use of online auctions, the number of internet-related auction frauds has also increased. For instance, a seller may create two accounts on an auction site. When an interested buyer bids for an item, the seller will use another account to bid on the same item and thus, increasingly the price. Consequently, many users have purchased products at unnecessarily inflated prices.[14]

. Identity theft has become a rising issue. Scam artists often create sites with popular domain names such as "ebay" in order to attract unknowing eBay customers. These sites will ask for personal information including credit card numbers. Numerous cases have been documented in which users find unknown charges on their credit card statements and withdrawals in their bank statements after purchasing something online. Unfortunately, websites often have a liability statement claiming that they are not responsible for any losses or damages.

    Furthermore, illegal or restricted products and services have been found on auction sites. Anything from illegal drugs, pirated works, prayers, and even sex have appeared on such sites. Although most of these items are blacklisted, some still find their way onto the internet.[14]