Operational Details
In order to take advantage of the service, the merchant adds a
small HTML fragment (supplied by CSN) to their web page. In the simplest scenario,
the fragment encodes the cost of the purchase plus 2 URL's corresponding to 'Order
Accepted' and 'Order Declined' respectively.
When the client clicks on
the Merchants 'purchase' link, the link points to CSN's website which then checks
if the client is previously registered. If not, the client is instantly
registered with eVopay and then offered a choice of payment methods.
If necessary, the client increases their balance by making payments via any of the
available methods, e.g. PayPal or Credit card - if multiple payments are made, these
are added together to the clients balance. Once the balance reaches the purchase price, the price
is subtracted from the balance and the client is invited to proceed with the purchase.
If at any stage in the process, the client elects to cancel the process, their web
browser displays the Merchants 'Order Declined' page. Otherwise, at the
point when the Purchase price is subtracted from the clients account with CSN,
the client's Web Browser displays the Merchants 'Order Accepted' page.
When the order is accepted, an internal transaction reference number is generated
for the Merchant by CSN, and this is a guarantee that CSN will honour the payment.
For online content, the Merchant's 'Order Accepted' page can simply be the purchased
information. Or, in the case of physical goods, the merchants can then ship the goods
to the client.
Payment using a telephone call
In this case, the client can simply dial a Premium Rate telephone number whose number is displayed by their browser. An automated voice response system continuously reports their Account balance to them over the phone (it can also be viewed on the web site).
Other Payment Methods
CSN also provides other means for 'charging up' the client accounts, for example via a Credit Card, PayPal and so on.
Purchase of Online Content by a Client
In many applications, there may be no physical goods to be sent to the client. For example, the 'Goods' may be an MP3 file or access to a high-value database, e.g. company details or financial and legal information.
In this case, all the Merchant has to do is edit the link that would normally point to the Content so that it includes the payment required. When the client clicks the link, eVopay makes the charge on behalf of the Merchant and then redirects the clients browser to the Merchant's content page.
Client Accounts
Although the initial emphasis is on 'single use' applications, once the software is installed on the clients PC it makes it easy for them to purchase other goods and contents using the same scheme.
Other Implementations
Note that the above operational details covers a relatively simple implementation - there are many options and variations which are not covered here for the sake of brevity.
