A-Z of e-commerce terms

Basket/Cart A shopping basket (or shopping cart) is the aide used to temporarily store products you are interested in. It follows exactly the same principals of shopping in a supermarket. You place items in your cart/basket and then take them to the checkout to pay for them. If you decide you don't want a product as you're shopping, you can simply remove it from your basket. You can even just abandon your shopping cart altogether (and you don't even need to feel guilty - nobody has to put the items back on the shelves!). back...

Browser A browser is the name given to the software you use to view pages on the internet. There are lots of different browsers that can be used although Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape are the most common. Browsers have different versions as they are improved over time and so different browsers and different browser versions support different types of web technology. back...

Checkout The checkout is the place where you pay for the goods you have placed in your shopping cart. A shopping basket (or shopping cart) is the aide used to temporarily store products you are interested in. It is exactly the same principal as when you shop in a supermarket. You place items in your cart/basket and then take them to the 'checkout' to pay for them. If you decide you don't want a product as you're shopping, you can simply remove it from your cart. You can even just abandon your shopping cart altogether (and you don't even need to feel guilty - nobody has to put the items back on the shelves!). As with a supermarket checkout, an e-commerce checkout is the place where you supply your credit card and payment details such as your billing/delivery address. back...

Cookie A Cookie is a safe and convenient way that a website can store information for you. A Cookie is a small encrypted files stored by 'your' browser and stored on 'your' computer so you have complete control over them. A cookie is only accessible by the site that created it when the same windows user is logged in to your PC. If you share your computer and do not have your own login and password then you may wish to disable the storage of cookies but it is safer to add a distinct login for each user of the computer. A cookie is generally used to save snippets of information you may wish a website to use again, often to save you typing them. For instance a cookie may be created by your browser to retain your preferences for using a site. Despite the adverse publicity Cookies are very safe, they are not targetted by viruses and browsers maintain strict limits on their size and quantity to prevent them taking up much space on your computer. back...

Email formats Emails can be sent in either html or plain-text formats. Html is the more versatile allowing emails to contain hypertext links (so that you can click on words to get to related web pages) and pictures. As long as you keep your email program (e.g. Outlook, Outlook express etc) regularly up to date and you have anti-virus software (e.g. Norton, McAlfee etc) running on your machine you are pretty unlikely to get a virus via the scripts that can come in html emails (viruses are much more likely to come in the form of email attachments). You can also disable scripts to run in Html e-mails in the options screens of your browser. Alternatively, plain-text emails are simply that, just plain old drab text without the ability to click on links or contain pictures. For security, many companies insist that all e-mails are received in plain-text so you may prefer or be forced to have this this option. Plain text emails are often much smaller than the Html equivalent and so if you have a slow internet connection you may also prefer this format. On balance, if your PC is kept up to date, Html will probably save your time and eyesight in the long run! back...

Encryption Encryption is simply the process used to disguise information so that it can be exchanged secretly between privy parties. Modern encryption (RSI) is so sophisticated that even super-computers working for millions of years cannot crack the code. In e-commerce, encryption is used to make the the information that you send between your browser and the computer hosting the web-site you are looking at, completely private. That way, even if someone is eavesdropping with another computer, they cannot understand the information being sent. This method is used to make sure that important personal information and data like credit-card details can never be intercepted and exploited by an unauthorised third party. There is no known instance of any unauthorised agent ever decoding an encrpted RSI message. back...

Firewalls A firewall is a piece of software that prevents unauthorised access to certain information on a server. A firewall checks that packets of data being sent to and from a computer have security clearance and so only allows sensitive data to be sent to people who have the correct clearance. back...

Framed and unframed pages Pages are often split up in to frames in the same way a window is often split into panes of glass. Frames reduce the time it takes to load a page by not reloading information that is already displayed. When a page is unframed, it is comparable to a window made of a single pane of glass. It is often necessary to unframe a page when a secure page is requested on a secure server to ensure that the browser can display 100% secure items only. back...

Hackers The term Hacker is simply another term for a computer programmer or software developer. In recent times the term has become specifically associated with programmers who use their skills and magic fingers to attempt to access information they were never meant to have. Most purported hackers have a very low skill level (scipt-kiddies) and simply root around trying to get access to useless bits of information that have been carelessly left on a server. The advent of firewalls and more security conscious IT managers have eradicated most threats that hackers present, a process that will continue to increase. An elite few still have the ability to hack in to the organisations of some systems utilising security flaws that they have discovered; many hackers even do this as a public service to publicise such flaws, with only benevolent intentions...inevitably though, some hackers have turned to the dark side and use their lack of social skills to reek havoc on, well, very little really ... back...

Javascript/VBscript Javascript and VBscript are programming script languages created by Sun Microsystems and Microsoft respectively. Both are supported by modern browsers and allow more complex pages to be generated in your browser. These languages run in a 'sandbox' on your computer that prevents any malicious scripts doing any damage to your system. As such it is a safe and trusted way for web designers to execute specialist code on your machine and power more sophisticated controls for you to use. Javascript/VBscript are enabled by default on most browsers but if you have disabled them on your browser or if you use an older browser that does not support scripts, you will invariably have problems displaying or completing many pages on the web. back...

Secure Checkout Our checkout is secured by Verisign. This means that when you enter our secure-checkout all communications between your browser and our site are encrypted to prevent any unauthorised party gaining access to your payment details. You can tell if a page is secure by looking for the locked padlock icon in the bottom of your browser - whenever its present any information you type in is completely safe and your transactions are secure. We transport you to our secure server at the moment you're are prompted to enter your payment details. Our secure checout is located on a secure server to also ensure your details are thoroughly protected once submitted. back...

Secure Server Whilst Encryption is the method used to ensure exchanges between computers are secure, a secure-server refers to a special type of computer that is safe from hackers. Secure-servers are protected by special software know as firewalls that prevent unauthorised access to delicate information (such as credit-card details). back...