Consumer2Consumer (C2C) or as it is sometimes referred to Peer2Peer (P2P) exchanges involve all transactions between and among consumers. These transactions can also include third party involvement, usually in the form of those who facilitate the marketplace – such as EBay.com. C2C exchanges can include classified ads (the Trading Post online), music and file sharing, career and job websites (Seek and CareerOne) and also personal services such as dating websites (Lavalife).
In C2C networks, consumers sell goods and services to other consumers. There are millions of sellers with different items to sell and an equally large number of buyers. Finding each other can incur quite a high cost to both buyer and seller, and thus this is why intermediaries like eBay are so important. They simply mediate between consumers who want to buy and sell, and take small cuts of the sellers profit as a fee for bringing their customers to one marketplace.
Consumer2Consumer e-commerce has given online shopping and trading a new dimension. While this sort of trading is prevalent in the offline world (garage sales, etc) it was not expected to take off so well online, due to the anonymity of users.
The advantage of consumer to consumer e-commerce is most often the reduced costs and smaller – but profitable – customer base. It also gives many small business owners a way to sell their goods without running a highly profit draining bricks-and-mortar store. The most effective consumer to consumer businesses involve items such as handmade gifts, personal artwork, clothing design, and collectables.
Queensland University of Technology, School of International Business (2004) Introduction to e-business Australia: McGrawHill & QUT Custom Publication, ISBN 7777772570.
Melanie Mackrodt 13:19, 3 Sep 2004 (EST)
Catherine Cherry 13:49, 8 Oct 2004 (EST)
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