Consumer-to-consumer websites allow individuals to sell or transfer goods and services, with users rating their transaction experience. They include online auctions, classifieds, and peer-to-peer lending services. Small businesses use them for marketing and advertising, while bargain hunters seek cheaper items from private individuals. Artisans and small business owners can also use consumer-to-consumer store sites to market their wares. Online classifieds sites allow users to post notices about items for sale or giveaway, with some offering anonymous communication options.
A consumer-to-consumer website, also known as a peer-to-peer website or a C2C website, facilitates the sale or transfer of goods and services between individuals. While some of the participants in a consumer-to-consumer website also have other business locations, such as an e-commerce website for a physical store, they can use a C2C website to expand their customer base. Other users of consumer-to-consumer websites may be individuals who are simply looking to sell or give away a product and are not normally engaged in retail sales or professional service offerings. These sites are often notable for using a review-based honor system where users can rate their transaction experience, thus warning or encouraging other users in their dealings with suppliers.
The consumer-to-consumer website sponsor is a third party in the transaction between two individuals. Common types of C2C websites include online auctions and showcases, online notices or classifieds bulletin boards, and peer-to-peer lending services. Consumers use these services for a variety of reasons; In some cases, small business owners include consumer-to-consumer website sales as one of their marketing strategies, as generating traffic to a small business website is difficult without a large advertising budget. An online auction with millions of visitors and a good search engine can be a good form of advertising and a way to present your products to a larger audience. Consumers may also be looking for a bargain and think they have a better chance of getting a new or used item cheaply from a private individual rather than a retail store.
Consumer-to-consumer store sites are another way for small businesses and artisans to market their wares. These sites provide individual websites and, in many cases, e-commerce functionality, to artisans and small business owners, who pay a small upfront commission or percentage of sales transactions to join the site. In return, the shop site owners maintain and promote the website to the general public, attracting new customers for the shopkeepers.
Another type of consumer-to-consumer website is the online classifieds site for posting notices about items, often used, that are being sold or given away by their owners. These sites may also provide anonymous email systems so that users can communicate with each other regarding a transaction without seeing any identifying information in an advertisement. Online classifieds sites can be general in nature or have a special focus, such as “free cycle” sites that don’t allow the sale of items, only exchanges or giveaways.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
