A lack of widely accepted transaction settlement procedures and resistance to change have hindered the proliferation of online business-to-business merchandise trading, according to an expo24hrs.net executive.
Many business-to-business trading portals claim to have launched or be close to launching 'end-to-end' transactions solutions, encompassing the matching of buyers and sellers, contract signing, banking, shipping and insurance services.
However, few if any are able to provide the full range of services online.
'End-to-end online buying and selling are all a lot of fluff,' said Thomas Ho, managing director of the start-up online exhibition service provider. 'There is still not a widely accepted settlement procedure out there.'
Two online trading settlement solutions providers, United States-based Tradecard and Britain-based Bolero.net, are among companies trying to convince e-commerce firms to use their electronic transaction settlement solutions, which they hope will become de facto standards worldwide.
But competition is not the only hurdle they face in their efforts to create global online trading communities.
