Currently, the payment mechanism is a bit clunky. Users create an account and charge an amount to their credit cards. As they use the system and purchase information goods, money is deducted from their account. A nice microtransactions system melded onto this site would add to its appeal. Publishers don't need to be big to benefit from e-commerce.
Money is collected via a secure online order page on the Web.
When I knew that I had to do a presentation on online transactions at the Atlanta conference, I went out looking for examples of e-commerce initiatives at news sites. There's obviously a lot going on, but sadly, newspapers appear to be lagging. I had a hard time finding examples of newspapers with serious e-commerce initiatives. Meanwhile, portal sites are racing to build e-commerce revenues in the hopes of becoming even more essential to the lives of Internet users by being the central online shopping mall. The newspaper industry, in particular, is fast getting left behind in e-commerce because it's not moving fast enough.