Online shopping
Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as business-to-business or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity market) or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com. Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce where the buyer is connected directly online to the seller's computer usually via the Internet. There is no specific intermediary service. The sale and purchase transaction is completed electronically and interactively in real-time, such as when buying a new book on Amazon.com. If an intermediary is present, then the sale and purchase transaction is called consumer-to-consumer, such as an online auction conducted on eBay.com.