What is Consumer to Consumer (C2C)? Definition of Consumer to Consumer (C2C), Consumer to Consumer (C2C) Meaning and Concept
Consumer to consumer, whose abbreviation usually used is C2C, is a common practice in marketing by which a commercial or economic activity is carried out among consumers themselves, taking advantage of certain websites or spaces offered by companies.
The C2C or Consumer to consumer model therefore supposes the existence of a form of sale between individuals who take advantage of certain types of exchange platforms that emerged with the appearance of new technologies and the rapid growth of the Internet. In this way, it is possible to carry out economic transactions in this environment between individuals and without the companies that produced these products generally having participation.
In exchange for providing space, tools and security for this type of operation, the web portals that host this type of commercial activities are entitled to receive a certain commission based on each sale that takes place on their platform as payment for their services.
As the Internet has been spreading and reaching practically all households, this type of transaction has undergone rapid growth until it has become commonplace today for millions of people globally. A great deal of prominence in this sense is occupied by sales between individuals of second-hand products.
Advantages of C2C
- It makes buying and selling between individuals easy.
- It allows practically anyone to enter the market.
- Allows the location of rare or special goods.
- Join different geographical areas.
Disadvantages of C2C
- Sometimes the buyer can be unprotected.
- Goods purchased are sometimes not as presented in their descriptions.
- Appearance of cases of fraud or scam due to failures in security and profile control.
- Possible problems with the shipments of the articles.
The C2C system has been gradually extended to its present time thanks to the considerable reduction in costs offered by the Internet and the elimination of different intermediaries in transactions. In addition, the improvement of payment systems by credit or debit card and electronic wallets and the security offered by these methods has given confidence to the public that increasingly enters the dynamics of buying and selling on the Internet.
Important online platforms such as E-bay or Mercado Libre have become reference websites in world trade thanks to their enormous volume of business and their number of users throughout the world.
