Payment Agents

In a broad sense, a software agent is a computer program that acts autonomously on behalf of a person or organization. Software-agent technology seems able to provide attractive solutions in the field of electronic commerce. An agent-based architecture for electronic commerce allows the creation of a virtual marketplace in which a number of autonomous or semi-autonomous agents trade goods and services. The introduction of software agents acting on behalf of end-consumers could reduce the effort required from users when conducting electronic commerce transactions, by automating a variety of activities. The personalized, continuously running autonomous nature of agents makes them well suited for mediating consumer behavior with respect to information filtering and retrieval, personalized evaluations, complex coordination, and time-based interactions. Agents are able to examine a large number of products before making a decision to buy or sell. This not only eliminates the need to manually collect information about products but also allows the negotiation of an optimal deal with the various sellers of a good.