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Higher Colleges of Technology
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Research Project
Prepared for: Rosaline
Prepared by:
Amina Husain H00051275
Section : 01
“This assignment is our own work:
The sources of all quotations, both direct and indirect, have been fully cited;
All material used in the preparation of this assignment has been acknowledged and
This assignment has not been submitted for assessment in any other paper.
Signed by: Amina
Contents
Introduction: ............................................................................................................................................... 3
What does internet customer want? .......................................................................................................... 4
How is the integrity of the customers’ data maintained? ........................................................................ 5
How is the service and quality of the customers experience? ................................................................. 6
Website maintenance and support? .......................................................................................................... 7
In conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 8
References:................................................................................................................................................... 9
Introduction:
EBay website is a very famous and global website, it is a shopping website which people and
business can sell and buy products and services.
History:
The website was created in 1995, Chris Agarpao was hired as eBay's first employee, and the first
president of the company was Jeffery Skoll
In 2009 the total sold of good was $60 billion, every $2000 in every second.
I have done a research about why people chose eBay website and here are the results:
1. You have the opportunity to choose several products that is not available sometimes in
the market.
2. Get an offers and discount and auction.
3. You can find older collection of products that are not available in the stores for some
reasons like fashion.
In this report I’m going to analyze an e-business which I chose and its eBay website, I will write
about what do internet customer want, how is integrity of the customers data maintained, How is
the service and quality of the customer experience and how is the website maintenance and
support.
What does internet customer want?
Internet customer want a website that they easy deal with.
First I will talk about some benefits of online shopping
1. Online shopping is quickly, easy and comfortable.
2. When you shop from internet you can shop any time you want because the website is
available for 24 hours and 7 days a week which means that the website never closes.
3. When you shop online you don’t have to search for parking or wait in queue to pay or
even waste your time in choosing the products in a crowded area.
Why do you shop from eBay?
1. Variety: in eBay you will find a variety of products and under each section you will find
a different typed of products like for instance under music category you will find
different sections like: CDS, records, cassettes, other formats, wholesale lots and
accessories. This gives you the option to locate your product easily.
2. Knowledge: most of the seller did a research about their products so when the customers
have any question the buyers are able to answer it.
3. Savings – when you buy from eBay store you can save money, for example: if you want
to purchase 4 items from a store in most cases the shipping will be combined which is
must cheaper that purchasing 3 different items and paying shipping for each.
4. Commitment: in eBay the store owner is commitment to serve you with a good customer
service because this is a business and they want the customer to come back.
5. Best offer : the store owner add a best offer option to their listing, this option allows you
to set the price that you are willing to pay and if it’s a fair price you can get a better deal.
6. Pricing- you will find many sells multiples of the same items so you can get the best
price.
How is the integrity of the customers’ data maintained?
EBay has their own rule of privacy policy to save the customers information, before creating an
account in eBay you should read the privacy policy and accept the agreement, the main goal of
collecting personal information is to grant the customers with a safe and secure environment, and
eBay required the customers with the information which are really important for the transaction
of buying and selling.
The customer always has the option to not provide information by choosing not to use a
particular service or feature. Sometimes eBay require some extra information like: credit card
details or email account information, this information will be used to confirming the customer
address, name and other information. In addition this information may used to charge the
customer for their use of some services.
EBay use cookies (data collecting devices) on some pages of the site, these cookies are placed on
the customer hard drive to assist eBay website in providing customized services and to help
endorse safer trading. Moreover cookies are used to allow the customers to enter their password
less frequently.
For the security eBay uses industry standard practices to safeguard the confidentiality of your
personal identifiable information, including encryption, "firewalls" and Secure Socket Layers.
eBay treats data as an asset that must be protected against loss and unauthorized access. We
employ many different security techniques to protect such data from unauthorized access by
users inside and outside the company. However, "perfect security" does not exist on the Internet.
(“EBay Privacy Policy security”)
eBay website set a golden rules for safe trading:
1- Check the product details thoroughly before buying.
2- Check the seller's reputation - always review feedback.
3- Pay safely - always use PaisaPay.
4- Always complete your transactions on eBay.
5- Never share your account information & password with anyone. (“Security Centre”)
How is the service and quality of the customer’s experience?
EBay website is very easy to navigate and the main page has subpages and under each subpage
there are sections. In the main page you will find the search box, categories drop down box, and
buttons which are linked to their pages such as categories fashion motors deals and classifieds.
They divide the website to many sections so when you are searching for a product or anything
you can find it easily In the bottom of the home page you will find this links: about eBay,
security center, buyer tools, policies, stores, site map and eBay official time.
After that I’m going to talk about the categories, there are main categories and under each
category there are sections, the main categories are: antiques, arts, books, baby, business and
industrial, cameras and photo, cell phones and PDas, clothing shoes and accessories, coins and
paper money, collectibles, Computers & Networking, crafts, Dolls & Bears, DVDs & Movies,
eBay Motors, Electronics, Entertainment Memorabilia, Gift Cards & Coupons, Health & Beauty,
Home & Garden and etc.
For instance under the antiques category you will find these sections: architectural & garden,
Asian antiques, books & manuscripts and more.
There is no flash advertisement because sometimes the flash advertisement makes the speed of
the website low
Website maintenance and support?
For the supporting there are many services that eBay website provide in the help page there is a
link for the Resolving errors and technical issues page when the customer enter this page he can
find many answers for his problems if not there are many other ways of supporting such as using
the Frequently asked questions feature or contacting the contact us page where you can contact
the responsible peoples who will solve your problems.
In addition eBay is very big and famous website so of course the website need for maintenance
and there are many ways of maintenance like: updating information, fixing spelling mistakes,
removing and adding content, design changing and adding new features.
eBay website post a note in the Resolving errors and technical issues page which is under help
page and they mention that the reserving two hours every week for the website maintenance
from Thursday 11:00 PM until Friday 1:00 AM.
In conclusion
In my opinion that the company meets the customer’s needs because the number of customers
increasing every day and the website become more famous every day. Also you can recognize
this from the feedback in the website, in addition from my own experience I’ve triad the website
and it’s very nice and good website.
In 2008 the income of eBay website was 8.46$ billion dollar and the net profit was 348$ million
dollar, this is a proof that the website is successful
References:
1. Jskell911. "Shopping Ebay Stores -Why You Should." ebay. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct.
2010. .
2. Ebay. "Privacy Policy." ebay. Web. 21 Oct. 2010.
.
3. Ebay. h"Security Centre." ebay. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2010.
.
4. wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. .
5. w3designandcreation. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2010.
.