Trust

Question 1:

What do the following statements mean?

Trust is not associative (non-symmetric) - this statement means that trust is not always equal on each side of the relationship. For example the buyer may provide a lot of trust towards the seller but the seller may not have the same amount of trust for the buyer and vice versa.

Trust is not transitive - this means that trust is only developed first hand and not in the form of second hand. In other words, trust cannot be transferred from person to person. 

Trust is always between exactly 2 parties - trust does need to involve two parties. For trust to exist between the parties, you need to trust them and they need to trust you back.

Trust will involve either direct trust or recommender trust - direct trust is when you decide yourself whether to trust the person or not. Recommender trust is when trust has been recommended by another person.

Question 2:

What are some of the elements that have been incorporated to increase your trust in the following sites:

http://www.eBay.com.au
http://www.anz.com.au
http://www.ozrural.com
http://www.paypal.com.au

Topic 8 - Online Auctions

Question 1 

eBay is one of the only major Internet "pure plays" to consistently make a profit from its inception. What is eBay's business model? Why has it been so successful?

eBay's business model is the brokerage model. eBay has been successull for many reasons. eBay allows customers to buy items without leaving their home, it allows customers to easily compare different brands, prices etc. and eBay is known as a very trusted site.

Question 2 

Other major web sites, like Amazon.com and Yahoo!, have entered the auction marketplace with far less success than eBay. How has eBay been able to maintain its dominant position?

eBay has been able to maintain its dominant position partly due to the fact that people know its a reliable and trustworthy service. eBay is easy to use and has a high brand name awareness. 

Question 3 

What method does eBay use to reduce the potential for fraud among traders on its site? What kinds of fraud, if any, are eBay users most susceptible?

In order to reduce potential freud among traders, eBay has developed the 'security centre' which gives tools and information needed to trade safely on eBay and ensure protection against online fraud. Some examples of online fraud include fraudelent emails and fraud involving credit cards.

Source: www.pages.ebay.com.au/securitycentre

Question 4 

eBay makes every effort to conceptualize its users as a community (as opposed to, say "customers" or "clients"). What is the purpose of this conceptual twist and does eBay gain something by doing it?

By conceptualizing its users as a community this creates a sense of safety to users. By referring to users as a community this attempts to create a positive relationship between the buyer and seller.

Question 5 

eBay has long been a marketplace for used goods and collectibles. Today, it is increasingly a place where major businesses come to auction their wares. Why would a brand name vendor set-up shop on eBay?

Week 6 - Digital Markets

Question 1

a) What experiences have you had with shopping online?

I have looked around on sites such as ebay but never actually bought anything. The only thing I have bought online is concert tickets and AFL tickets. I have also looked at online car sales websites such as carsales.com to compare prices when I was looking for a car. 

b) Describe a good experience.

Buying AFL tickets off ticketmaster is quick and easy and you just print off the ticket when you're done.

c) What did you like about the online store you used?

Simple to use and the transaction was quick and easy.

d) Describe a bad experience.

No bad experiences 

e) What problems did you have with the online store?

No problems

f) What features make an online store more appealing?

A website that is easy to find what you're looking for.

g) What features make an online store less appealing?

Difficult to find what your looking for, lack of information about the products, limited payment options.

h) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?

The prices should fall as the competition increases. 

Question 2

a) The dispersion of prices (that is, the spread between the lowest and highest price for a particular product) will narrow.

I agree with this statement. The price difference between the lowest and highest price for a particular good will narrow.

b) The importance of brand names will decrease.

I disagree, I believe brand names are very important and customers will stick with the brands they know and trust.

c) Price competition will make all products cheaper.

Price competition will make most products cheaper.

d) Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites, like Amazon.com.

I agree that smaller sites will be dominated by mega-sties like Amazon.com.

e) How do you think the balance of power between buyer’s and seller’s will change?

This will change alot but mostly power will be with the buyer.

f) Prices are clustered online.

Consumers are easily able to compare prices online and same with suppliers so prices are more likely to be clustered online.

g) Online prices are elastic. ( i.e. immune to change up and down with demand)

I disagree

h) Online prices are generally transparent (the extent to which prices for a given product or service are known by buyers in the marketplace.).

I agree

Question 3

a) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?

My cell phone provider offers internet service, GPS services and games and entertainment.

b) Which of these services do you use?

I don't use the internet or any of these services on my phone at all.

c) What types of transactions do you perform through your cell phone or other wireless device?

I don't do transactions on my mobile phone.

d) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but are currently unable to?

None

e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?

I really don't like mobile marketing/advertising. The text messages can be very annoying even more so are the phone calls.