Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction

Electronic auctions (e-auctions) are similar to off-line auctions except that they are done on a computer. Host sites on the Internet serve as brokers, offering services for sellers to post their goods for sale and allowing buyers to bid on those items.
Major online auctions such as eBay offer consumer products, electronic parts, artwork, vacation packages, airline tickets, and collectibles, as well as excess supplies and inventories being auctioned off by B2B (business-to-business) marketers.

One of the limitations of e-auction is possibility of fraud. Auction items are in many cases unique, used, or antique. Because buyers cannot see the item when participating in an e-auction, they may get a defective product, and the buyers can also commit fraud. Thus, the fraud rate in e-auctions is very high.

There are some protecting against e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction are:

1. By authentication service. Product authentication is a way of determining whether an item is authentic and described appropriately. Authentication is very difficult to perform because it relies on the expertise of the authenticators. Because of their training and experience, experts can often detect counterfeits based on subtle details. However, two expert authenticators may have different opinions about the authenticity of the same item.

2. By grading services. Grading is a way of determining the physical condition of an item, such as “poor quality” or “mint condition.” The actual grading system depends on the type of item being graded.

3. By Feedback Forum. The e-commerce website Feedback Forum allows registered buyers and sellers to build up their online trading reputations. It provides users with the ability to comment on their experiences with other individuals.

4. By non-payment punishment. For example, a e-commerce website to help protect sellers in e-auction, a first-time non-payment results in a friendly warning. A sterner warning is issued for a second-time offense, a 30-day suspension for a third offense, and indefinite suspension for a fourth offense.

5. By appraisal services. Appraisers use a variety of methods to appraise items, including expert assessment of authenticity and condition and reviewing what comparable items have sold for in the marketplace in recent months. An appraised value is usually accurate at the time of appraisal but may change over time as an item becomes more or less popular in the marketplace.

6. By Verification. One way of confirming the identity and evaluating the condition of an item is through verification. With verification, neutral third parties will evaluate and identify an item through a variety of means


For more information about e-auction, can refer to
http://myphliputil.pearsoncmg.com/student/bp_turban_introec_1/Turban-Appendix2A.pdf

a review on a post Legal from My e-commerce blog

Based on Piracy in Malaysia: Fighting through Education and Enforcement! In my point of view, the raids operation and crackdowns on pirated software was a good move. This also includes of the seized and destroyed of pirated CDs, DVDs and other relevant materials. However I felt that there’s so much more we can do in curbing this menace by following some countries development and their enforcements. The likes are such as the United Kingdom on how they stop and curb the illegal downloader. UK government is working on a new law to have this illegal downloader's internet connection to be cut off.

Under the new proposed new law, action will be taken against the users who use their account to access pirated material by the internet services provider. There are estimated around 6 million people are downloading files illegally in UK. These illegal downloading of music and movies are costing the industry to lose million of pounds in revenue every year.

Among the contents of the new proposed law are ISP who failed to enforce the rules could be prosecuted and details of customers suspected in illegal downloading can be made available to the courts. Thus, a hefty fine should be imposed on the wrong doers to teach others as well to stay away from illegal downloads, software and others piracy possible materials.

Review Of Local E-Commerce Site

Www.BeyondGift.com.my specializes in import & manufacturing a series of promotional bags and Premium Gifts. It was founded in 1994 and established in Melaka, Malaysia for almost 13 years.

Their features are as such,

Their main products consist of bag, non-woven products, T-shirt, jacket & tracksuit, caps, household, electronics, keychain, stationery, leather gift, pen gift, wooden gift, umbrellas, sunshades, and miscellaneous.

Download speed would not be time consuming.

Site Design and Layout. The layout has white and yellowish colour. It is quite simple but it easy for us to view. It is easy for us to click on the picture icon which we wanted to know more about the description of the item selected. And even some images is moving to which can attract the viewers.

Search Engine. There has a Quick Search on the right side in the Design and Layout. We can find desired items and it is convenient for us to search for items and less time consuming.

Shopping Chart. Shopping chart is available at the bottom of the toolbars. Moreover when we click at the item selected, the ‘Shopping Chart’ icon will appear for customers to add in their list.

Calendar, Date and Time. There is a calendar as a reminder for viewers. It is quite useful for those customers who are forgetful about the memorable date, event and time.

BeyondGift.com.my considered as worthy website to be visited and browse through thus discover and even purchase their items to their beloved ones.

Coporate Blogging

Corporate blogging


There are two types of corporate blogs: internal and external.
Internal Blogs
Internal corporate blogs are those accessible to company employees and usually available on company Intranets. Although the decision as to who can and cannot contribute to the blog is up to the company itself, a communal approach, where anybody may contribute, can be an effective way to encourage employee participation, a sense of community, high morale and other factors.
Allowing employees at every level to contribute to your corporate blog creates an open
atmosphere and can promote open discussion about corporate policies, direction, criticisms or
suggestions.

External Blogs
The other type of corporate blog is an external blog. Although the blog is maintained and
authored by corporate staff, it is viewable by anyone with Internet access. These can be used to
make company announcements, share viewpoints, respond to news articles or any number of
other communications. More importantly, utilizing a comment system allows an organization to
interact directly with its audience in meaningful ways.

Advantages

Encourage Discussion Among Your Audience
Comments give your company instant feedback and can be used to measure of value for new products or services in your customers’ eyes. This interaction can also provide invaluable insight as to what your audience thinks, wants, needs or feels. Comment systems encourage discussion between visitors. The most successful blogs are those whose comment sections are much more active than the blog itself.
While there isn’t any professional communicator who would argue that getting a message to an audienceisn’t a success, blogs carry much more potential. Imagine the value of not just getting your message to your audience, but having such an impact on it that they consider and discuss it among themselves.Blogs can also be used to find and directly communicate with influencers within a company’s audience.Reaching opinion leaders and influencers has always been a goal of public relations and blogs allow communicators to do so much more easily than in the past.

Give Your Perspective
Corporate blogs are undeniably biased, but they also have several advantages. First, corporations have complete control over the content of the site. That isn’t to say that the blog should focus on corporate strengths and ignore controversies. As a matter of fact, blogs are fantastic opportunities to address issues and concerns from the company’s perspective. Providing timely, honest views about potentiallycontentious issues can have a dramatic effect on public opinion and adds to an organization’s credibility.

Increase Your Reach
External corporate blogs also come with the added advantage of increased traffic and search engine rankings. Frequent updates add credibility and encourage visitors to return, which will help keep your search engine rankings high. Another good idea is to create an RSS feed for your blog.RSS feeds automatically update users’ aggregators and alert them to new posts or bulletins on your blog.Essentially, rather than looking for new information, users have the information sent to them. As more people adopted the use of this technology, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to do the same in order to keep up with Internet trends.
Corporate blogs are powerful tools to reach your audiences. Several companies have already started utilizing blogs and if you plan on keeping your company competitive, a corporate blog is a must have communication channels.

Touch-n Go for E-tailing

The Octopus card is a rechargeable contact less stored value smart card used to transfer electronic payments in online or off line systems in Hong Kong. There are four types of cards that are On-Loan, Sold, the Airport Express Tourist and the MTR Airport Staff.

On-Loan cards are issued for usage in daily functions, first and foremost for fare payment in transport systems. If an owner loses a card, only the stored value and the deposit of the card are lost and no identification is necessary to buy the card. This type of Octopus card is anonymous; no personal information, bank account or credit card details are stored on the card.

Sold cards are sponsored and branded cards. Octopus Cards Limited only distributes Sold cards as souvenir cards. These cards are sold at a premium, have limited or no initial stored value, and cannot be refunded, but they can otherwise be used as ordinary cards. Mcmug and Mcdull collection are the example of Sold cards.

Octopus Cards Limited also introduced Airport Express Tourist to target tourists in Hong Kong. There are two versions of this card are accessible, a HK$220 card with a free single ride on the Airport Express, the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) train line that runs between the Hong Kong International Airport and the city areas, and also a $300 card with two free single rides included. The airport journeys are valid for 180 days from the date of purchase. These tourist Octopus cards may be used only by tourists staying in Hong Kong for 14 or fewer days.Users might be need to buy a passport showing their arrival date in Hong Kong. Airport Express Tourist Octopus is available for purchase at all MTR stations.

The MTR Airport Staff Octopus is obtainable for the staff of Hong Kong International Airport and Asia World-Expo for commuting at a reduced fare between the airport and MTR stations via the Airport Express. For those staff got the card may use it for a discount of up to 64 percent for Airport Express single journey fares. The MTR Airport Staff Octopus is obtainable upon application via the company for which that a staff member works.

The Octopus card used to pay fares for all public transport in Hong Kong and to make purchases for consumer products at many stores in the city. It is accepted by more than 160 merchants. The card can be used in many soft drink vending machines, photo booths, parking meters, pay phones and car parks

Famous businesses that accept Octopus cards include PARKnSHOP, Watson, 7-Eleven, Starbucks, McDonald's, and Circle K.. Octopus cards can also be used for admission control in buildings and for school administrative functions.In 21 November 2004,all parking meters in Hong Kong had been changed to using the Octopus card as the form of payment.

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia: It’s potentials and consumers’ adoption strategies

Mobile payment also referred to as mobile web payment or WAP billing is the collection of money from a consumer via a mobile device such as their mobile phone, Smart Phone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or other such device.

Mobile payment can be used to purchase any number of digital or hard goods, such as music, videos, ringtones, games, wallpapers and other digital goods. Besides that, it is also can be used to purchase books, magazines, tickets and other hard goods.

Nowadays, there are some companies start promote mobile systems in Malaysia, such as Visa and Nokia. Visa and Nokia have teamed up to release the world's first credit card payment system in Malaysia, they allow consumers to shop and pay by using their mobile phones. PayPal has launched a somewhat similar service called PayPal Mobile that lets people transfer money through their cell phones.

Nokia phones will use the Visa Wave smart card technology that utilizes the radio frequencies to eliminate the need to swipe credit card into a reader. During the trial period, Visa Wave cardholders in Malaysia will be given a special Nokia phone that can be used for such payments.

Pilot implementations of mobile payments have shown that consumers find mobile payments both functional and convenient. However, while consumers are receptive to innovative mobile payment devices and services, they are also still looking for a strong value proposition. Consumers are aware that they have alternatives and are educated about other options. Finally, consumers are showing a heightened awareness of security and privacy issues. Mobile payment scenarios can enhance security and privacy. However, if the perception exists that mobile payment potentially involves loss of privacy, consumers will not accept it.

Review on post on e-tailing My E-Commerce blog

I’ve done a lot of blog surfing lately, in search of new (best) blogs. What I found often, however, was that there are things people could do to improve the relationship and interaction value of their blogs, which would in turn build a better bridge between blogs and their readers.
Here are certain recomendation in my point of view of a post on e-tailing frm E-Commerce blog

1.Display Contact Info Prominently- Put the author’s name right up there easy to read, and add a photo, an email written out to avoid spiders ( chris at lifehack dot org instead of actually clickable), and even a phone number, if you want people to reach you. Add your IM username, and other contact info. If it’s a multi-author blog, display an “About the Authors” link prominently. .
2.Format Your Text- Take the extra time to write “pretty” posts, such as it were. Make it so that people can read what you’re typing, and do your best to keep the tone communicative, and not too dense. Translation: big fat paragraphs of dense text usually don’t make for “friendly” blog reading.
3.Use Tagging- The best thing about using Technorati tags and other tagging features is that it helps you AND others. As a blogger, it gets you more traffic from people interested in the words you’ve selected as tags for your post. As a reader, it helps you determine quickly if something is relevant to your interests.
4.Link, Link, Link- When you talk about 43 Folders, give them a link. When you write about a hilarious video on New Year’s Resolutions, share the direct link. This has two effects: one is that it makes it more useful to your readers. Two, it shows Google that you’re alive and sharing information back and forth (which benefits you *and* the linkee). BONUS: it’s good karma, and people feel warm and fuzzy when they see you’ve linked to them.

Credit Card:Causes & Prevention

A lot of people use credit cards as a "crutch." If they can't afford something they really want, they charge it. Then when it comes time to paying the bill they pay the minimum amount due (very bad thing) only. This then accumulates a good awful amount of interest and the next month when you get your bill, the balance is about the same.

Prevention

1.Limit the number of cards that you have. If your cards offer low interest balance transfers, transfer the balances from your other cards onto the card with the lowest rate.
2.Pay at least twice the minimum. Paying the minimum will prevent you from paying off the credit card for many years.
3.Renegotiate your APR at least twice a year. Give a call to your credit card company and speak to a representative to see if you are eligible for a lower APR.
4.Stop charging everything. An effective way to manage a credit card is to charge only things that you can afford to pay off at the end of the billing cycle.
5.Try to pay off the balance during the interest free period. If your credit card offers an interest free promotional period, make the most out of it by paying off any debt that you have accumulated by the end of the period.
6.Look for a rewards card. These cards allow you to get merchandise from your credit card company.

Causes

1.Public are not aware of the danger of improper and excessive use of credit cards.

2.The process to get a credit card is very easy.So many people tend to have many credit cards

3.The interest keep on accumulates and cause difficulties to pay bay due to the delay payment

4.Credit card being used even for small sum of amounts.

Phishing:An examples and prevention methods

Phishing is a crime technique to steal the identity of a target company to get the identities of its customers (by turban e-electronic commerce 2008 a managerial perspective) It is also recognized as a scam.

An Example of phishing is an eBay phishing email such as the eBay logo, the attacker attempts to gain authority. In the purporting email warns the victim that there is a billing incorrect may have been made on the account and urges the eBay victim to login
and confirm the charges.

Besides that, another example is Citibank phishing. The attacker will trick the victims by instructed them to visit a fake website and enter personal financial details for their confirmation shake of security online banking. The attacker will then use to disturb the very security and integrity they claim to be protecting.

Prevention Methods is if there is a suspicious email received that instructs you to login to any account for any reason should be viewed with suspicion, users should report and send it to the US Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov or you can just click the “Report As Junk” button on your email program. Or verify the authenticity of the email by call the bank or commerce site to seek for confirmation. However, scammers may use phone number to trick victims in the suspicious email as well.

There are few ways to prevent from attacked by phishing such as using Phishing Filters,
Look for online websites for known phishing sites,try to avoid for any suspicious emails asking for private information which you feel unsecured.Phishing Filter helps identify and warn about possible phishing scams. There are ways that these can be used such as

Built-in filters.It built into the browser and scan web addresses and pages for characteristics that are known as phishing scams and also will warn the users if any sites visited are found disbelieving.Other than that, , according to Microsoft Online service is the most triumphant phishing sites appear and disappear in 24-48 hours. These services provide up-to-the-hour information about reported phishing Web sites.

Reference;

http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/a/stopphish.htm

www.cwu.edu/~balea/page5.html

How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

Nowadays, computer and internet are very common to everyone. We will rely on computer to save our personal data and using online financial services to do financial transactions such as online purchases or online banking in order to safe time. Before we do any financial transaction in the website, we need to register to become a member to fill in some personal information. The information is including name, date of birth, gender, address, telephone, e-mail address, occupation and interests. “Personal Financial Information” means any record containing a customer of a financial institution, whether in paper, electronic, or another form, that is handled by behalf of the institution or its affiliates.

But, is it security to protect consumer avoid embezzled by other people? Therefore, there are some ways I suggest to safeguard our personal and financial data.

1. Use strong password or pass-phrase to protect your access data. When using the computer, password plays an important role to many aspects. We do not reveal any personal information or particularly passwords to anyone. After using any of the Financial Data Center or member services, must remember to log out properly before leaving the Financial Data Center. Besides that, if share information with another users or use our services on a public computer such as in a public library, school computer lab or Internet cafe, must remember to close the browser window. That is to prevent other users from reading your personal information and mail. Besides that, we also need to avoid using passwords that are easy for someone to guess, such as the your personal identity card numbers. Then, it is also strongly suggested to change regularly and different passwords make to different accounts.

2. Install and update antispyware and antivirus programs. To safeguard our personal and financial data, we can install an antivirus program such as Symantec and Norton antivirus, AVG antivirus or other more in order to protect ourselves against viruses and Trojan horses that may steal or modify the data on our own computer. Besides that, we always need to make sure our antispyware and antivirus programs is up to date.

3. Install a firewall. Firewall can also prevent the unswanted data coming into computer and unauthorized data leaving from computer. Most new computers come with firewalls integrated into their operating systems. If we have an older computer or using dial-up, then we may need to buy a firewall separately and install it ourselves.

4. Regularly scan your computer for spyware. Spyware or adware hidden in software programs may affect the performance of your computer and give attackers access to our data. Use a justifiable anti-spyware program to scan our computer and remove any of the infected files.

5. Avoid unused software programs. We need to always make sure that we do not clutter our computer with unnecessary software programs. If there have programs on our computer that we do not use, consider uninstalling them.

6. Use separate local or network accounts. By using separate accounts, individuals can be assigned very specific access rights and privileges. Using separate accounts with differing access levels limits the potential for accidental or malicious data exposure.


7. Identify where the data is stored. When we need to store any sensitive or confidential data temporarily on a memory stick, laptop, or other device, remove that data from the device when we have finished, and ensure that data has been completely erased and not just deleted.

References:

http://www.msisac.org/awareness/news/2007-03.cfm

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103893/Six-Ways-to-Safeguard-Your-Online-Assets

The Application of 3rd Party Certification Programme In Malaysia

VeriSign is the most trusted mark on the Internet of the 3rd party certification programme.
VeriSign secures more than one million Web servers worldwide, more than any other Certificate Authority. The world’s 40 largest banks and over 93% of Fortune 500 companies choose VeriSign SSL Certificates.
Over 75% of Web sites using Extended Validation SSL choose VeriSign, including biggest names in e-commerce and banking. Over 90,000 domains in 145 countries display the VeriSign Secured Seal, the most recognized trust mark on the Internet.

Benefits

VeriSign offers the strongest SSL encryption
High-level encryption, at 128 bits, can calculate 288 times as many combinations as 40-bit encryption. That’s over a trillion times a trillion times stronger.
Only True 128-bit SSL Certificates with Server Gated Cryptography (SGC) enable every site visitor to experience the strongest SSL encryption available to them.

VeriSign is the leading SSL provider of SGC-enabled SSL Certificates, enabling 128- or 256-bit encryption for over 99.9% of Internet users.

VeriSign is the leading SSL Certificate Authority
It makes it easy to keep track of all your SSL Certificates and maintain the security of your online services with VeriSign® Certificate Center, a single-point control online management portal. If you already have a SSL certificate, Verisign also offers payment processing solutions. You will need a merchant account in addition to these solutions. You will also need to have a shopping cart that will integrate with Verisign. When you use the Verisign payment processing gateway, you are ensuring that your customer’s information will not be stolen while they are being redirected to your merchant account processing system. The payment processing solutions all offer the ability to use the Verisign Seal on your website.

VeriSign helped lead the development of Extended Validation to give Web site visitors a visible sign of trust and security in the browser bar on high security browsers.

The threat of online security: How safe is our data?

Online security is any kind of protection when using the Internet. Online security is important because the Internet is not a safe place unless we have adequate protection against the many varieties of threats that exist in cyberspace. The best form of online security is to install software from security vendors. There are several levels of online security software, that includes antivirus, antispyware, and firewall components to a comprehensive online security suite that includes anti spam and anti phishing features.

However, there are also some threat of online security which include accidental actions, malicious attacks and online fraud.

Accidental actions contribute to a large number of computer security risks. This category encompasses problems arising from basic lack of knowledge about online security concepts and includes issues such as poor password choices, accidental business transactions, accidental disclosure, and outdated software.

Attacks that specifically aim to do harm are known as malicious attacks. They can be further broken down into attacks caused by malicious code and those caused by intentional misrepresentation. Some examples of malicious attacks is computer viruses, data theft, and Denial of Service (DOS) attacks. The most common form of malicious code is a computer virus which is a program of code that replicates by attaching copies of itself to other programs. Denial of service attacks is another form of malicious code, are carefully crafted and executed. Denial of Service Attacks are not new, but they are growing in difficulty. Traditional DOS attacks usually involve one computer attacking another, but the use of multiple computers in a highly organized attack is becoming increasingly common.

Online fraud is a broad term covering Internet transactions that involve falsified information. Identity theft is a major form of online fraud. Personal identity theft on the Internet is the newest form of fraud that has been witnessed in traditional settings for many years. For example, in traditional settings, thieves open credit card accounts with a victim's name, address and social security number, or bank accounts using false identification. In the online world, electronic commerce information can be intercepted as a result of vulnerabilities in computer security. Data theft is the term used to describe not only the theft of information but also unauthorized perusal or manipulation of private data.

References:

http://www.jvexchange.com/antifraud/

How to safeguard ourpersonal and financial data

Nowadays, there are number of cases that personal data has been lost, compromised or stolen. For example a theft of a laptop from a Federal employee’s home enclosed personal data involving 26.5 million veterans.

Therefore, users should be fully alert to make sure that they do not fall becoming the next victim of cyber fraud. There are few steps for safety online that should be needed to examine.

1. Install and update antispyware and antivirus programs. Every user should have regular updates of existing antispyware.Nowadays there are numerous application vendors and even Microsoft offers users for regular updates. Symantec and Norton antivirus are well demanded for antivirus protection.

2. Install a firewall. It is a software program which allows authorized personal to access into their personal data. Major computers do come with firewall which it’s already integrated in the operating systems. A DSL or a cable modem is much preferred because they have another built-in firewall. For those old PCs or dial up users, you may need to purchase and install it.

3. Avoid accessing financial information in public. Think twice before even logging on to check your bank balance in a coffee shop which provides WiFi access although they’re convenient yet they are unknown. Without this, hackers or crackers could easily access their personal info without them knowing it.

4. Update your browser. Regularly update your browser could help plug up and enhance security holes so…. Make it a habit.

5. Look for "locks." Look for a small padlock icon on the lower right corner of window browser as it indicates that the website is a secure page to be log on. Also, the web address should be “https”.

6. Don't open mystery attachments. Do not click or even open an attachment sent by unknown party or user as they could contain viruses and wares that can harm or even links that lead to unsuspecting site which they’ll ask to input financial information.

reference;
http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/fi/gr/market_watch

E-Com Failure & Its Causes

Webvan was founded in the heyday of the dot-com boom in the late 1990s by Louis Borders, who also co-founded the Borders bookstore in 1971. Webvan's original investors included Goldman Sachs and Yahoo!, who encouraged it to rapidly build its own infrastructure (the first-mover advantage strategy popularized by Amazon.com) to deliver groceries in a number of cities.Some journalists and analysts blamed this serious error of judgment on the fact that none of Webvan's senior executives (or major investors) had any management experience in the supermarket industry, including its CEO George Shaheen who had resigned as head of Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), a management consulting firm, to join the venture.
Webvan tried to embrace a total customer satisfaction model involving a 30 minute window delivery without considering that many working customers would like their groceries delivered at home at night.
While Webvan was popular, the money spent on infrastructure far exceeded sales growth, and the company eventually ran out of money. For example: Webvan placed a $1 billion (USD) order with engineering company Bechtel to build its warehouses, bought a fleet of delivery trucks, purchased 30 Sun Microsystems Enterprise 4500 servers, dozens of Compaq ProLiant computers and several Cisco Systems model 7513 and 7507 routers, as well as more than 80 21-inch ViewSonic color monitors and at least 115 Herman Miller Aeron chairs (at over $800 each).

Why did they fail?
What are the patterns and warning signs? How can we detect the warning signs
in organizations before it is too late?
Four Explanations
behaviors that lead to failure:
1. Executive Mindset Failures - Breakdowns in how
executives perceive reality for their companies
2. Delusions of a Dream Company - How people
within an organization face up to their reality
3. Lost Signals - How information and control
systems in the organization are mismanaged
4. Patterns of Unsuccessful Executive Habits - How
organizational leaders adopt unsuccessful behaviors
As part of its shutdown process, all non-perishable food was donated to local food banks. Webvan's legacy consists of thousands of colored plastic shipping bins for groceries that are still sitting in customers' basements and closets, and a lucrative severance package for ex-CEO Shaheen

Benefits & Limitations Of E-Commerce

Benefits Of Ecommerce
E Commerce is one of the most important facets of the Internet to have emerged in the recent times. Ecommerce or electronic commerce involves carrying out business over the Internet with the assistance of computers, which are linked to each other forming a network. To be specific ecommerce would be buying and selling of goods and services and transfer of funds through digital communications.
Ecommerce allows people to carry out businesses without the barriers of time or distance. One can log on to the Internet at any point of time, be it day or night and purchase or sell anything one desires at a single click of the mouse.
The direct cost-of-sale for an order taken from a web site is lower than through traditional means (retail, paper based), as there is no human interaction during the on-line electronic purchase order process. Also, electronic selling virtually eliminates processing errors, as well as being faster and more convenient for the visitor.
Ecommerce is ideal for niche products. Customers for such products are usually few. But in the vast market place i.e. the Internet, even niche products could generate viable volumes.
Another important benefit of Ecommerce is that it is the cheapest means of doing business. The day-to-day pressures of the marketplace have played their part in reducing the opportunities for companies to invest in improving their competitive position. A mature market, increased competitions have all reduced the amount of money available to invest. If the selling price cannot be increased and the manufactured cost cannot be decreased then the difference can be in the way the business is carried out. Ecommerce has provided the solution by decimating the costs, which are incurred.
From the buyer’s perspective also ecommerce offers a lot of tangible advantages.
1.Reduction in buyer’s sorting out time.
2.Better buyer descisions
3.Less time is spent in resolving invoice and order discrepancies.
4.Increased opportunities for buying alternative products.

Limitations of e-Commerce (e-Business) - you should understand some of the limitations and be able to explain these to a potential client because not everyone is convinced the internet will be a major way to conduct business - example TV has been around for a long time - but only a small percentage of all companies advertize on TV !!

Technical Limitations
Costs of a technological solution .Some protocols are not standardized around the world so its effects the reliability for certain processes
Insufficient telecommunications bandwidth .The software tools are not fixed but constantly evolving (ie. Netscape 3,4,4.7,4.75 etc.) integrating digital and non-digital sales and production information access limitations of dial-up, cable, ISDN, wireless
some vendors require certain software to show features on their pages, which is not common in the standard browser used by the majority
Difficulty in integrating e-Commerce infrastructure with current organizational IT systems

Non-Technical Limitations .
1.Customer fear of personal information being used wrongly privacy issues
2.It affects the security and privacy and is cause vulnerability to fraud and other crimes
3.Users might have lack of trust afraid the information being unsecure

An Example an E-Commerce Success and its causes

In my opinion, Amazon.com is my choices that I picked for the “An example an E-commerce success and its causes. Jeff Bezos has founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994, and launched it online in 1995.Nowadays, Amazon.com has 35 million customers .Moreover, it has a huge amount list of inimitable items in categories such as books music, DVD, music CDs, MP3 format, computer and video games, furniture, toys, food and many more. Amazon has established separate websites in Canada and United Kingdom, Germany, France, China and Japan.
Amazon.com has chosen SAS as the foundation of its fraud detection system as other users who sells or buying goods through Amazon.com can feel more secured as no fraud can be actually done by hacker easily. Amazon.com has been familiar by large number of internet users including me due to its success such as ability for the users to find and discover anything product the users might want to buy. It become a choice for consumers a search before make decision to buy online.
It provides the users to submit reviews web page of each product. Rating scale is provided to rate the product from one to five stars. The users is compulsory to rate the product as a basic idea of the fame and reliability of a product. The review feature is an important and highly influential function for customers and one of the main reasons for amazon.com’s success at selling books.
Additionally, customers are allowed to look for the keywords wanted in a full text of many books in catalog in Search inside the Book. There have about 250000 books in the program which has cooperated with approximately 130 publishers to enable the users to search in Search inside the Book.
Users are allowed to comment on reviews too. Users are free to express their experience on the product in the context of their own lives as these comments are more helpful, and interesting to other customers.Especially for those customers who hesitate about which product is better can make a wise decision.

Success Of E-Com &Its Cause

E-Bay is a bright example. eBay was quick to recognize peoples' desire to earn economic profits by trading second-hand products. eBay realized the need for a platform where such buyers and sellers could meet and trade. ECommerce technologies helped eBay to create the required platform required and the rest is history.
Millions of collectibles, decor, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, and sold daily.

In 2005, eBay launched its Business & Industrial category, breaking into the industrial surplus business. Some items are rare and valuable, while many others are dusty gizmos that would have been discarded if not for the thousands of eager bidders worldwide. Anything can be sold as long as it is not illegal and does not violate the eBay Prohibited and Restricted Items policy.Services and intangibles can be sold, too. Large international companies, such as IBM, sell their newest products and offer services on eBay using competitive auctions and fixed-priced storefronts. Regional searches of the database make shipping slightly faster and cheaper. Separate eBay sites such as eBay US and eBay UK allow the users to trade using the local currency as an additional option to PayPal. Software developers can create applications that integrate with eBay through the eBay API by joining the eBay Developers Program. As of June of 2005, there were over 15,000 members in the eBay Developers Program, comprising a broad range of companies creating software applications to support eBay buyers and sellers as well as eBay Affiliates.
Controversy has arisen over certain items put up for bid. For instance, in late 1999, a man offered one of his kidneys for auction on eBay, attempting to profit from the potentially lucrative (and, in the United States, illegal) market for transplantable human organs. On other occasions, people and even entire towns have been listed, often as a joke or to garner free publicity. In general, the company removes auctions that violate its terms of service agreement within a short time after hearing of the auction from an outsider; the company's policy is to not pre-approve transactions. eBay is also an easy place for unscrupulous sellers to market counterfeit merchandise, which can be difficult for novice buyers to distinguish without careful study of the auction description.

The History & Evaluation Of E-Com

History & Evaluation

History of ecommerce dates back to the invention of the very old notion of “sell and buy”, electricity, cables, computers, modems, and the Internet. Ecommerce became possible in 1991 when the Internet was opened to commercial use. Since that date thousands of businesses have taken up residence at web sites.History of ecommerce is unthinkable without Amazon and Ebay which were among the first Internet companies to allow electronic transactions. Thanks to their founders we now have a handsome ecommerce sector and enjoy the buying and selling advantages of the Internet. Currently there are 5 largest and most famous worldwide Internet retailers: Amazon, Dell, Staples, Office Depot and Hewlett Packard. According to statistics, the most popular categories of products sold in the World Wide Web are music, books, computers, office supplies and other consumer electronics.

The meaning of electronic commerce has changed over the last 30 years. Originally, electronic commerce meant the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically, using technology such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). These were both introduced in the late 1970s, allowing businesses to send commercial documents like purchase orders or invoices electronically. The growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking in the 1980s were also forms of electronic commerce. From the 1990s onwards, electronic commerce would additionally include enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), data mining and data warehousing.
Perhaps it is introduced from the Telephone Exchange Office, or maybe not.The earliest example of many-to-many electronic commerce in physical goods was the Boston Computer Exchange, a marketplace for used computers launched in 1982. The first online information marketplace, including online consulting, was likely the American Information Exchange, another pre-Internet online system introduced in 1991.

An example of an E-Commerce success and its causes

eBay is a good example of a successful E-Commerce. This is because eBay is an Entrepreneurs worldwide sit in wonderment of how something as intangible as a mere web site can generate the activity and revenue as does this dot com entity. From the surveys, people who used to online shopping in eBay will feel very safe as there can have communication between the buyer and seller, and can discuss about the price if the buyer feels the price is considerably high than their budget. For each of the item, the details are provided to let the users have a complete picture of the product. Besides, the buyer could also read the comments about the product that he or she may want to purchase to have clearer information on the related production. This is because if the buyer feels that the seller is a good seller will leave comment and rank for them and vice versa. Moreover, the information in the eBay will also keep up to date, and the buyer can find the items they need very easily and user friendly. For the items that are available in Ebay, they will be categorized to render the users access to them easily. In fact, they can search for the items that they have interest to purchase in fast and effective way.
On the other hand, any user details will not be disclosured to anyone as to assure the privacy is warranted. Emphatically, everything in eBay is well secured. In addition, all the sellers and buyers must be follow all the rules which are set by the eBay when do the registration and business transaction between each others. This is to ensure the process will be done smoothly and proceed efficiently. If any reports of deceit received by eBay, eBay will take action immediately to ensure the quality of the products can be controlled all the time.

Bhageerathi@Rathi

Hi !!!!Welcome to my blog.Im Rathi from Perak,the Silver State..It is a very beautiful state with wonderful places to visit such as Kelly"s Castle(Batu Gajah), Menara Condong(Teluk Intan),Pulau Pangkor(Sitiawan),Night Safari Zoo (Taiping)and many more....Even the delicacies in Perak are very delicious .Varieties of foods from all walks of life are available ....Well regarding my hobby, it is surfing the net whenever I'm free..The most frequent website i usually visits is (http://www.yahoo.com/) I visit the website to gain knowledge and to seek latest informations.Moreover it is also ease me for my assignments ans thesis purposes....I also often visit (http://www.friendster.com/) This website allows me to have contacts with my family and friends.Other than the website ,this website (http://www.youtube.com/) also very helpful to me in order to download songs and movies from the websites too.I will also able to save cost by reading online newspapers by visiting to (http://thestar.com/) ..Sometimes i will top up my hand phone credit online through the maybank 4u(http://maybank2u.com/) .It is a very easy and helpful for emergency purposes...Well talking about my lifestyle in utar ,it is very stressful and hectic due the assignments , tests and exam......The most wonderful lecturers as i know for my previous semesters are Performance Management tutor(Ms Jeyamalathi),Audit tutor (Ms.Angelina)and the lecturer(Mr.Aik) and Tax tutor (Ms.Ng Yan Ling)...Trust me they are great....OK For those who wants to buy second hand books for accounting course,please don't hesitate to contact me im from group 14 Y3S1...That's all about me till now..Take Care and adiozzzz.............

Myself

Si (hello), I am Yei Yuen, an undergraduate accounting student, staying in Kuala Lumpur and I am under the horoscope of an Aries. I won’t reveal to you guys much of my detail, later u come find me if I have offended you (Just Joking) or u don’t even bother .About my personal lifestyle, I like hanging out with my friends ,gossiping on whatever is interesting is our best ‘subject’, bullying guys and attend compulsory class attendance(sounds nerd eh? That’s the way it is). Besides that, I enjoy food a lot especially buffet and sleep as much as I can as my eye bag is getting darker. The preferable websites is Friendster.com as I am able get to know more about my friend’s condition since I do not have the chances to meet them up as I am staying in different places. Follow down is Onemanga.com as i can get to read free comic without spending a single penny on comic books. Then the Googlemaps.com because I often got lost on my own so I need guidance to reach places in a fast and efficient way. Then Youtube.com as can watch interesting video clip such as drama, comedy, people’s life style and even latest preview on movies and music videos. Lastly is Google.com because I can find needed information at this website and it is very useful for my assignments and such.
The activities are searching information, chatting, playing games, stream videos and even download wallpapers.

That is Me~~!!

Hi, my name is Swee Fong, I am 21 years old and staying at Seri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur.As an undergraduate student, I am now studying in University Tunku Abdul Rahman which is taking Bachelor in Commerce Accounting course. Although I am staying locally but I have rent a room with friends in Cypress, Sungai Long. This is because I can pay more concentration on my studies and also could able to discuss with friends when facing problems in studies more easily.In my hobbies, I like swimming, playing online game, chatting with friends through internet. Whenever I feel stress in my studies, i would like to go for swimming with my friends. This is because I feel that swimming is a very relaxing exercise. Besides that, I like to visit websites when I have the free time to do so. Regarding on that, the top 5 websites that I always visit are http://www.yahoo.com/, http://www.google.com/, http://www.youtube.com/, http://www.friendster.com/, and http://www.hotmail.com/.

In fact, I always visit http://www.yahoo.com/ and http://www.google.com/ because the websites have provided sufficient information to lend me a hand on my assignment and I could able to search information for other things as well. In addition, I like to surf http://www.youtube.com/ as it is a free watching video website whereby the videos are posted by other people online. Hence, I will visit that website to watch the interesting videos in the free time. Besides, another website that I like visit http://www.friendster.com/ because it is a website that can let me have a chance to communicate with others, friends, and know new friends. Last but not least, I will always check mail in http://www.hotmail.com/ to see whether there are any important mails sent to me and forward mail to get some information through the mails. Furthermore, I also use this mailing machine to send mails to my friends, no matter another country or in my own country, because it can save time and money.

When associated with the top 5 internet activities, basically there are online chatting, playing online game, downloading song, checking mail and watching free online video.