Auction service on EBay
When you are buying a product you either get an option to buy it now or to bid on it. When you click buy it now, you pay a certain price. When you choose to bid on it, the highest bidder at the end of a period of time wins and buys the product.
You click place bid to enter an amount that you’d pay for the TV stand. The seller has entered a minimum price for it to sell at so it can now be sold below this. There is a time in which the bid runs out, and other information like the condition, postage, delivery, payments and returns. Some sellers put the postage price up and the starting bid down. This is because EBay only takes a percentage of the actual product price and not the postage. So by doing this, they give away less of the price to EBay but still get their desired selling price. Buyers must make sure they look at this and not just the price.
You enter your maximum price you’d pay, then click continue and then you are asked to confirm your bid.
If you’re the highest bidder your bid will stay invisible. Other people will bid and if your bid is higher than theirs is, there bid will automatically be rejected. You will stay the highest bidder until someone enters a bid that’s higher than yours. You will be notified that you have been outbid and then you will have the option to enter another bid or stay at the same bid. At the end of the period of time, you will receive and email that tells you whether you have won the bid or not.
Other auction websites include biddi.com and madbid. These are both sites that allow you to bid online like EBay, however they are less popular and smaller so less people are likely to use them.
5 main features of EBay
- There is a system that allows people who have brought products from this seller in the past to rate on several criteria. There is also a space to give comments. It is important for people to have a good feedback score because people are more likely to buy from you in the future if your product and the service you provided was good. People who are good sellers can become top rated sellers and get a badge on their profile to show this.
- The EBay site has a good navigation system. There is drop down bars to select categories and to search for the products that you want. It is important that a site is easy to navigate round because it attracts more people to the site. If a site is hard to navigate round then it may put people of staying on the website.
- EBay lets customers to see pictures of products. It lets sellers upload several pictures so people are able to see clearly the product they are buying. Pictures are able to be enlarged
- EBay has an advanced search system so you can be more specific in your searches. It will narrow down the hundreds of products online so its easier to find the one you want.
- There is a protection system on eBay for people who use and buy things on EBay. It protects people who buy and don't receive products.
What are advantages of EBay?
- EBay makes it possible for people globally too sell products for money. For example people in Mexico who make pottery and people who make hand made products can put them up for sell worldwide to attract more business.
- The prices are normally better than if you buy it in stores. It is sometimes better than online store sites
- It lets people sell unwanted items as a way of making money. This is appealing to the seller because it means you can turn things that are cluttering up your house into money.
- EBay has been proved to be good for the environment. It allows people too sell unwanted products instead of chucking them out. Some products like electronics and computer parts can release substances that are bad for the environment. Through EBay, these items are recycled into new homes and less of these toxic substances are released.
- Unlike alot of E-commerce websites for example new look. There is no physical EBay store anywhere. There is no need for storage as the entire service is online.
- If you are interesting in becoming a member of EBay then there is no cost to shop and search for goods.
- EBay also attracts collectors. Collectable items and products that are hard to find anywhere else can be sometimes found on EBay.
What are the disadvantages of EBay?
- If you’re a seller then you pay a small amount to list your item that you are wishing to sale. You then pay a small percentage of the money when the item is sold. This however is very little and it still can be profitable for sellers.
- There are many scams that happen on EBay and people must be careful who they buy from.
I think that EBay fulfils its purpose and is a good E-commerce website. Its purpose is too sell products that people put up for sell on the website. It also lets people buy different items around the world so it includes all cultures. EBay sells thousands of products a year so therefore it fulfils its purpose. EBay is one of the most popular and most used sites for selling and buying products.
Boots:
There are other websites that are E-commerce. This boots website allows you to buy things online. This is a service now that a lot of people have become reliant on. It not only gives users a chance to view products online but also lets you order and buy them. Most stores now days will have an electronic websites online that people can buy things from.
The boots website is easy to navigate around and it lets you add things to a basket for checkout. There are several payment methods and also uses a secure server for the payment process. This is important for an E-commerce website as it lets customers see that their details will be safe. There is an easy search bar which lets people find their products easily and quick. The shot below shows the product information that you get with each product. There is a star rating, a description, picture and other details such as stock information and delivery prices. By giving clear information on each product, it allows the customer to know exactly what they are buying and the prices that they are paying. There is a customer review section where potential buyers can read what other people thought of the product.
