Task 1 Problem Statement
Some Internet-based research is to carry out to find any information that relates to the online sale of football memorabilia, together with any online auctions that have been developed to address this market. Notes have to be made on the range of products that they sell and the approaches that the online auctions take to charging buyers, sellers or both.
Introduction
While searching for websites that relates to the online sale of football memorabilia I found many of them useful. I made notes on necessary information about them. However, all of the sites I visited helped me in some way. Many of the sites are just third party sites of other retail or hosting sites like ebay, who redirects purchase request or orders to the hosting sites. While browsing the websites I concentrated on the range of products sold, payment options buyers and sellers, auction facilities, bidding rules, fraud prevention and security issues, and returns and delivery policies provided by the websites.
List of websites I found useful
The following is a list of websites I visited and found to be useful for the execution of this assignment along with the notes on product offerings, auction facility, and payment options for buyers and sellers:
1. OZtion.com
- Name of the website: OZtion
- URL: http://www.oztion.com.au/
URL:
http://www.oztion.com.au/buy/auctions.aspx?i=30&d=&min=&max=&sort=0&pg=1&cat=1922&keyword=&view=List&f1=&f2=&type=c&type2=a&type3=&type4=&type5=&s=&pcode=&dis=0&freepost=
List of football related products bought and sold:
– Soccer balls
– Boots
– Caps
– Scarves
– Flags
– Jerseys
– Shorts
– Socks
– Others (Alarm clocks, Magnets, Tee shirts)
Auction facility:
Available
Payment options for buyers:
OZtion does not charge buyers for joining as a member, nor for bidding on Items.Buyers can choose to pay their OZtion fees in advance by crediting their prepaid accounts at anytime or pay their fees monthly when OZtion sends them an invoice.
Payment options for sellers:
Selling on OZtion is easy and affordable. Sellers can sell almost anything on OZtion. OZtion charges the Seller a listing fee for certain items. Listing fees are non-refundable. Before anyone begins he or she will need to create a Seller’s Account.Once the sellers have set up an account with OZtion, they may transfer funds into that pre-paid account in order to keep the account in credit. The balance of the account will be updated periodically in accordance with seller’s activity on the Site. Outstanding balances will be invoiced to you periodically and may be paid either by credit card or other agreed method. Upon sale of an Item, the seller will be charged a sale fee in accordance with OZtion’s fee schedule.
All fees are inclusive of GST and in Australian dollars, unless otherwise stated in this User Agreement.
Payment methods
OZtion accepts the following payment methods:
– Credit Card on AutoBill:
OZtion can charge your invoice amount to your credit card (Visa and MasterCard) each month automatically if you place your card on file and select AutoBill.
-Credit Card – One off payment:
You can make a one off payment to your OZtion account any time with your credit card.
-Direct Deposit:
You can make a payment to your OZtion account at any time using direct deposit. Please note: Account transfers may take 2-3 days for the funds to show.
-Money Order or Cheque:
You can make a payment at any time using a money order or cheque. Please make sure you include the payment advice when sending your money order or cheque.
Payment due date
Invoice payment is due within 7 days of the invoice date. The invoice payment due date is shown on the invoice.
2. Huggins & Scott Auctions·Name of the website:
Huggins & Scott Auctions
URL:
http://www.hugginsandscott.com/
URL: http://www.hugginsandscott.com/
List of football related products bought and sold:
– Autographs
– Lots & Singles
– Memorabilia
– Publications
– Sets and Near Sets
– Unopened Cases, Boxes, Packs
Auction facility:
Available
Bidding is done online or by telephone. All items are sold to the highest bidder. Bidding increment is fixed for products of different prices.
Payment options for buyers:
Buyer’s Premium and Sales Tax – Here, buyers’ premium is 17.5% of the hammer price. This means if an item sells for $1000, the winning bidder will pay ($1175.00 plus shipping, handling and insurance). This is added to the item before any sales tax (6%), which is applicable to all Maryland residents only.
Shipping – Is the buyer’s responsibility. We will work with buyer on larger lots to find the best way. All items must be fully paid for, including shipping and insurance, before they will be sent out. We strongly encourage any local bidders to pick up their winnings at our office or at the House of Cards.
Payment options for sellers:
The site accepts personal checks, business checks, money orders, bank checks and cash. They do not accept credit cards or PayPal for auction items (unless pre-authorized before the auction ends.
Sellers must pre-register to sell. They can do this over the phone on the toll free number or online at www.hugginsandscott.com.
Once registered, sellers will need to confirm the email address by following the link in the confirmation email that is automatically sent to their email address that they register with. At the time of registration, they will create a User ID and Password that they are responsible for; they will use that same User ID and Password every time they log into the site for this and all future auctions.
Return policy:
All legitimate returns or credit requests must be brought to our attention within 30 days of receipt of your items. After 30 days, there are no refunds, exchanges or credits. Also, the entire lot must be intact in order to receive any credit or refund considerations.
3. ebay·Name of the website:
ebay
URL:
www.ebay.com
URL: http://sporting-goods.shop.ebay.com/Soccer-/20862/i.html?LH_Auction=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m489
List of football related products bought and sold:
– Balls
– Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
– Goals & Nets
– Training Aids
– Other (Party kit, Jersey, Home shirts, Sunglasses, Banners and flags)
Auction facility:
Available
ebay suggests that buyers bid the maximum amount that they are willing to pay for an item, they could pay less.As the listing proceeds, ebay compares buyers’ bid to those of other bidders.When a buyer is outbid, ebay automatically bids on his or her behalf up to his or her maximum bid. ebay increases bid by increments only as much as necessary to maintain buyers’ high bid position.
Payment options for buyers:
Buyers need to check the item page to see what purchase options are available. Buyers can either place a bid on an item or purchase it instantly using Buy It Now. All bids are active until the auction ends. If anyone wins a listing, he or she is obligated to complete the transaction.
After buyers have won or bought the item, they need to send payment to the seller within three days. If buyers want to pay with one of the electronic payment methods offered by the seller, they need to click the Pay Nowbutton on the item page or email notification. Otherwise, the seller will let buyers know how and where to send their payment. If they are picking up the item, they can pay by any method the seller accepts (including cash).
Payment options for sellers:
Sellers must sign up for PayPal. PayPal enables sellers to accept online payments for their eBay items. Sellers must offer safe electronic payments to buyers on eBay, it is fast and free to sign up.
If anyone wants to sell, he or she can get information about the item such as the recent sales activity and price, appropriate listing category and key words, and examples of good descriptions by simply doing an Advanced Search on the item and clicking Completed Listings. Accepted Payments policy helps ensure that buyers and sellers on eBay are offered safe, convenient payment options. For most categories, sellers need to offer one or more of the following electronic payment choices:
– PayPal
– ProPay
– Moneybookers
– Paymate
Credit card or debit cards are processed through the seller’s Internet merchant account. Additionally, payment upon pickup and Bill Me Later are valid payment methods as well.
Payment methods not allowed on eBay:
For most categories, sellers can’t ask buyers to:
– Send cash through the mail
– Send cash or money orders through instant, point-to-point cash transfer services (that are not banks) such as Western Union or MoneyGram
– Mail checks or money orders (except for items in categories specifically permitted below)
– Pay through bank-to-bank transfers (except for items in categories specifically permitted below)
– Pay by “topping off” a seller’s prepaid credit or debit card
– Pay using online or other payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy
4. Trade Me Name of the website:
Trade Me
URL:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/
URL: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Sports-memorabilia/Soccer/mcat-0005-3155-4326-.htm
List of football related products bought and sold:
– Autographs
– Boots
– Magazines and Books
– Caps
– Polo shirts, Soccer shirts
– Mug, Soup bowls, Glasses
– Key rings, Car pennants
– Scarves, Wristbands
– Crests, Soccer programme, Flags
Auction facility:
Available
Only registered members can place bids. Bid must be equal to the start price or the minimum next bid amount for the auction. If the reserve has been met the item will sell to the highest bidder when the auction finishes. If anyone is outbid he or she will be sent an email.
When placing a bid on an auction, bidders can select to be sent an email or text alert when they are outbid. They will also be asked to select their preferred shipping option. This is so that bidder’s ‘Total to pay’ can be calculated if he or she wins. Bidders can protect themselves from being outbid at the last moment by using auto-bid.
Trade Me will send the winning bidder and the seller automated emails containing each others contact email addresses. It is then up to buyer and the seller to make contact and arrange the payment/shipping details.
Payment options for buyers:
Pay Now allows buyers to pay for their purchases by credit or debit card on Trade Me.
When buyers win an auction, they make payment and provide delivery details to the seller in one easy step, without leaving Trade Me. Sellers get instant confirmation of buyers’ payment and delivery address.
Paying by credit or debit card provides buyers with more protection than paying by cash or internet banking, because it keeps Trade Me informed of the auction and payment. Buyers’ credit or debit card details are secure and encrypted.
There are no additional fees for using credit or debit card to pay.
·Payment options for sellers:
Pay Now service (the Service) enables the Seller to offer an online credit card payment option to people buying items from the Seller on Trade Me.
The Seller must not add surcharges for payment using Pay Now. The Seller agrees to ship goods within three days of notification of payment. The Seller agrees to provide comprehensive shipping options on all auctions offering Pay Now. Failure to do so may result in the Seller’s Pay Now status being revoked.
Trade Me will provide the Seller with the option to accept payment by Pay Now when listing an item. For any listing where the Seller opts to accept payment by Pay Now during the listing process, Trade Me will indicate on that listing that payment can be made by Pay Now; and facilitate the option for buyers to pay for the item using Pay Now.
Trade Me will hold the money received from buyers on a bare trust, in an interest bearing account. Trade Me is authorized to deduct its fees and retain any interest. The Seller will not earn interest on monies held by Trade Me. Trade Me will hold the money for up to three working days, and will then pass the money on to the Seller’s Nominated Bank Account. Trade Me may hold payments for longer periods at its discretion, such as to minimize fraud risks. No payment will be unreasonably withheld. To provide the Seller with visibility of payments, Trade Me will provide the Seller with a Pay Now account where the Seller can view that payments have been made by the Buyer, before being transferred to the Seller’s Nominated Bank Account. The Seller acknowledges that payments into the Seller’s Pay Now Account are not a guarantee of payment into the Seller’s Nominated Bank Account.
Trade Me will charge the Seller a fee for every credit card transaction under this agreement as a fee for facilitating the Service. The fee will be 1.95% of the transaction value and will be deducted from the Seller’s Pay Now account. Trade Me may change this fee at anytime at one week’s notice.
Summary
Each of the websites have distinct targeted market segment and designed their website facilities according to the demands and expectations of the targeted customers. So, the way they interact with the customers, and the products and associated services they provide are unique in their way, however, they have some similarities also. The new football memorabilia eCommerce website can gather idea from these websites before developing their own one. But they should be careful that they are new to the market and depending on external loans for finance. Therefore, they should cater their initial plans and facilities in accordance with their budget but have to design the basic system in such a way, so that further development and enhancement can be done depending on the success of the website.
Task 2 Problem Statement
A project plan has to be produced for the way it is intended to complete the rest of this assignment. For planning, the timescale that have been allocated for this assignment has to be used i.e. from the date the assignment is started to the date it is submitted. A copy of the plan should be submitted to the tutor before proceeding further with the assignment.
Introduction
A project plan is a formal document that divides the project into necessary sub-tasks or stages, including the specific timeframe of each stage, interdependence of work steps, and activities and resources required on the project
The basic objectives of a project plan are to specify the problems which the project aims to solve, determining the activities required, setting out the roles and organization of key people, and providing guidelines for both project execution and project control.
Here, to carry out the rest of this assignment, I have developed a project plan using a Gantt chart in the Microsoft Project. For each of the tasks the duration, the starting date, the finishing date and the preceding tasks has been mentioned in separate columns. The allocated timescale for the project is from 1st April to 24th April, 2010 and it should be submitted on 25th April, 2010. Figure 2.1 shows a screen shot of the project plan that I have prepared.
Summary
Time is always a significant constraint in carrying out the assignments. However, working out according to a useful project plan can remove this limitation to a great extent. Therefore, it is vital to develop and follow a well-designed and constructive project plan to complete assignments successfully.
Task 3 Problem Statement
Using PowerPoint, or a similar tool, a maximum of fifteen slides are to be to put together that could be used as the basis of a presentation to the entrepreneur. The slides should outline the plans for the football memorabilia eCommerce site, clearly indicating the range of items to be sold, the way in which the online auction capability will be made available as a component of the site, why it is believed there is a requirement for this type of eCommerce site, and the projected revenues and profit margin from the site.
Introduction
The football memorabilia eCommerce site is new to the business. So they have to split the market into separate segments and select some particular segments to serve initially. They have to choose the range of products depending on the demand of their targeted market segments. They also need to clarify the auction facility properly to make the entrepreneurs aware about all components of the site. Finally to have the fund granted they will have to present their expected profits, probable expenses, and initial investment requirements to the entrepreneurs.
The PowerPoint slides are attached from the next page of the repot.
Summary
Due to limitations of information, the financial predictions made cannot be accurate to the actual scenario. The operation and success of the business greatly depends on the economic, financial, legal and political environment it is going to operate in. The predictions can be changed due to any significant change in the internal or external environment of the business.
Task 4 Problem Statement
A marketing plan (of no more than 1500 words) is to be written identifying the ways in which the new football memorabilia eCommerce could be promoted. The plan should specify the various activities that could be undertaken in order to make potential customers aware of the new site and encourage them to visit it. These should ideally be a mixture of online and offline activities. The plan should specifically state how the site could exploit information gathered from visitors to the site for subsequent marketing activities. It should also include the recommendation for the domain name of the site, together with brief reasons for selecting this name.
Introduction
Nowadays marketing is a vital component for any business to survive. Marketing is the way the marketer communicates with its customers. Without having a good communication a company can never reach its message to its customers. Any business organization must develop an effective marketing plan to cope up with the ever evolving highly competitive business world. A company will fail even if it has everything but lacks an appropriate marketing strategy to attract its potential customers. So a well thought-out efficient marketing plan is essential for the survival and success of any company.
Marketing Plan for the football memorabilia eCommerce site
The marketing strategies and tools have developed a lot with the introduction of online marketing.
The football memorabilia eCommerce site will take up a product-based marketing strategy, that is, the products will be listed on the basis of their categories on the website to help users find items quickly. The website will be well-designed and user friendly so that users can find any information comfortably. The links which will be visited most by the visitors will be placed highlighted on the home page; however, the links receiving poor response will be removed from the home page. A site map will be provided to so that visitors can track where they are. FAQs and inquiry facilities will be provided. The customers will be able to see the pictures of the items and will be allowed to ask for further information before making a purchase or placing a bid.
Target audience:
Before moving further with the marketing plan, it is important to understand and clarify the target audience to whom all the marketing efforts will be addressed. The football memorabilia eCommerce can split their market into three potential customer groups:
Customer segment 1: Kids
– Aging from 7 to 15 years
– Especially school-going boys and girls
Customer segment 2: Youngsters
– Aging from 16 to 25 years
– College and university students
Customer segment 3: Professionals
– Aging above 26 years
– Professional service holders, businessmen, independent workers
The football memorabilia eCommerce site will take up a combination of online and offline marketing activities which are briefly described below:
A) Online activities1.Advertisements on websites:
The football memorabilia eCommerce site should place advertisements on the websites where the potential customers visit regularly. The social networking websites like, Facebook, Twitter, Hi5, Myspace should be the first preference. Other sites may include websites providing sports news, live scores, and updates; websites selling CDs, DVDs, books, fashionable clothing, sunglasses, other fashion wears, sports equipments, fast foods, video games, chocolates; websites of newspapers, sports magazines, and life style magazines.
2. Email marketing:
The website can send regular emails to the visitors who will leave their email addresses to the site, featuring new products, offers, discounts, online catalogues, newsletters, gift products, quiz and contests for promotion and other product or company information. This will help the company to build good customer awareness about the website and its products.
3. Instant messaging (IM):
The website can also use instant messaging as a marketing tool. The visitors’ who agree to add their email addresses to the website’s instant messaging list can be sent notifications or information through instant messages. The website can offer chat options to visitors to chat with the customer service representatives when they are logged in to the company’s website.
4. Online newsletters, leaflets, brochures:
The website will deliver free online newsletters, leaflets and brochures to the registered users to keep them updated about new offerings.
B) Offline activities1.Advertisements on print media:
Advertisements on popular newspapers, sports magazines, and life style magazines will be carried out. The company will also bring out its own leaflets, brochures, and catalogues consisting of product descriptions, useful website links and other information and give them for free in school, college, and university premises to attract the young targeted customers toward the products.
2. Advertisements on electronic media:
Television and radio can also become a major communication tool for the website. Electronic media advertisements will be useful at the initial stage for building a brand image and introducing the website for the first time to the potential customers. As this is a new website, no one knows about it and will not visit its website unless they get more information about it as a good or useful one from other media also. So at time of launching the website electronic media advertisements will play a great role. Advertisements can be also given through the local satellite channel service providers to strengthen the local market image.
3. Billboards:
The website can also set some attractive billboards in the places of great crowd and where the young people go now and often like, cinema halls, shopping malls, restaurants, fast-food shops, books and DVD stores. The billboards should make them curious to visit its website.
4. Telephone marketing:
Customers can also be taken into contact through telephone by calling up the telephone numbers listed in the local telephone directory. But it can be difficult to identify the potential customers seeing the telephone numbers, and many of the numbers of potential customers are not listed in the local telephone directory. The company can develop a list of their own by considering other demographics of the customer like age, occupation, income, etc.
5. Personal selling:
The company can take assistance of salespersons to build and maintain long-term relationship with loyal and profitable customers
6. Sales promotion:
Many sales promotion activities can be conducted like quiz competitions, sending free samples, campaigns at schools or shopping malls, discounts, gift offers, price cuts, lotteries and prizes.
Strategies to encourage potential customers to visit the website:
1. Placement of the site in search engines:
Web traffic can be increased by placing the site in popular search engines like, Google Search, Yahoo Search, Bing, etc. When people will search for football memorabilia the search engines will show them the website link of the football memorabilia eCommerce site in the results page which will lead them to the website. The company should also choose search terms carefully against which the website link will be shown as the result. Some appropriate search terms can be football memorabilia, jersey, footballs, football boots, souvenir, ticket stubs, programmes, online auction of football memorabilia, etc.
2. Pop-up ads and hover ads:
Pop-up ads and hover ads can be given to the other websites to make people visit the football memorabilia eCommerce site.
3. Placement of the site on the first page of search engines results:
If a web page is not listed in the first pages of any search, the odds of someone finding it diminishes greatly; especially if there is other competition on the first page. Very few people go past the first page, and the percentage that goes to subsequent pages is substantially lower. Consequently, getting proper placement on search engines is also important.
4. Viral marketing:
Viral marketing relies on existing customers to tell other people, the company’s prospective customers about the products or services they have enjoyed using. The football memorabilia eCommerce site can create some such viral marketers by establishing good relationships with customers through salespersons.
5. Word of mouth marketing:
Word of mouth marketing includes buzz, blog, viral, grassroots, influencers and social media marketing, ambassador programs, work with consumer-generated media, etc.These components can also be used according to their necessities.
6. Other online and Offline advertisements:
All the offline advertisements like television ads, newspaper ads will show the URL of the website with colorful and attractive presentation and will encourage the audiences to visit the website to find more information. Online advertisements, newsletters, and messages will also contain links to the company’s website with attractive messages to generate traffic on the website.
Strategies to exploit information gathered from visitors to the website:
1. Monitoring web traffic, visitor tracking and hit counter:
The marketing department of the website should monitor the website traffic to know the number of visitors each day or month, average number of page views per visitor, average visit duration, average page duration, domain classes, busy times, most requested pages, most requested entry pages, most requested exit pages, top paths and referrers.The most visited pages or pages with highest average visiting time indicate that those are the most popular pages. From this information the company can understand visitors’ interests and preferences regarding products, and can promote those products more. The pages which receive poor number of visits or lowest visiting time needs to be improved, replaced, modified, or developed according to visitors’ demands. The website can chose the busiest time to run promotional campaigns and the most ideal time to perform maintenance. Information gathered on the individual visitor’s clicks or hits can also assist the website to know individual customers’ needs and demands. The most requested exit pages could help find bad pages, broken links or the exit pages may have a popular external link.
2.Monitoring visitors’ comments:
The website can offer visitors to sign a guestbook and leave comments about what they feel after visiting the website. The comments should be analyzed later to find out the most attractive and popular features of the site, the pages which receive negative comments, the weakest parts which need to be improved, the problems or inconvenience that visitors have experienced, and the suggestions regarding what they want to have on the site in future. This will help the website to gain insight into potential customers’ expectations and to run promotional activities, bring new products accordingly.
3.Customer feedback:
After making purchase, the website can ask the customers about their experience. These comments will assist the website to identify the aspects on which they need to work more, the features customers are already satisfied with, and the items they want to have in future. The marketing strategy can be designed or modified according to the knowledge they gain at this stage.
4.Observing the referrers:
The website can track the source of the links and determine which sites are generating the most traffic for a particular page. The website should continue, enhance, and improve advertisements in the referrers’ sites that are generating the most traffic. They can use the popular referrers to introduce a new product or offer, to conduct customer surveys on upcoming products, or to strengthen the brand or image of any product. On the other hand, they should discontinue advertisements on the sites of referrers that do not generate good traffic to the website.
5. Observing visitors’ geographical location information:
Observing visitors’ geographical location information will help the website to identify which products or offerings are receiving better response from which part of the geographical market. This will enable the company to promote different products at different geographical locations with different importance according to the customer demands.
Domain name
Domain names are sets of words that are assigned to specific IP addresses. Domain names can contain two or more word groups separated by periods. The rightmost part of a domain name is the most general; it is called a top-level domain (TLD). Each part of the domain name becomes more specific as moving to the left
The importance of domain name to an e-commerce site:
- The users cannot remember an IP address. It is easier for them to use a domain name and they are already habituated to use domain names, so they feel comfort with it.
- When anyone searches about any specific commodity the domain names help them to find out sites selling that product. So if a business gets a domain name it can attract more people to visit its site and make purchase.
- A domain name is unique. So following the specific domain name customers can be sure that they are at the registered and legal website of a company and they are not being deceived as there are many similar looking domain names and sites.
Some potential domain names for the new football memorabilia eCommerce site can be
- www.footballfever.com.bd
- www.crazy4football.com.bd
The reasons for selecting this name
Following are the reasons for which I decided to take on these names:
1.Easy to remember:
The domain names proposed here are very easy to remember. Potential visitors can easily remember the names after watching it on an advertisement on the television, sports magazine or newspaper and can try visiting the website next time they use internet. If they cannot remember the domain name, they will not be able to visit the website even if they were interested to it after watching the advertisements.
2.Easy to spell:
As English is not the mother tongue in Bangladesh, the domain name should be easy to spell to lead the potential visitors to the correct website. There are many similar looking domain names in the internet; so spelling the domain name wrongly can take them to some other websites. The domain names I chose are very easy to spell and the words are very commonly used and spelt by people. So there is a lower chance to misspell the domain name.
3.Attractive enough to catch the targeted customers and building image:
Most of the potential customers of the football memorabilia eCommerce site are teenagers, students, and young people who prefer and are easily attracted to a stylish trendy name. The domain names selected here will assist the website to build a unique image among the young people that the website is especially designed for them and where they can shop there as comfortably as they want.
Summary
The company should be careful that a single and integrated message is conveyed through the various marketing efforts, so that the customers do not get confused about what they are being attracted to. As such a site is totally new to Bangladesh; it may take time to understand the business and its activities for people. So the company may have to wait a long period for making profits. But a proper marketing plan can lead them to success.
Task 5 Problem Statement
A short report of no more than 1200 words is to be produced outlining the payment option(s) that should be considered for the two elements of the eCommerce site – firstly the direct sale of memorabilia items listed for sale, and secondly the online auction of memorabilia. The report should briefly review the strengths and weaknesses of each option. The preferred approach is that the payments for all memorabilia sold directly should be made directly to the owners of the eCommerce site, whilst payments for the purchases of all memorabilia via the auction component of the site should be made directly to the sellers of the memorabilia. Recommendations should be included for how both types of payment should be handled, giving the reasons why.
Introduction
With the expansion of online businesses, many online payment options have been developed. All of them have certain advantages and also some disadvantages. The common disadvantage with all payment option is lack of transaction security. Here, some payment options have been discussed with their advantages and disadvantages; those can be considered for payment options.
a) Payment options for direct purchasers of memorabilia: 1.Payment cards:
Different types of payment cards include credit card, debit card, charge card, stored-value card, gift card, fleet card, electronic purse, emergency card etc.
Advantages of payment cards:
- Payment cards have worldwide acceptance. The currency conversion, if needed, is handled by the card issuer.
- They provide fraud protection. The merchants can authenticate and authorize purchases using a payment card processing network. Both the merchants and consumers can enjoy legal protection and support as many law has been built up in many countries to prevent fraudulent through payment cards.
- Payment cards provide built-in security for merchants and are often more secure than other forms of payment, such as checks. Because, merchants have a higher assurance that they will be paid through the companies (bank) who issue payment cards regardless of whether the consumer defaults on the credit card payment.
- For merchants, cards are even more secure than cash, because they discourage theft by the merchant’s employees and reduce the amount of cash on the premises. Prior to credit cards, each merchant had to evaluate each customer’s credit history before extending credit. That task is now performed by the banks which assume the credit risk.
- Low interest credit cards or even 0% interest credit cards are available.
- Payment card providers often offer incentives such as frequent flyer points, gift certificates, or cash back (typically up to 1 percent based on total purchases) to try to attract customers to their programs.
Disadvantages of payment cards:
- Payment card companies charge merchants pre-transaction fees and monthly processing fees. The merchant may be charged a discount rate of 1%-3%+ of each transaction obtained through a credit card. Usually, the merchant will also pay a flat per-item charge of $0.05 – $0.50 for each transaction. Thus in some instances of very low value transactions, use of credit cards may actually cause the merchant to lose money on the transaction.
- Most consumers also pay an annual fee for credit cards and charge cards. The price of goods and services are slightly higher than they would be in an environment free of payment cards.
- A downside to consumers is that the period of low interest credit cards is limited to a fixed term, usually between 6 and 12 months after which a higher rate is charged.
- The low security of the payment card system presents countless opportunities for fraud. This opportunity has created a huge black market in stolen credit card numbers, which are generally used quickly before the cards are reported stolen.
2.Electronic cash:
Electronic money (also known as e-money, electronic cash, electronic currency, digital money, digital cash or digital currency) refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically.
Advantages of electronic cash:
- Electronic cash transactions are more efficient than other methods, and that efficiency should foster more business, which eventually means lower prices for consumers. Transferring electronic cash on the Internet costs less than processing payment card transactions.
- Electronic cash transfer occurs on an existing infrastructure – the Internet, and through existing computer systems. Thus the additional costs that users of electronic cash incur are nearly zero.
- Because the Internet spans the globe, the distance that an electronic transaction must travel does not affect cost. But when considering moving physical cash and checks, distance and cost are proportional.
- Merchants can pay other merchants in a business-to- business relationship, and consumer can pay each other. It does not require that one party obtain an authorization, as is required with payment card transactions.
- It provides new business opportunities with the expansion of economic activities on the Internet.
Disadvantages of electronic cash:
- Using electronic cash provides no audit trial. That is, electronic cash is just like real cash in that it cannot be easily traced. Because true electronic cash is not traceable. Money laundering is a technique used by criminals to convert money that they have obtained illegally into cash that they can spend without having it identified as the proceeds of an illegal activity.
- Just as physical currency can be counterfeited, electronic cash is susceptible to forgery.
- It does not have acceptance all over the world. The method still requires that a standard be developed for electronic cash disbursement and acceptance, a standard that individual vendors then implement for their individual electronic cash systems.
3.Electronic Wallets:
An electronic wallet, also called an e-wallet, serving a function similar to a physical wallet, holds credit card numbers, electronic cash, owner identification, and owner contact information and provides that information at an electronic commerce site’s checkout counter.
Advantages of electronic wallets:
- Electronic wallets give consumers the benefit of entering their information just once, instead of having to enter their information at every site with which they want to do business.
- It makes shopping more efficient. When consumers select items to purchase, they can then click their electronic wallet to order the items quickly. In the future wallets could serve their owners by tracking purchase and maintaining receipts for those purchases.
- An enhanced digital wallet can maintain records of a consumer’s purchasing habits and can use a Web robot to suggest where the consumer might find a lower price on an item that he or she purchases regularly.
- In a client-side e-wallet, the sensitive information (credit card numbers) is stored on the user’s computer instead of the wallet provider’s central server. This removes the risk that an attack on a client-side e-wallet vendor’s server could reveal the information. However, an attack on the user’s computer could yield that information. But it is safer to store sensitive information on client computer rather than vendor server because it requires attackers to launch many attacks on user computers, which are more difficult to identify.
- E-wallets store shipping and billing information, including a consumer’s first and last name, street address, city, state, country, and postal code. Most e-wallets also can hold many credit card names and numbers, affording the consumer a choice of credit cards at the online checkout.
- Server-side wallets remain on a server and require no download time or installation on a user’s computer.
Disadvantages of electronic wallets:
- The main weakness ofserver-side electronic wallets is that a security breach could reveal thousands of users’ personal information, including credit card numbers, to unauthorized parties.
- Many ofclient-side e-wallets require users to download the wallet software onto their computers.
- Client-side e-wallets are not portable. It is not available when a purchase is made from a computer other than the computer on which the wallet resides.
- E-wallets often do not get accessibility to all sites. This accessibility means that the e-wallet manufacturer and merchants from many sites must coordinate their efforts so that a wallet can recognize what consumer information goes into each field of a given merchant’s forms.
4.Stored-Value Cards:
A stored-value card can be an elaborate smart card with a microchip or a plastic card with a magnetic strip that records the currency balance. Common stored-value cards include prepaid phone, copy, subway, and bus cards.
Advantages of stored-value cards:
- Smart cards are safer than conventional credit cards because the information stored on a smart card is encrypted. With a smart card, credit theft is much more difficult than credit cards because the key to unlock the encrypted information is a PIN; there is no visible number on the card that a thief can identify, nor is there a physical signature on the card that a thief can see and use as an example for a forgery.
- Smart cards can store larger amounts of information in its embedded microchip than any other cards.
- A stored-value card can replace credit cards, debit cards, change cards, deliver’s license, health insurance card, employee or student identification card and other cards with just one card.
- It can be used anywhere a Visa or MasterCard may be used.
Disadvantages of stored-value cards:
- Magnetic strip cards are passive; that is, they cannot send or receive information, nor can they increment or decrement the value of cash stored on the card. The processing must be done on a device into which the card is inserted.
- Though smart cards are popular in Europe and parts of Asia, it has not been successful in the United States and other parts of the world.
- The fees associated with these cards are often very high. These have been criticized as unjustified, because the issuer is not taking any credit risk.
Recommendation
The buyers or purchasers of football memorabilia eCommerce site can pay through any of the above options. For credit cards, Master Card, Visa Card, American Express Cards, and cards issued by all local banks will be accepted. Buyers can use as many payment options as they want.
The reasons for selecting all this payment methods are- all of the options are reliable, safe, cheap and hassle-free. It will also provide the customers with the flexibility to choose among the payment options which is comfortable and convenient for them.
Other terms and conditions for the purchasers of football memorabilia eCommerce site
- All the buyers should be registered users of football memorabilia eCommerce site before making any purchase.
- The registration for buyers is free.
- While registration, the user will create a User ID and Password which will be used every time he or she logs in to the site.
- After registering, the user will have to confirm the email address that he or she is registering with. A confirmation email will be sent automatically to the email address and the user needs to confirm the email address by clicking the link provided in the email.
- The users have to agree with all terms and conditions of the site.
b) Payment options for sellers of memorabilia through online auction 1. Charging both the seller and the buyer:
The website can charge a listing fee and a sliding percentage of the final selling price from sellers to place an item on the auction list of the site. Together with this, they can charge a registration fee from bidders or buyers for bidding on an item.
2. Charging the seller only:
The website can take a listing fee and a sliding percentage of the final selling price from the seller only and charge nothing to buyers or bidders.
3. Charging the buyer only:
The website can charge a registration fee for bidding on an auction from the buyers only.
Recommendation:
The football memorabilia eCommerce site will go with the second option that means it will charge a listing fee and a sliding percentage of the final selling price from the seller only and charge nothing to buyers or bidders.
The reason for choosing this option is, generally buyers do not have to pay any registration fee when they shop from a physical store. Adding extra charges for bidding or registration can make them to feel that they have to pay more in the online purchase than in a traditional direct purchase. This feeling can discourage them to make online purchases and lead the website to a loss.
Payments for the auction of all memorabilia will be done through PayPal. The reasons for choosing PayPal is:
– The majority of buyers around the world prefer PayPal.
– Funds can appear in seller’s account right after the item closes.
– PayPal is cheaper as it accepts debit and credit cards without the hassle and cost of a merchant account.
– PayPal Seller Protection covers unauthorized payment or item-not-received claims, charge backs, and reversals.
– PayPal covers buyer’s purchases for the full purchase price and original shipping costs.
– Buyers can get 100% protection for unauthorized payments sent from their account.
– Buyers can use PayPal balance, bank account, or a debit or credit card.
– There’s no fee when buyers purchase with PayPal.
– Setting up an account is fast and easy with PayPal. Once the account is created, the buyers don’t have to enter numbers every time they pay.
– Internationally accepted.
·Types of auction available on the site:
Sellers can choose any one of the following three types of auction available in the site to sell each of the items:
- Open Auction
- Reserve Price Auctioniii)Dutch auctioniv)Fixed Price AuctionOther terms and conditions for taking part in the auction of football memorabilia eCommerce site
- All the sellers and buyers should be registered users of football memorabilia eCommerce site for taking part in the auction.
- The registration for buyers is free. The sellers need to pay a listing price to place their items on the auction list of the website.
- While registration, the seller will create a User ID and Password which will be used every time he or she logs in to the site.
- After registering, the user will have to confirm the email address that he or she is registering with. A confirmation email will be sent automatically to the email address and the user needs to confirm the email address by clicking the link provided in the email.
- The sellers have to agree with all terms and conditions of the site.
Auction software:
Andale, AuctionHawk, or Vendio software will be used for auction.
Bidding increment:
The bidding increment will be ranging from BDT 50.00 to BDT 1,000.00.
A proxy bidding facility will be available to the bidders.
Security issues:
Buyers’ risks include sellers who never deliver or who misrepresent their merchandise. To make the buyers sure about seller’s reliability a rating system for sellers can be taken on. Buyers can submit ratings of sellers after doing business with them.
Sellers’ greatest risks are from buyers who use stolen credit card numbers or who place the winning bid but never contact the seller to conclude the transaction. Buyers rating systems can also be introduced to secure the sellers.
- The site will provide Escrow Services for the security of transactions amounting above BDT 3,000.00.
- The site will obtain a certificate from thawte to ensure the users about privacy and security.
Summary
All type of payment options can face security threats. But it does not matter what type of payment option is being used, the main fact is the level of security being provided by the website and how much concern the buyers and sellers are about security threats. So the merchant websites should take all measures to prevent security breach and to provide their users maximum security.
Task 6 Problem Statement
A draft of a Delivery and Returns Policy should be produced that could be included on the eCommerce site. In particular the policy should address the following issues:
- The regions or parts of the world to which memorabilia will be delivered;
- What the cost of deliveries will be;
- The returns policy of the site;
- What to do in the event of a complaint not being adequately resolved.
Introduction
With thrive of online businesses all over the world almost all of the eCommerce sites have developed their own Delivery and Returns Policy. Generally, the Delivery and Returns Policy of a company is a document which contains the list of the regions or countries of delivery, estimated delivery time and costs at different regions, and the terms and conditions regarding returns of the sold goods.
It is important to put up a Delivery and Returns Policy for any company to build and maintain a standard of delivery and returns services provided by them. Also, the company needs to reveal its policy to the customers to show that it is committed to its customers. It helps the customers to be aware of the terms and conditions before making any transaction and assists to solve any inconvenience regarding delivery and returns of goods.
The delivery policies of the football memorabilia eCommerce site
As the football memorabilia eCommerce site is new into the business and depending on external financial sources, they will run their operation initially within Bangladesh only. Further, it will enter to serve into the international markets. The eCommerce site will set a contract with a reliable currier service providing company to ship all the orders received by the site for the first year of operation. The policies regarding the delivery services are discussed below:
Delivery Regions:
- As the eCommerce site is new in operation, it will deliver products only within the Division of Dhaka and the Division of Chittagong during the first 6 months of operation.
- After the first 6 months of operation, the site will be launched in the other divisions of the country.
- After running operations successfully for 1 year within the local market, the eCommerce site will enter into the international market and will try to capture the markets of neighbor countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.
Delivery Costs:
The delivery costs in different regions in Bangladesh will be as follows:
Region of Delivery |
Cost of Delivery (in BDT) |
| Division of Dhaka | 300.00 |
| Division of Chittagong | 400.00 |
| Division of Sylhet | 400.00 |
| Division of Rajshahi | 450.00 |
| Division of Rangpur | 500.00 |
| Division of Khulna | 600.00 |
| Division of Barisal | 600.00 |
A free delivery service will be provided within the Division of Dhaka for purchase of BDT 4,000.00 or above at a time.
An additional charge will be added to the regular delivery charges depending on the weight and volume of the order for same day delivery.
Delivery Time:
- Customers should wait at least 6 working days for delivery from the date of placing the order, before contacting the customer services.
- Customers will have to allow 3 – 5 working days from the time the goods leave the store. The order should be placed before 11:00 AM to for same day delivery.Delivery is not guaranteed on Fridays, bank holidays, and other government holidays.
Other Delivery Terms and Conditions:
- Customers will receive an email notification from the website once the order has left the store.
- If the customer does not receive the parcel within 15 working days from the date of placing the order, even after contacting the customer services team, he or she will be asked to complete and return a Denial of Receipt form, which will allow the site authority to investigate the matter. Parcels will not be shipped to PO Box addresses
If the parcel does not reach the customer within the times specified here then he or she should contact the customer services team as soon as possible.If no one is there at the delivery address when the parcel is delivered, goods will be left in a safe place. Alternatively, the customer can leave a special instruction using options such as leave with neighbor at the checking out stage of placing the order. Deliveries are less safe this way and this is the recipient’s responsibility; neither the site authority nor the carrier can be held liable if the item is stolen.
The returns policies of the football memorabilia eCommerce site:
- The customers may return any item within 14 days of placing the order in its original condition.
- Full refund for the returned items will not be provided. 5% to 10% of the price of the item can be taken off as the shipping cost of the item, depending on the weight and volume of the order. Rest of the payment will be refunded.
- To return an item by post, the item should be wrapped securely in a suitable envelope or packet. The customers can ask for a suitable packet to send any item back. The customer service team will post a packet or envelope to the customer’s address.
- The customer must complete and enclose the returns slip that can be found on the back of the delivery note. It is essential to complete the returns slip correctly, or the site authority may not be able to provide a refund.
- The item should be posted to the address specified by the site authority.
- The customer may wait up to 14 working days for the request of refund to be processed.
- The site authority cannot be held responsible if the returned item is not received.
- Once a name or number has been printed on a shirt, a refund or exchange will not be offered unless the shirt is faulty.
- If the returned item is found not to be in its original condition when received, request of return will not be accepted and will be sent back to the recipient’s address.
- Items purchased against gift certificates are non-refundable.
Complaints issues:
- For any kinds of complaints or inquiries the customers should contact the Customer Service Representatives of the site.
- Customer Service Representatives can be contacted through telephone, mail or email.
- Customers can leave voice messages on the telephone for the Customer Service Representatives during the non-working hours also.
- The football memorabilia eCommerce site will aim to solve any kind of complaints from the customers within the shortest time and with convenience.
- If the customer does not receive any response or is not served even after 10 working days of making contact with the Customer Service Representatives, the authority will take those unsolved complaints in consideration and will attempt to solve the issues as soon as possible.
- Compensation or refunds can be provided in case of unsolved complaints depending on the circumstances.
Summary
Both the football memorabilia eCommerce site authority and the users or customers should be obedient to all of the terms and conditions set by the site in order to avoid any kind of inconvenience and to establish and maintain a long-term relationship. This will help the site to build customer loyalty and will bring long run profits; as well as customers can also get benefited by making transactions with a trustworthy, secured and reliable site.