e-Commerce


 * February 21, 2010

I LIKE** this one cool thing from Amazon. It is called Amazon PRIME. Remember the rules of minimum $25 purchase to qualify for Free Shipping? With Amazon Prime, you DON'T need to. If you want to buy a book for kids that costs $1.34 (like what I did), Amazon will five you FREEEEE SHIPPPINGGGG! And the cool thing is, you buy it on Monday, Amazon will send it to you to have it delivered on Wednesday, GUARANTEED!

Here is to check out more information: http://www.amazon.com/gp/subs/primeclub/signup/main.html http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_lnship_prime?nodeId=13819211

It costs $80 something a year for the membership. BUT, you can enjoy the one month trial for sure. OR, like me, you can enjoy three months trial. Repetitively! Ask me how!


 * February 20, 2010

__Language and communication in e-Commerce sites__

Again, I'm really sorry, but I can't say a lot about Newegg. It does not allow regular people like me to become sellers on NeweggMall, so I cannot comment on anything about it. I have never sold anything on Newegg, and it results to my inability to share any experience.

Meanwhile, in both Amazon and eBay, as I have laid out, you are capable in selling your stuffs on those two e-Commerce sites. As both sellers and buyers, there seems to be a uniform style of communication across people. For example, here is a message I would have sent to people if I have any questions:

Hello, Do you know if this would fit with the new Canon SD1300 IS? Thank you! I was looking for a case for my new camera! So that's kind of simple and short question for the seller I have been eyeing on. And, typically, a potential buyer would send me an email asking me very casual question about my stuffs, too, like this:

Hello could you post or send additional photos of the bottoms of these nice flats please?

I was selling another used pair of my shoes, and someone was interested in it and wanted to see more pictures of them! See, in eBay, you don't need any formal language like "To whom it may concern" or "Sincerely" or "Best regards". I would say that it's very casual, like an every day conversation kind of thing.

BUT, this is another different culture that I found on eBay. With the popularity eBay is enjoying in USA, its reach to other countries in the globe has also been tremendous. Especially with sellers from Taiwan, China, and Hongkong, their popularity is growing rapidly like crazy on eBay. With them, communication would be a lot different. This is the example of an email I received from them:

Good morning.My friend, We friendly remind you pls payment ASAP when item end,pls response us.if you have any question CAN NOT PAYMENT,we always pleasure to help you.we can awaitting more some days, we will cancel the bid in some days later,because every bid or list ,we need to pay list fee,transaction fee to ebay and paypal.we need to pay 4 time fee to ebay and paypal.so every bid is serious.hope you can really understand us

Another example would be like this: Hi,dear,we already resent 2 chains for you just now,plz kindly patient awaitting,hope smooth.  Consequently, my communication with them would also be very limited. I have always been trying to use no complicated words, portray no complex situation, and etc. Why would you buy from them, international sellers? Yes, it might be limited communication. Yes, it might take up to 2 weeks for the items to reach you. And yes. returning the item would be extremely difficult. BUT, you must remember, the items are TOO cheap you can't even miss not buying from them. I bought $1 silicone case for my phone, a $1.50 charger for my phone, a $1 necklace, and a lot more. Trust me, you won't even bother returning the items if they're THAT cheap.

Alright, I think that's it! That's the culture I could observe from eBay. A very interesting one, actually. So, I hope you can find it useful for your communication on the site! February 19, 2010

Ok, methods of payment. For Newegg, costumers can pay by:    ** ==**What <span class="highlight" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffff7a; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: blue; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-color: blue; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: blue; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: blue; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; color: red; font-size: 1em; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em;">**payment method** s does NeweggBusiness accept?** ==
 * Visa
 * MasterCard
 * Discover Network
 * American Express
 * Newegg Gift Card
 * Net Term (from invoice date)
 * Pre-paid Company Check, Personal Check, Cashier's Check or Money Order (Note: All Prepaid Orders, including Cashier's Checks, take longer to process because they must first be cleared with the bank)

For Amazon, the methods of payment available are: ** Payment, Pricing & Promotions ** Amazon.com accepts American Express, Diners Club, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, Eurocard, Visa, Visa Check Cards, payment from your bank account, Amazon.com gift cards, Amazon.com Gift Card claim codes, and the Amazon Store Card. We do not currently accept international wire transfers, PayPal, or Smart Cards. For grocery purchases, we are unable to apply manufacturer's coupons, food stamps, or any other payment method not listed above. Amazon.com Gift Card claim codes can be purchased with cash in almost any denomination and can be redeemed for millions of items on Amazon.com. Purchase an Amazon.com Gift Card or code from an authorized gift card reseller near you--no credit card required. Learn more.  Please see the related links for more information about these payment methods.

For eBay, it would be:   **Accepted Payments Policy** Our 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: Additionally, payment upon pickup and Bill Me Later are valid payment methods as well.
 * PayPal
 * ProPay
 * Moneybookers
 * Paymate
 * Credit card or debit card processed through the seller's Internet merchant account

February 18, 2010

Ok, since the third party sellers on Newegg are established stores, I would exclude it from my next topic of investigation. I want to address the communication style between sellers and buyers, so Amazon and eBay would be the perfect sites to analyze it. I especially think that it would be interesting to study their communication, because those third sellers on Amazon and eBay would be just ordinary people and citizens like us. Without having any tremendous experience, they would be involved directly in a transaction completed entirely online. They would provide customer service, and they would do the interaction we would never expect to do 10 years ago.

February 17, 2010

Let's take a look at eBay. This crazy place would allow you to sell anything. Well, maybe not pirated copies of DVD, because they do have very strict regulation about that.

1. Go to the site, and log in to your account. Make sure you already created an account, or you can just create a new one within minutes. 2. On the top right hand corner, find the link that says Sell, and click on it. 3. You can conduct a lot more research about selling stuffs on eBay on this page. But just to go to the point, click on Start Selling. 4. You can type in whatever you want to sell. Let's say, I want to sell my iPod touch. I will type in "iPod Touch 8gb" 5. On the next page, you will find a list of possible categories that you can put your product under. Off course, in this case, the most appropriate one would be "iPod & MP3 Players". 6. On the next page, you are asked again what product you're selling. Just type in again, iPod Touch 8gb. 7. You will see a choice on the next page whether you're selling a 3rd generation 8gb iPod Touch. If it is, click on it. But if yours is a 2nd generation 8gb not, there's a link for Skip this Step that you can select. 8. Whichever the case, you are two clicks away now from selling your item! On this page, you can edit your title, select the condition of the item, the color of the item, put more description for the item, and upload a picture of the item. For the selling method, you can choose which shipping service you would use, and the method you would like your buyer to pay you with. You will have the option to select if you want your item to be sold at a Fixed price, or you want to let it go through bidding. After you are finished, you can select List the Item. Once confirmed, you will receive a confirmation email

Again, to receive your payment, you must have set up a seller account with bank account information, billing address, and etc. You would need to remember that eBay would ask you for a fee on successfully selling your item through item. If your item doesn't get sold, you would only need to pay for 35cents for listing fee. But if your item gets sold, you must pay them. And I will say that it's A LOT. I have given you a calculation for an item sold before, so you can figure it out from there! February 16, 2010

Sorry, but I cannot say too much about Newegg. Newegg sells electronics, and is the sole seller in the site. It started inviting third party sellers only recently, with the launch of Neweggmall.com to the public. I am not sure when they formed it, as I could not find the information on their website, and I could not find it when I googled it as well.

Anyway, the Neweggmall offers a variety of items that are sold also by other sellers. It is a branch for what I think that sells non-electronic items. You can look at their categories here:

You can browse around for your favorite items, and these sellers are just third party; you would still need to have the transaction under the "control" and "supervision" of Newegg.

February 15, 2010

Ok, let's get into a deeper sense of Internet users on this topic of e-Commerce. I will start off with Amazon.

Amazon started off with selling books, and their success now is pretty phenomenal. They started diversifying into other items besides books, and not only the variety of item, they also offer variety in the method of purchase. In other words, Amazon is no longer the only seller in the site; rather, many people can sign up to the site and become sellers. With this innovation, book remains the number one most popular product as commodity being sold by third party sellers. You are done with your book for the semester? Hold on, don't just go to the Bookstore yet, because you are able to sell it off on Amazon. Here is the process:

1. Go to Amazon.com and sign in. Make sure you already have an account. If you have not, just create one, it is very quick! 2. Find the listing for the book you want to sell. For example, I want to sell the book for my Comm Arts 260 class. 3. After getting into the specific face for the book listing, find the button that says Sell Yours Here. It is located at the bottom right of the page. Click on it. 4. You will find a page that asks you to select the condition of the book, as well as adding comments about the condition. Put it as accurately as possible according to your own judgment. To help the sellers, Amazon has a published guidelines on how to decide on the condition of a book, and you can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1161242 5. After putting the condition and adding the comments, you will be able to set on the price for the book. To guide you with your decision, you can use the price of how much you paid for the book initially. Or you can also look at the market price, located on the right side of the page. It would list the lowest price for a New condition and a Used condition of the book.

Enter the quantity of the book.

Select the variety of shipping methods you want to offer to your potential buyer.

6. You might be asked to set up your seller account if you have not previously sold anything on the site. It is fairly easy, you would be required to have your credit card number, your billing address, and your bank account information so that you can receive your payment. I will not display them here because they would be related to my own personal information. Sorry people =P

7. After everything is done, you will have a chance to confirm for the listing. Please note the amount of commission Amazon would require from you. You do not need to pay them later, they would automatically deduct that specific amount from your customer's payment that is sent to you. 8. Press Confirm, and you would be taken to a confirmation page, and you would also get a confirmation email indicating that your book listing is now up for sale.

So that was the process of listing. It might seem complicated now, but it would be so much easier once you get used to it. I have never brought my used books at the bookstore, and I have sold more than 30 of my books (and my friends' books) for buyer at Amazon. Alright, I need to give you the directions for what happens when your book actually gets sold!

1. You would receive an email from Amazon, saying that your book is sold, and that you have to ship it soon. Remember, you only have 2 business days allowed by Amazon to send your book off. 2. Obtain the seller's name and address from your Seller Account on Amazon.com. Just log in, go to your Seller Account, and go to Manage Orders. 3. Pack the book nicely, seal it securely, label the name and address accurately. 4. Bring the book to the post office, pay for it with Media Mail don't forget, and also don't forget to ask for Delivery Confirmation. Usually shipping would cost me around $5 including the Delivery Confirmation. 5. Log in to your Seller Account again, go to Manage Orders, click on link for the specific order number, and put in the shipment information. That way, you would confirm the shipment you have made and Amazon would be able to verify it. 6. Wait for two weeks period until you receive payment for your book. Yeay!

See it is not bad at all! Now you can start selling books on Amazon, but not yet for other stuffs. I tried to sell my used electronic gadgets, but Amazon would not allow me because I was not an "established store". It is another type of third party, in which seller might not be individuals like us college students selling used textbooks, but actually an established store in Kansas with a physical store, who would want to expand their range of buyers on the cyber world.

Ok, that is it for today, and I hope that could be useful for everyone! February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Now, to commemorate the commercialization of this day, let us examine one of many marketing strategies employed by these three e-Commerce sites. I have come across into what I think is one of the most successful strategies to keep inviting customers back to the sites and to shop more and more.

Amazon keeps track of what you have purchased from their site, or at least what product category you have browsed from their website. Without your voluntary registration, Amazon will bombard you with their newest deals happening on their site. If you have shopped for a pair of boots before from them, you would receive an email saying that some boots are 60% off, for example. Or, if you were browsing for a Bose headphone, they would notify you the newest product addition from Bose brand. With these emails, even though you did not have any intention to shop at the first place, with the new arrivals and the price cut seem so luring, you will likely to be at least browsing at their site. And yes, their goal is successfully achieved.

For eBay, it is less involuntary. If you have purchased from a seller in the past and you really like them or you had really favorable experience with them, then you have the option to save them as Your Favorite/Saved Seller. Or, if you just come across to any seller that sells things which interest you, you can also save them on your list of Favorite/Saved Seller. Through this, eBay will offer to send you periodical emails containing new items put up by your Favorite/Saved Sellers. This way, you will be updated with newest additions that might be in your interest, and all of those were your choice at the first place. This way you do not necessarily need to check out your Favorite/Saved Sellers all the time because they will come to you instead.

For Newegg, you can sign up for their Daily Deals. From President's Day Deals to the crazy Black Friday Deals, Newegg will send their customers the bargains they have for any long you want it. Another smart strategy implemented by Newegg that is not implemented by the other two sites is how it reminds people of items they have left "unchecked out" from the cart. I remember receiving this email once, as I was just browsing their website for a pair of headphone, put it in the Cart as if I was ready to pay for the item, but I closed the window browser instead. I think it is pretty smart for Newegg to send out these reminder emails for either a neglecting customer like me, or a customer who was interrupted during the checkout process.

Anyway, I was just mentioning one of the many many marketing strategies of the e-Commerce sites. Looking on their revenues and the number of customers they have, it is certainly noteworthy how successful they are with the businesses. It is also interesting to see how these website implement their own, differentiated strategies that do not necessarily be the same like the others. But also, in their own way, they have managed to succeed in getting customers' attention.

February 13, 2010

__Communities at e-Commerce sites__

Now, who says that eBay, Amazon, and Newegg do not have anything in common with Second Life? If Second Life has Virtual Communities, these e-Commerce sites also have their own virtual communities. Though people on those e-Commerce sites don't have avatar who can shop for clothes or fly for direction, but they can certainly chat to one another asking for advice on products, or advice for any troubles they come across on the sites.

For eBay, the established communities ranges from Discussion Boards, Answer Center, and Chat Rooms. In Discussion Boards, eBay members can talk among each other anything from Selling Policies to efficient Packaging and Shipping. In Answer Center, eBay members are free to ask other members specific cases of troubles they have run into, whereas in Chat rooms, members can casually talk about anything from their holiday to the Haiti earthquake. It all starts here: []

In contrast to eBay, Amazon communities are more focused to specific product type or product brand that they are named The Nokia community to The Xbox360 community to Zombies community. In the forums, they are free to create topics of their own or to jump in to an existing topic that they have chosen. They can ask ranging questions from which brand is the best for Netbook, to comparing battery life of the old Blackberry Bold 9000 or the new Bold 9700. It all starts here: []

For Newegg, they creatively call their community the Eggxpert. Similarly with the communities from eBay and Amazon, these Eggxperts get together to talk about deals, product reviews, website problems, to the newest iPad. I really like the name they have chosen for the community, I think that's beyond funny and creative. And unlike eBay and Amazon, these Eggxperts have their own website to begin with, so you can check it out here: [|http://www.eggxpert.com /]

I think it is very intriguing how these online communities are interacting in a very engaging way. It looks like there are some regulars who I do not dare calculate how many hours they have spent online in those community sites. Do these online communities offer something that the "offline" communities cannot offer? Have we really moved our life from face to face interaction amongst people in our neighborhood, to people whom we simply can only see typed words from?

February 12, 2010

__The power of Reviews at Amazon.com__

Are you confused of what to buy? Do you think Dan Brown's newest book, The Lost Symbol, will be as good as you thought? Type Lost Symbol on the search box and it will show you this:



Ok, apart from 60% reduced price, what else can you notice? Yuph, it has 2,243 customer reviews, with an average of 3 stars.

If you scroll down a bit, you will find this: A more detailed explanation of the review.

Do you think such reviews are helpful? For me, it has been VERY helpful. Whenever I am confused about choosing product A or product B, or brand A compared to brand D, I always refer to product reviews on Amazon. The beauty is, you do not necessarily need to buy from them, while can still freely access their reviews. As a reader of the review, people can vote either the review is helpful to them or not, or, you can comment on the review to ask questions to the reviewer or some other people who might have been dropping by.

Some people go beyond the ordinary. Harriet Klausner, for example, is the No. #1 Top Reviewer on Amazon with 21,152 reviews. Yes, it is correct, 21,152 reviews. This is her short biography from her Amazon profile page: I was an acquisitions librarian in Pennsylvania and wrote a monthy review column of recommended reads. I found I liked reviewing and went on to freelance after my son was born. I have 2 dogs, a cairn and a pom, and four cats. Oh, I have a 21 year old son and a husband who wants to but is nowhere near retiring. I am a speed reader( a gift I was born with) and read two books a day.

Yuph, the person reads two books a day and still have time to contribute 21,152 reviews to Amazon. That's pretty amazing, right? Apart from his/her fondness of giving reviews, it should be signified how each review can be in potential customer's consideration upon purchasing a product. Harriett Klausner easily leaves behind Lawrence Bernabo as No. #2 Top Reviewer with 6,666 reviews and Grady Harp as No. #3 Top Reviewer with 4,420 reviews. Now do you think you can beat them and start reviewing products on Amazon today?

February 11, 2010

__The Feedback system in eBay__

To keep the community of eBay's interest, a super smart system of feedback is used in the operations of eBay. This way, buyers and sellers know each other's credibility and reputation in the site, based on the past transactions completed by every username. Looking at the history, potential buyers have the opportunity to judge the "character" of someone as a user on eBay. After completing a transaction, both sellers and buyers can leave either positive, negative, or neutral feedback to the other party. Both would also have the chance to give a short description of how the transaction went.

Alright, now, look at this:

It shows that accstation has done 1,626,658 transactions since it started its eBay account on Dec-02-01. With a positive feedback of 99.7%, accstation has probably also done a very good job in selling their items. Though they still do receive negative and neutral feedbacks, however the number can be considered to be insignificant compared to the positive ones that they receive. Now, wouldn't you feel at least safe to buy item from them?

Now compare it to this: Even though jmaujmau has become a member since Aug-08-05, jmaujmau has done nothing. In fact, jmaujmau has a feedback of -1, which means that jmaujmau completed one unsatisfactory transaction with his/her client. Compared to accstation, wouldn't you feel a lot safer to buy from them instead of jmaujmau?

And that's what the feedback system is for. It shows the credibility of a person selling stuffs on eBay. Credibility can include speedy shipping or delivery, reply to inquiry, fast communication, true condition of item, response upon inquiry, and condition after shipment. A person with 100% positive feedback and 0 negative feedback must have done a really great job in ensuring customer satisfaction.

February 10, 2010

Hey, my old pair of shoes gets sold! Lol.. Here is the email notification if my item gets sold..





I sold it for $9.99.. Want to know the profit? Here it goes.. Buyer paid $9.99 I have to pay $1.40 to eBay for their commission.. And I have to pay another 15 cents for eBay for their listing fee.. I have to pay PayPal 60 cents for their commission.. And finally, I have to pay $6.05 for shipping it all the way to Nevada.. Guess how much I earned finally? $1.79

Sad right =( February 9, 2010

3. Excellent customer service

Alright, when you can't see the salesperson face to face, it means that you have no one to scream at when something goes wrong with your purchase. With this concern in mind, all the e-Commerce sites have developed their own way to protect customers' interest.

What constitutes customer service? I'm thinking specifically of: 1. Product consultation. Which product to buy? 2. Returning defective items 3. Timely delivery of items 4. Refund policy 5. Most importantly, how can you reach the customer service people to talk to.

This is what Amazon offers:



That is for Amazon. How about Newegg?

eBay might be just a middleman for transactions between sellers and buyers. But to keep everyone's interest, eBay develop this:



Alright, that's for customer service.

I believe the whole three reasons have encouraged more and more customers to replace their conventional shopping method of going to physical stores for buying things easily online from home or office. February 8, 2010

2. Ease of products' delivery.

This is the second reason why people buy things online. They can do the research at home, choose at home, pay at home, and have the item delivered at home. For me as a college student who has no car (and can't drive), and lives in Wisconsin (where it's my-fingers-are-numb-because-it's-too-cold-outside), my life will be so much easier for me to buy things at home. Especially if I only need to buy a pair of earphone for my workout pleasure. I don't feel like sitting in Bus #6 and transfer to Bus #67 for almost 1.5 hour round trip to Best Buy just to get a pair of $20 headphone. For a workaholic businessman, it would be so much easier to sit at his office and choose which toy would make his son happy for a Christmas gift. For a busy working mom, life would be better if she can buy groceries online. And that's why people buy things online.

Ease of products' delivery will be based on two things: 1. Shipping rates 2. How long will it take for products to be delivered

Now, look at the shipping rates from Amazon:

BUT, they have this Free Super Saver Shipping for eligible products over $25



Similar things with Newegg. They have what is called Egg Saver:

And they have a lot of items with Free Shipping too! These cameras are just a few of them:



Whereas for eBay, eBay is crazy. You can choose from millions of sellers, selling items from free shipping to hundreds of dollars for shipping fee, depending on the seller. But I always go for Free Shipping, and have never found difficulty to look for items with free shipping. These are just a few of the items with free shipping, I got it from Daily Deals.



That is all for the shipping fees associated with buying things online. How about how long it will take for products to be delivered? Well in the screenshots I have shown how many days will it usually take for products to be delivered. But let me lay it out here:

Amazon uses UPS as its main shipping service. UPS does things quick, seriously. I think before Amazon also uses USPS, but I never see my items delivered from Amazon using USPS anymore. UPS is a very reliable shipping service, it never take more than 3 days for items to get delivered to me, wherever Amazon sent them from which warehouse in USA.

Newegg uses both UPS and FedEx. Again, they are very reliable shipping services which would require higher shipping costs. But Newegg uses them. I once have a 20-pounds Logitech Z2300 delivered to my place from Newegg for Free Shipping. That's right. Free. And fast!

Again, for eBay, it depends on individual sellers who are selling the items. If it is more expensive, then they will probably use UPS or FedEx for being more reliable. But again, it totally depends on preferences. Crazy thing is, I once have a necklace delivered all the way from Hongkong that I bought from eBay. Yes it took 2 weeks for it to get delivered. But when the necklace only costs 99cents with free shipping, I don't mind waiting for two weeks =) February 7, 2010

1. GOOD DEALS

Let's look into the craziest price discrepancies I have found online. I like to use electronics, and I will Best Buy a lot. Why? Because Best Buy generates $45 billion revenue each year, employs 155,000 people to work in thousands of its branches across the nation. It has been said to be a reliable place to buy electronics, both in terms of price and customer service. It provides electronics for all ages; families, couples, and businessmen, all of them will most likely to choose Best Buy for their electronics needs. I will like to compare a reputable physical store with the online stores I have chosen.

Alright, let's compare stuffs. This Sony - Walkman 16GB MP3 Player costs $129.99 at Best Buy.



The same item costs ONLY $89.99 on Newegg.

Wait for the second item comparison. This Garmin Nuvi GPS costs $199 at Best Buy. The same exact thing costs almost only a half of that on Amazon.



You think it's crazy? Nope. Look at the next item. This Nokia N95 costs this much at Best Buy.



Look at this.



Are you in awe? Because I kind of am.

Many people disregard online shopping because they want the product immediately. They go to store, buy the product, and take it home. But if you can save half of the price for an exactly same item, why not wait couples of days? Even if you pay overnight shipping at the above stores, it would still probably cost less than if you buy it in any physical store. February 6, 2010

Ok, let's dig in deeper into the practicum project. Based on the prompt that Liz gave me, she provided me questions that lead me into a direction of the economic activity of e-Commerce. I like having a focus, and I choose this main research question:

WHY DO PEOPLE BUY THINGS ONLINE?

While thinking about the answers, here are my possible hypothesis: 1. GOOD DEALS. 2. Ease of products' delivery 3. Excellent customer service (can it be better than in store?)

Alright, so that's what I thought. I can give more answers, but I prefer looking in-depth for the three reasons above rather than giving 20 reasons without really any justifications and/or proof.

Ok, so I'll look up one by one then.

February 5, 2010

Alright, I know eBay has been selling cars. Like this: But I never know it also starts selling house. OMG.

Sorry, I got distracted. It's just, pretty, amusing, I guess.

**February 4, 2010**

Amazon started off by selling books. Today, a lot of people still rely on Amazon for buying books, even though other reliable websites are out there offering to sell books. Amazon has also diversified its products to reach a lot more target market, achieving a lot higher revenue. Here's what's sold:

As off what Newegg sells, it sells mainly electronics. Newegg recently launches Newegg Malls, where third party sellers can come and sell anything they want to, following the method from Amazon and eBay. However, it has not been really established, and not a lot of people have heard about it. Meanwhile, the real Newegg, not the third party from Newegg Malls, sells only electronics. Below is a screenshot for what is sold on Newegg.



eBay, however, has the most outrageous things. First of all, let's look at all of these bizarre categories that other sites might never have



Alright, here is one of the craziest things I have encountered from eBay. There's a ton of other things, but let's just post this one first. Let's discuss the outrageousness of this posting. First of all, wow, the price. Second of all, if you're a really serious buyer, why would you wanna buy this item from eBay, like, EVER? Alright, I know that the seller has 871 positive feedback, but it doesn't mean the seller hasn't found the 100 ways to sell a fake bag on eBay that can look like authentic. I know that this crazy Hermes Birkin handbag has a waiting list even for buying it from the boutique directly, but I JUST don't get it why would people wanna buy it from eBay.

Alright, I'll continue updating with more outrageous stuffs sold on eBay. That is all for today, see you all!

**February 3, 2010**

Look, all of the stores are having a theme of Valentine's Day!



 Hopefully you can guess which one is which.

But it makes me think, is it a day for lovey lovey or for commercials? Has our society become too swayed with commericialization?

**February 2, 2010**

Start moving on to the technical part, I got screenshots from each of the site. I was looking for a particular digital camera I have in mind, Canon SD940. Here is the screenshot from each site, pretty much in how they organize the shopping layout and for item categorization:

 Amazon, then Newegg, then eBay.

I personally like eBay and Amazon because they look brighter and more colorful, thus, catchier. I am probably biased because I use Newegg the least often, but oh well =P

In terms of easiness, all three have made it pretty easy for customers to narrow their selection for more specific types of products. All three of them allow what criteria would be appropriate while hunting for the products. All three of them allow customers to view products listed based on Price (low to high, or high to low), Bestselling, Best Rated, and etc. BUT, eBay so far wins because it enables users to choose more than one item in a category. For example, I want to look for a digital camera, a new one, not just from Canon, but from Sony and from Kodak as well. Only eBay would allow me to select all of the three brands, whereas Newegg and Amazon would not allow me to do that. BUT, eBay would not allow any price or budget range for customers, which sucks.

Alright, more investigation tomorrow!

**February 1, 2010**

eBay: With more than 88 million active users globally, eBay is the world's largest online marketplace, where practically anyone can buy and sell practically anything. Founded in 1995, eBay connects a diverse and passionate community of individual buyers and sellers, as well as small businesses. Their collective impact on e-commerce is staggering: In 2008, the total worth of goods sold on eBay was $60 billion -- $2,000 every second

Newegg: Newegg Inc. is the second-largest online-only retailer in the United States. It owns and operates Newegg.com (www.newegg.com) which was founded in 2001 and regularly earns industry-leading customer service ratings. The award-winning website has more than 12 million registered users and offers customers a comprehensive selection of the latest high-tech products, detailed product descriptions and images, as well as how-to information and customer reviews. Using the site’s online tech community, customers have the opportunity to interact with other computer, gaming and consumer electronics enthusiasts. Newegg Inc. is headquartered in City of Industry, California.

Amazon: Amazon, a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, Washington, is the global leader in e-commerce. Since Jeff Bezos started Amazon in 1995, we have significantly expanded our product offerings, international sites, and worldwide network of fulfillment and customer service centers. Today, Amazon offers everything from books and electronics to tennis rackets and diamond jewelry. We operate sites in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, and China (Joyo.com) and maintain over 25 fulfillment centers around the world which encompass more than 12 million square feet. I obtained all of the above information from their respective websites. I think it has pretty much comprised each of their businesI am excited to update on what I will find out more!


 * January 31, 2010**

Since I created an account with Newegg, I have only made 4 purchases with them. Compared to eBay, I have probably completed almost 100 transactions over there, and a similar number with Amazon. What makes eBay and Amazon more appealing compared to other hundreds of online shopping sites out there? What makes customers keep coming back again to buy from them? Hmmm, a good question to start.

For right now, I will say that I personally like that I can get a lot of very good deals from Amazon without worrying about the quality of the product. I mean, I was going through a painful amount of research before making purchases with them, but buying from Amazon means that I don't have to worry about defective item, late shipment, quality of item is not up to standards, poor customer service, and etc. eBay, on the other hand, is just amazing. It sells everything. Literally, everything. I remember reading this last year, and it's pretty amusing: [|http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402744,00.html]

It's just pretty amazing the variety and quantity of stuffs that you can buy on eBay. New, used, pre-owned, refurbished, anything.

Newegg I'll say for now, might be a lot more focus on electronics.  Furthermore, it does not allow any third party sellers, so it would reduce the number of transactions and the revenue in NeweggIt might be insignificant business if compared to the other two. However,its expansion is notably fast, and it would be worth it to take a look on the marketing strategy of this company, too.


 * January 30, 2010**

I checked around my old old emails and I have created accounts with all the three e-commerce sites.

First created an account with eBay: September 25, 2007 First purchase made with Amazon.com: October 16, 2006 First created an account with Newegg: August 4, 2008

Compared to the other two e-commerce sites, Newegg is considered to be a newcomer. But its innovation in bringing the latest technology along with a speedy delivery has skyrocketed its name into the top preference for people to shop online. I am going to find out about the history of the 3 sites soon!


 * January 29, 2010**

I decided on the three following sites for my practicum project:

I chose the above three because they do not have any physical stores in the nation. While they maintain physical distribution center and warehouses, they do not complete any transaction in person. I thought it would be interesting to investigate how the three work differently among each other. Ebay will be the only auction site, whereas Amazon and Newegg is based on fixed price items.


 * January 28, 2010

Got the email from Liz containing the project description. I'll copy and paste it here so I won't need to look it up every time I am progressing with the project =)

Pick three sites of ecommerce (at least one should be an auction site) and follow the activity. You do not have to buy or sell anything, but if you do, record and consider the experience. Where is economic activity online, and what kinds of commerce do you see? How do merchandise or prices change over time or across sites? Are people buyers, sellers or both? Do corporate sites have an advantage over person-to-person sales? **


 * January 27, 2010

Got assigned and approved for e-Commerce, yeayyyy =D **


 * January 20, 2010

First class meeting. Requested to do practicum project on e-Commerce. Something I have done for a while, but I would love to find out more about it. I am curious about the significance of e-Commerce and how it affects society to purchase item nowadays. I thought in-depth exploration about the topic would be very interesting. **