Things to take note to Prevent E-Auction Fraud

Auction is defined as market mechanism by which buyers make bids and sellers place offers. It is characterized by the competitive and dynamic nature by which the final price is reached. Auctions can rapidly disposal of items that needs liquidation or a quick sale, they offer trading opportunities for both buyers and sellers that are not available in conventional channels and they ensure cautious execution of contracts.

Electronic auction (E-Auction) is auctions conducted online. For example: www.lelong.com.my. www.ebay.com.my

There are several types of e-auction fraud as follow:

• Bid shielding
• Shilling
• Fake photos and misleading descriptions
• Improper grading techniques
• Bid siphoning
• Selling reproductions as originals
• Failure to pay
• Failure to ship merchandise
• Loss and damage claims
• Fake escrow services
• Other frauds

Protecting against E-Auction Fraud

• User identify verification

- Verify IC number, driver’s license number, and data of birth.

• Authentication services

- To determine whether an item is genuine and described appropriately.

• Grading services

- To determine the physical condition of an item.

• Feedback forum

- Allows buyers and sellers to build up their online trading reputations. Buyers and sellers provide comments on their experiences with the other parties.

• Insurance policy

- Some sites provide insurance on auction frauds but extra cost is incurred.

• Escrow services

- Both sellers and buyers in a deal are protected with a independent third party. This third party will also hold onto the money form buyer until confirmation is received from buyer to pay seller (after confirmation of goods received).

• Nonpayment punishment

- Friendly warning for first-time offense, sterner warning for second-time offense, a 30 day suspension for a third offense, an indefinite suspension for a fourth offense.

• Appraisal services

- Expert assessment of authenticity and condition and reviewing what comparable items have sold for in the marketplace.

• Physical inspection

- Can eliminate many problems especially for collectors’ items.

• Item verification

- Neutral third parties will evaluate and identify an item through a variety of means.

• Other security services

- Dispute resolution between a buyer and seller.

E-Government in Malaysia: Its Implementation so far and Citizen’s Adoption Strategies

The Electronic Government initiative in Malaysia was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. It has improved both how the government operates internally as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses; simultaneously, it will improve information lows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement.

The vision of Electronic Government is a vision for government, businesses and citizenry working together for the benefit of Malaysia and all of its citizens. The vision focuses on effectively and efficiently delivering services from the government to the people of Malaysia, enabling the government to become more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

The 7 pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application are as follows:
1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
5. Electronic Services (E-Services)
6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)
7. E-Syariah



The myGovernment Portal (www.gov.my) acts as the one-stop source of Malaysian government information and services for the citizens.

CITIZEN’S ADOPTION STRATEGIES
E-Government, better to known as E-Services had successfully form an emerging field, which is rapidly gaining attention and importance in Malaysia. Citizens expect and demand governmental services with a high degree of quality, quantity, and availability in a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, and year-round fashion. Governments all over the world are developing information systems and electronic services that have the capacity to meet these emerging service needs and demands of citizens and other clients. The ease of use, compatibility, and trustworthiness are significant predictors of citizens’ intention to use e-Services and that perceived reactive advantage, perceived image, perceived compatibility, perceived usefulness, and relative advantage are significant elements of e-Government adoption. Success in delivering e-services too depends on the capability and self-confidence of citizens when performing e-transactions, in which the situation always require citizens and users to have trust on security of the services provided regarding certain matters such as confidential and private data.

Review a local e-commerce site

The local e-commerce website which I visited is Lelong.com.my. (http://www.lelong.com.my). Lelong.com.my is a pioneer auction website which bringing high standard of quality into homes and business by providing an avenue for on-line trading at a low cost. It starting based on Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) transactions and now is moving to becoming a Business-to-consumer(B2C) relationship.

You may choose to buy the thing you like by the way complete bid with other, or may directly contact with auctioneer and negotiate the price with him/her, purchase directly. There have a lot of functions to make you use their website more convenient, like Categories Search Engine- which provides you searching by category like Beauty and health, book and comic, phone and communication, it is an easy search engine and the searching speed is quite fast, very useful.

The features of product selling at Lelong.com.my included:-
1) computer
2) handphone
3) watch
4) camera
5) categories which included :
a) feng shui
b) clothing and accessories
c) personal care
d) pets and
e) etc

The speed of downloading is depend on the internet speed subscribed by user. The website has presents the layout of the products, price/shipping, state, bids/views and the time left of bidding products. There have different language to choose according to consumers' preferences. In addition, Lelong safetrade provided to manage every aspects of the settlement process and remove risk from online transaction. Therefore, is giving a safenesses to buyer and seller.

Other than that if you find that this auctioneer is very trustful and you hope to have more trade with him/her, you also can visit his/her store and check other item. The design of the website take easy and comfort way, do not have too much complex background.

Most of consumer prefer to use Lelong.com.my as a trade of products and services because it is easy to use and convenient compare to buy things at the shopping mall whereby approximately 70% of all items posted for auction on the site are sold.

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies.

A corporate weblog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals.Although there are many different types of corporate blogs, most can be categorized as either external or internal.

An internal blog, generally accessed through the corporation's Intranet, is a weblog that any employee can view. Many blogs are also communal, allowing anyone to post to them.

An external blog is a publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services, to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. It also allows a window to the company culture and is often treated more informally than traditional press releases, though a corporate blog often tries to accomplish similar goals as press releases do. In some corporate blogs, all posts go through a review before they're posted.

One of the corporate blog with recently added listing is Coca-Cola Conversations http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/, authored by Phil Mooney, the historian/archivist for The Coca-Cola Company for the last 30 years.

Corporate blogs are not only interesting and useful, they are also helping the companies that author them develop a totally new relationship with their customers. In some cases, the blogs have helped the company move the needle in reputation, likability and thus purchase consideration.

The ADVANTAGES of the corporate blog:

1. Leaders can communicate directly with customers, suppliers and investors, as well as employees, helping disseminate and explain strategy.
2. Blogs give the writer an opportunity to answer critics in a controlled forum.
3. Compared with conference or printed memos to all staff, blogs are highly cost effective.
4. A well written blog can give a human face to an otherwise anonymous corporation.

The DISADVANTAGES of the corporate blog:

1. The best non-corporate blogs are spontaneous and genuine. Poorly written corporate blogs can look fake -- or perhaps worse, they reveal incompetence on he part of the writer.
2. It is difficult for executives to write freely, particularly at listed companies where they are legally required to publish significant information to all investors at the same time.
3. There is a risk that an ill-judged comment could be seized upon by the media or disgruntled investors.

External Link:

http://www.corporateleadersblogs.com/

http://mariosundar.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/top-15-corporate-blogs-ranked-may-2008/

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

The prepaid card is far from a new idea. The concept is basically the same as a prepaid gift card or a mobile phone SIM card. A prepaid cash card looks like a credit or debit card, and gives users the ability to purchase products and services with a card but with a crucial difference which means a person can only spend the balance that has been preloaded onto the card. This means there is no risk of running into debt as it has no credit or overdraft facility.

Prepaid cash cards are plastic cards, which fall under the pay first category of plastic payments. Prepaid cash cards can be used to make payment for goods and services and even to withdraw money. Before use, the user needs to load the card with a sum of money. Prepaid cash cards are designed to be used as a safer alternative as compare to cash.

Here are some of the general applications with prepaid cash cards
~Bills payment – Rent, utilities, insurance, car payment, and cell phone bills.

~Shop anywhere as long as the card using is accepted at different retailers, buys fuel at the pump, pay by phone, and shop on the Internet.

~Money withdrawal from ATM at ease

~Transfer money – certain prepaid cash card provide for this function of money transfer between 2 different cards.



Other than as mentioned above, prepaid cash cards can be used as a replacement for travellers’ cash. Customers buy prepaid debit cards denominated in the currency of destination, and then use them to withdraw cash at ATMs or pay for goods or services. It is indeed a great way to carry prepaid cash card, carry prepaid cash card as we travel is much safer and more secure than carrying around large amounts of cash.

The best thing is, consumers don’t have to worry about extra charges over their card without their knowing. Because the pre-loaded sum of money is the maximum amount that can be charged to the card.

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit card can be considered as plastic money which replaces the hazards of cash in making payments and purchasing transactions. Having this advantage, credit cards are now being misused by the consumers, and even causing bankruptcies.
Unfortunately, a lots of people misuse the credit cards by buying costly foods and grocery purchasing habits. This is where credit card arises where debt accumulates via interest and penalties. There are many reasons that cause credit card debts.

Causes:

1. Poor money management
People also always do not know where their money is spending or keep on spending without plan or budget. They usually spent on unnecessary things and when there is a need of purchasing a required commodity people may short of cash and use a credit card frequently ending up in debt. That may cause the increasing of credit card debt.

2. Free application

Nowadays, credit card no longer holds by the rich or higher income status. The most attractive are free for application and excluded any annual fees and even free for life. It causes more people now are able to hold a credit card, such as students, operators or fresh graduates.

3. Gambling

Many people put not only their own disposable income on the line when gambling, they also borrow loans to gamble. How many come back home with a bag full of cash, very few. The guarantee in this game of chance is that will be definitely paying to the house. Gambling loans are also available which lead to debt. This addictive and very hard to stop game can take away everything people owe.

4. Unemployment
Households are forced to use credit card for groceries, utilities and some expenses purposes to maintain current lifestyle when the main breadwinner of the household has loss his job and could not find a new job during short periods. This may lead to a rise in debt when expenses are not cut down in line with the reduction in income.

Ways to Prevent:

1. For the card holders who always loss of financial control after using credit card, they should get a related education or concept regarding financial control and wisely plan their monthly budgets for expenses. Alternatively, they can also seek for financial consultation to solve their credit card debts problem.

2. As a smart consumer, we should consider twice before applying for a credit card. Is that a need to apply or just blindly follow the trend? Especially those fresh graduates, they should weight their ability for repaying debts on a credit card.

3. The solution is only advise people don’t go to gambling or develop themselves in the health hobbies.

4. The prevention in to decrease the expenses and down the road increase the income by extra hours work or a better job. Adopt debt consolidation, counseling, debt management, debt settlement or any other method and limit the use of credit cards to emergencies only if they actually want to live a debt free life.

Electronic Currency

Electronic currency is also known as e-money, electronic cash, digital money, digital cash or digital currency which refer to money or scrip that is exchanged only electronically.

Typically, this involves the use of computer networks, internet and digital stored value systems. It may only exist in the cyber world, but that is nothing new about it. Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit are examples of electronic currency. EFT refers to the computer-based systems used to perform financial transactions electronically while direct deposit is a banking term used to refer to certain systems used to transfer money.

Electronic currency allows its holder to buy the goods and services that the vastness of the internet offers. An e-currency system may be fully backed by gold (like e-gold and c-gold), non-gold backed, or both gold and non-gold baked (like e-Bullion and Liberty Reserve).

Electronic currency trading can let you to do business and earn only few dollars of investment. In fact, some of the experts will suggest the beginners to start with only a few dollars so that they can first learn the ropes of electronic currency. Besides that, electronic currency trading has a low transaction cost. Unlike other businesses that will eat up your profit with a huge amount of fees, it allows you to do business with minimal fees and give you more profit and money. There are few websites examples that can let people to do e-currency tradings such as MG E-currency, JT GOLD.com.

Related links:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cash

2. http://www.romow.com/business-blog/benefits-of-e-currency-trading/