Don't get scammed!!!

Team Name
(Security System Investigators)

Group Members
Fatima Assad

Lubhani Sharma

Sanum Mushtaq

Mark Mai

Melissa Young

Initial Project Statement
With the increase advancement in technology, the Internet is now providing a much more convenient method of shopping for many consumers around the world. Nowadays, with just the click of a mouse, shoppers anywhere are able to purchase virtually any product anytime online. With the ease availability of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in today’s world, many customers can shop and pay at numberless stores online without leaving the comfort of their home. Living in the increase popular world of e-commerce, merchants are now expected to make the shopping process for their customers a reliable and easy one by providing not only the requested products online but also a simple and secure payment process. However, every transaction is not a perfect one when it comes to shopping on the Web. While sometimes it is a glitch in the computer system or poor customer service, other times the customer’s personal and financial information is being stolen due to poor security measures.

Accordingly, our topics discussed in this page will be the pros and cons of shopping online along with a look at what are some of the security features provided by online merchants. For case studies, we will take a look at EBay and Amazon.com, two of the major online shopping sites accessed regularly by most shoppers. We will then discuss the different methods of payment shoppers use to pay for their purchases and also if any security measures they offer. Lastly, we will end our discussion by providing some helpful solutions to customers in order for them to protect their personal and financial information from theft during online shopping.



Major Shopping Sites


MARKETWATCH OF 2007

Sales: $7,672.3M

One year growth: 28.5%

Net income: $348.3M

Income growth: (69.1%)

eBay is The World's Largest Online Marketplace incorporated in 1996 has estabished a strong platform for sale of enormous goods and services.Being rated as the most popular website by several businesses and individuals which provides them opportunities to trade goods and services,eBay is expanding global e-commerce for an ever growing online community.According to 2004 statistics, eBay has 65 million registered users from 150 countries , 971 million items for sale and gross merchandise sales $15 billion approximately.eBay owns local sites in 19 countries and offers its buyers with its own online pay service that is the PayPal Inc.eBay's main competitor's are Amazon.com , Google and Yahoo!

Tips for secure shopping on eBay
- Communication



It is the key for making secure transactions.eBay offers its users some tips for communicating with a representative by asking a question,emailing, requesting a member's contact information and ID

- Protect your purchase

eBay lists few buyer protection programs such as Item not received or significantly not as described process, PayPal buyer Protection and eBay Motors vehicle Protection Programs.However,problems can be solved by communicting with the seller directly even before using the protection programs.



MARKETWATCH OF 2007

Sales: $14,835.0M

One year growth: 38.5%

Net income: $476.0M

Income growth: 150.5%

Amazon.com incorporated in 1997 is the biggest Internet Retailer which offers "Earth's Biggest Selection" of books,CDs,videos,electronics,toys,tools,home furnishings and housewares, apparel, and kitchen gadgets.It's considered to be the most customer - oriented online shopping website.Amazon also sells products from other well - known retailers such as Toysrus.com Inc., Target Corporation, Circuit City Stores Inc., the Borders Group, Waterstones, Expedia Inc., Hotwire, National Leisure Group Inc., and Virgin Wines. It's main competitor's are Barnes & Noble(# 1 bookseller in the US ),Columbia House (top DVDs marketers in North America)and eBay.

Tips for secure shopping on Amazon.com
- Protect your passwords

The first and foremost responsibility of the user is to protect his/her password while using a public computer one must not forget to log out from his/her account.

- Research your seller

The user or buyer must check the history of the sellers feedback to make a careful and a successful transaction.

Credit Cards
''' E-commerce Credit Card Transaction '''

- The shopper fills out a secure order form on a web site - All this information is encoded and sent to the credit card processing company gateway. - The credit card processing company gateway decrypts the information - The credit card processing service verifier checks the credit card information - The internet credit card processing gateway encode the information again and send it to the merchant services credit card processing bank - The merchant account credit card payment processing bank makes the transaction

PayPal
PayPal is a company which allows users to transfer money over the internet. It is merely like using money orders or checks but electronically through the web. For these money transfers to take place both ends of the transaction need to have an e-mail and both ends will need to have set up with PayPal. Before PayPal can be used a user must first fund their account with money either from a check or money order, an electronic debit from a bank account or by a credit card.

PayPal is used primarily on auction websites and commercial sites such as eBay or Amazon. Users are charged with a fee depending on the amount of money being transferred. In 2003 eBay acquired the company. PayPal now operates in 190 markets and manages over 164 million accounts. There are multiple forms of currency(18) which a user can keep their funds under.

Safety and protection with PayPal
When using PayPal the customer is allowed to file a buyer complaint within 45 days if they did not receive their purchase or were falsely mislead by the seller. If the buyer used a credit card through PayPal they could possibly get a refund through charge back. PayPal also protects it's sellers through their Seller Protection Policy which protects sellers from buyers of unauthorized payment. PayPal also recently introduced a Security key feature in which the owner of an account can place in to add for safety to their account. The key prevents third parties from potentially accessing the account.



Arguments
Pros: -efficient -dont have to leave the house - one stop shopping - Globally available. Cons: - You can get scammed - Goods might not be the same as shown. - identity thefts(credit thieves) - charged for the shipment- - could be inefficient at times. - can be accidently charged twice.