Transaction Processing Systems free essay sample

American Internet company that manages eBay. com, an online auction and E-commerce website in which people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. Customers come to the eBay marketplace to buy and sell items in thousands of categories including collectibles, decor, appliances, computers, furnishings, equipment and vehicles. In addition to its original U. S. website, eBay has established localized websites in thirty other countries.The online auction website was founded in San Jose, California, on September 3, 1995, by French-born Iranian computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb, part of a larger personal site that included. In November 1996, eBay entered into its first third-party licensing deal, with a company called Electronic Travel Auction to use SmartMarket Technology to sell plane tickets and other travel products. The company officially changed the name of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997. Basic functions of the IS chosen To get to eBay. com, a user must first know the web address of eBay. The user can simply type in www. ebay. com. my on the internet browser’s address bar. Alternatively, the user may also access eBay by inputting the word â€Å"eBay† on any search engines. After proceeding to the website of eBay, the user is able to browse or search for products wanted. To look for an item, the user does not need to register. The user is allowed to browse, search and watch items as a guest but only limited up to 10. There is a search box for the user to enter what the user is looking for, located on the top left hand corner of the website.The user cannot bid nor buy as a guest. In order to buy a product, the user is required to register an account on the website. The user will have to enter their details such as e-mail address, full name, telephone number and home address to register. The user is also required to create a password which consists of 6 characters or more. The system will capture the data entered and then validate. If the user has made an error in entering the data, the system will display an error message. If there is no error while validating the ata, the system will then save the user’s account information in the company’s database so that users can retrieve their information from the database instead of filling their information again. After signing up, the user can login the account by inputting their username and password. There are four main sections to any auction page, which are â€Å"Title/Overview†, â€Å"Description†, â€Å"Shipping, payment and return policy†, and â€Å"Bidding†. If there are other users who input a higher price, the user will be unable to purchase the product. Besides that, there is a time limit for each bidding product. If the certain period of time is over, the product will disappear and be substituted with another new product. Then, the user has to enter â€Å"confirm bid† before the website shows the details again like the product name and code. So, the customer will have the chance to purchase the product successfully. In contrast, if the user selects â€Å"Buy It Now† and is a Malaysian, the seller will not charge any shipping fee on the user.If the product is delivered with Pos Laju service, there will be an extra charge of RM6 on the user. After that, the customer has to enter â€Å"Now Accepting PayPal† and enter â€Å"Buy It Now†, in order for system to show the user the quantity they are willing to purchase and some brief details of the product. Then, enter â€Å"Commit to Buy† to successfully purchase the product. It does not matter if the user selects â€Å"0 Bid† or â€Å"Buy It Now†, the payment of the product has to be made within 5 working days after placing the order on the website.The payment can be made through Bank Deposit, Cash Deposit, Postal Cash or Bank Draft from any bank. Improvements- Problems encountered and areas to improve There are many ways that can be used to improve the website in order to make it more user-friendly and acceptable by users. The company should update their website on a regular basis. Keeping their website up-to-date is necessary for users to be informed with the latest updates on the website. The company should add a small â€Å"new updates† section on one side or the centre of their homepage. This allows the users to notice new information regarding the transactions or services that are available. Besides that, the company may enhance the security system of the website by making it compulsory for users to create passwords which are of at least 8 characters, consisting of alphabetical and numeric characters. Also, most users tend to create fake identities in order to scam others. To prevent this from happening, the company should add in a column for the users to enter their Identification Card number to register. In addition, the website is lack of information.Firstly, there should be a â€Å"Shopping Cart† so that the user will know how many items they are planning to purchase or bid. There should also be a â€Å"Shopping History† section in order to allow the user to view what they have bought in the past. Moreover, there is no option for the user to print the record of the transaction in hardcopy as a proof of purchase. Some users may want to keep a copy of their transactions. Moreover, the â€Å"register† button on the homepage of the website is too small to be seen. To improve on that, the company should enlarge the â€Å"register† button in order to draw users’ attention.Next, the feedback forum in the website is not efficient enough. The company should add in a forum column so that some of the experienced users could help other new users answer their own precise questions instead of only creating an FAQ(Frequently Asked Questions) on the help section which may not fulfil every need of the users. There should also be a few experienced moderators in charge of the forum to prevent profane language. Furthermore, there should be more choices of languages in the website as not every user in Malaysia is English literate.The changing of languages tab should be on the top right hand corner in order to enable the users to spot the tab faster. After carrying out the opinions suggested, more users may want to pick eBay as their choice of E-commerce website. As the services and quality gets better, users can be served much well than before and will more likely visit the website again to purchase more products. Users will feel more comfortable because they get what they want. Conclusion In conclusion, the Transaction Processing Systems(TPS) of eBay provides a variety of advantages compared to manual operations.