The online auction information systems are helpful to businesses in a number of ways. Firstly, through online auctions; a business reduces the distribution, packaging and even storage costs since all the items to be auctioned can be stored at a single place until they are sold. Online auctions also play a big role in helping the business to sell their merchandise globally. New markets can be exploited since they do not have to be physically there to transact the sale if a customer in a different geographical region requires something from them. They also allow a company to avoid incurring losses since they can introduce a product with a bid that is high enough to shelf them from any losses.
Sellers should not be allowed to post anything they wish to sell. This is because as society there are those things that may be deemed to be morally right when done in the view of everyone but some should be private. Thus to avoid morality issues there should be restrictions on what should be sold and what should not be sold online. One control that should be placed on items being sold in online auctions is introduction of laws to govern online auctions that would be acceptable worldwide (Walker, 2009). This is to avoid morality and ethical issues from arising in different countries. Another control measure would be tracking all items being sold in online auctions (Walker, 2009). This would help to ensure that items that are prohibited do not get to be exposed to buyers.
One ethical issue that would arise would be privacy (Walker, 2009). This is because companies are now collecting information from their online visitors as a marketing strategy. Thus customers may question the validity of companies being allowed to collect such information online. Another ethical issue would be accountability of items being sold in online auctions (Online Auctions, n.d.). This is because customers are not there physically to see the items being sold and this would give rise to cases of fraud. How would cheated customers get their cash back? To ensure that customers do not feel insecure over their information being collected, confidentiality should be practiced by these companies. Information should not be shared with any third parties without consent of the customer. To avoid any issues of fraud sellers should pay a fee to guarantee the authenticity of the item being sold and also provide documentation that can help to track the seller in event of fraud (Walker, 2009).
Related Research essays
0
Preparing Orders
0
Active Writers
0%
Positive Feedback
0
Support Agents