Usability Test Report for eBay.com

Module CI6310
Usability Test Report for eBay.com
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction and Background....................................................................................................2
1.1 Recent Developments and Trends..........................................................................................3
1.2 The Existing User Interface...................................................................................................3
2.0 Aims...........................................................................................................................................6
3.0 Method.......................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Method overview...................................................................................................................7
3.2 Participants.............................................................................................................................8
3.3 Tasks......................................................................................................................................8
3.4 Metrics...................................................................................................................................9
3.5 Materials & Tools..................................................................................................................9
3.6 Procedure.............................................................................................................................11
4.0 Results & Recommendations...................................................................................................12
4.1 A brief summary of overall findings....................................................................................12
4.2 Performance Data.................................................................................................................14
4.3 User Experience Issues........................................................................................................16
4.4 Redesign Recommendations................................................................................................17
5.0 Discussion................................................................................................................................20
6.0 References................................................................................................................................22
7.0 Appendices..............................................................................................................................25
7.1 Appendix (a): Evaluator Script............................................................................................25
7.2 Appendix (b): Demographic Questionnaire.........................................................................25
7.3 Appendix (c): Consent Form................................................................................................26
7.4 Appendix (d): Tasks for usability testing.............................................................................26
7.5 Appendix (e): Post-session Questionnaire...........................................................................27
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1.0 Introduction and Background
The most popular website offering retail online auction services is undoubtedly eBay. It
is not just a pioneer of the market, but it can also be considered as a model of e-business (Drake,
Cegielski, & Byrd, 2015). Together with his payment system PayPal, it has revolutionized
commerce and has paved the way for other businesses, particularly retail and trading. However,
together with the success that eBay has been able to achieve is the realization that it needs to stay
competitive and anticipate developments (Tahmasebifard, 2018). In the last few years, there has
been an abundance of other similar services on the internet, some even being sponsored by
industry leaders such as MSN and Yahoo (Pham, Wallenius, & Wallenius, 2015). To be able to
accomplish this, eBay must be able to offer not only quality services but develop new ones based
on the needs of its patrons.
The business goals of the website is to facilitate trade between sellers and buyers in an
online platform globally (Black, 2017). Sellers are able to list their items for sale and parameters
that buyers would require to fulfil in order to qualify to purchase the item. On the other hand,
buyers can brows for any item that is listed and place their bids. Also, eBay.com facilitates
secure payment transactions between buyers and sellers in their online marketplace.
The purpose of this paper is to study eBay and the current features and functionality of
this auction website to learn its competencies and deficiencies. In doing so, the paper will be able
to present ways to improve services or features that can enhance the experience of website users.
The features recommended will be assessed considering their requirements for operation and the
possible partners that the company can have to provide the services. The paper will present the
usability test for the eBay.com website.
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1.1 Recent Developments and Trends
The online auction business is one of the cores of e-commerce ventures. The
development of the structures permits for consumers to have access to almost an unrestrained
number of goods and traders to an have access to a boundless market. Most online auctions are
usually based on the English system, where the price is increased by interested buyers, unlike the
Dutch system (Zhong & Chang, 2016). Online auction is not only interesting in terms of their
commercial purpose but also provides interesting insights to people. Spaid and Wood (2018),
believe that online auctions are a good example of the objectives of globalization and the
internet.
Businesses on the web, it is important that there is a thorough understanding of how
buyers are motivated to buy (Rahman, Sultana, & Chakravorty, 2018). eBay's competitors, such
as Overstock.com, uBid.com, oZtion.com.au, and eBid, all have their specializations. Overstock,
based in Cottonwood Heights, Utah that sells surpluses; uBid is an identical service with eBay
selling directly by companies and those sold by pre-approved Certified Merchants; Oztion is an
Australian version of eBay, and eBid is an online auction that has its payment service called
PPPay which is similar to eBay's PayPal. Consumers will consider status, security, comfort, and
quality to be the essential requirements of selecting a product or service, and their perception of
this is influenced by factors such as culture, politics, technology, and economy(Fischer &
Peralta, 2013). Buying decisions are motivated to maximize profitability, reducing costs, and
enhancing productivity (Lin & Khomnotai, 2017).
1.2 The Existing User Interface
The company's development of the website concentrates on its role as a trading platform,
as a community for users, in developing a competitive format, developing support market
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services, and providing customer service (Bucko & Ferencová, 2018). The website contents are
developed by the company itself, and the infrastructure is connected with payment and logistic
services either with the site's sister company, PayPal or other credit financial services, and
support for the computation of payments, transfers, and shipping.
Platform
The company wants to maintain a platform that is fully automated, responsive to
customer needs, user-friendly and available 24/7. At the same time the site provides software
tools such as Turbo Lister, Seller's Assistant, Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro, Picture
Services, Shipping Calculator, Shipping Labels for U.S. Postal Service postage and UPS services
and Shipment Tracking. The company is also providing site-independent services in the form of
the eBay toolbar, which is supposed to help users to tune in to eBay services such as alerts
without being actually on the site (Osman, Salahuddin, & Abdullah, 2016). In addition, the
platform of the site also provided database functions such as eBay Sales Reports and eBay Sales
Reports Plus. The site is also has a direct interface with PayPal for exchange of funds.
Community
To maintain its network of users, the company would like to maintain the highest
conversion rate possible (Yuan, Chen, & Mathieson, 2011). One of the primary concerns is to
maintain the security of the interface while providing the greatest options in terms of products
and services for users. The company wants to provide maximum information and interaction for
users through announcements, bulletin boards, and customer support boards, personal web pages
for users or members based on topics. Alerts are designed to keep inactive users in the updated
with eBay (Prashar, Saivijay, & Parsad, 2017). The application of standardized policies serves as
primary guidelines for users and mimics a real marketplace. At the same time, there is an
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