1) We don’t think Amanda should purchase the car, not without meeting with the seller and inspect the vehicle. There is no doubt that car auctions are great places for the purchase of affordable vehicles. At the same time, buyers should be cautious with the used cars. Especially for the buyers like Amanda who has a relatively low budget. The deal seemed very attractive and suspicious in the first place, because the sale price of the car was below the reasonable average value of the market in comparison with the same type of the cars under the similar condition. Amanda did the research and found the prices ranged between $20,000 and $24,000. Furthermore, the seller claimed how great his car was, “Nice silver exterior with a great shine, car is not wrecked, dented and scratched up, it’s very nice. Car runs and drives very nice, very tight, still like new.” We could deduce the age of the car was 2 years at that time from the emails, if the car is in such a great condition and only 2 years old why the deal could be closed at only $9,000 and having a free shipping and the three days of inspection? The excuse the seller gave was “I don’t have much use for it and I could use some quick cash right now, rather than waiting for a better offer.” “My buyer couldn’t pay the car after I have made the arrangement s to ship it.” In addition, the seller reached Amanda through personal email rather than the “My Messages” in her eBay account; it could be seen as an avoidance of the eBay’s purchase protection of $20,000 and information system’s internal controls. Lastly, the insistence of the wire transfer of the payment by the seller raised suspicion as well due to the fact that eBay dose not encourages wire transfer as mode of payment, and the fabricated email received from the seller stating it was from the Security & Resolution Center and the explanation of using their Arizona account for the transaction.

2) There are trade-offs between the condition and the price of the car, the time spending on researching and quickness of getting a car. If she has a flexible budget, she could find more supply that meet her requirement, by having a variety of options she will be more confident in negotiating the deal with the potential sellers. The more time spending to assess a seller and to know the market of the car buying, the higher the confidence level of assessing the quality of the information provided by the seller. The lack of knowledge, combined with the fact that they trust the sales person to properly inform them of the history of the vehicle, many times results in the consumer being defrauded. Thus, the more knowledgeable Amanda is the more confidence she can have. By understanding the market supply of the car she is looking for can also increase the level of confidence in the transaction. If the supply of the car is high, she can assess each of the sellers and pick the best one possible instead rushing into a transaction. On the other hand, if the market supply of the car is very limited, she could consider of changing her requirements, budget and even the source of the market.

3) Possible changes in the eBay system for preventive controls: eBay should be proactive in implementing programs and policies to empower and protect consumers. They could adopt user verification program. Having each of the sellers’ information such as names, addresses, social insurance numbers verified, and keep them confidential to increase the confidence level of the buyers and minimize the chances of fraud. In order to prevent similar cases from happening in the future, EBay should keep the buyers’ personal email address invisible to prevent the contact through personal emails and reinforce the use of the “My Messages” in the users’ account. Instituting sensible online safeguard that would fit eBay’s system could also prevent such case.

Possible changes in the eBay system for detective controls: EBay should obtain pre-approval on actions or transactions before they can be processed and use the online information to evaluate the safety and reliability of a transaction. Regularly monitor and test the quality of the information provided by the sellers could help eBay to become aware of such attempts.

Possible changes in the eBay system for corrective controls: EBay establish an emergency response team to deal with the attempts to defraud one of its users. Instead of replying automated response to users’ email reports, emergency response team should step up and give suggestions and investigation. EBay could also temporally freeze accounts of those sellers who have been reported until they have the results of the investigation to ensure further fraudulent actions being stopped. If the fraud has already happened, eBay should give proper recovery to the victims and a follow-up of the incident.

4) Consumers should report any suspicions of the transaction to the Trust and Safety Team, do the homework, research and compare products or services before enter into the transactions, check the qualifications of the sellers and being cautious of any personal information revealed. Consumers have responsibilities to be more alert and questioning about the price and the quality of the products in order to protect our interest.