Olx and Craigslist - Identity and Trust Mechanisms

INTRODUCTION

The online marketplace (marketspace) is basically a place where one can find products coming from multiple vendors all within the same platform. The marketplace owner is responsible for attracting customers and keeping track of all money transactions within the platform. Currently, many online marketplaces are emerging in Ghana and the world at large. Consumers are becoming more attracted to buying and trading online (e-commerce) and online marketplaces are becoming good facilitators of e-commerce. A variety of products in different genres such as health and beauty, fashion, sports and more are brought to the doorstep of the consumer making shopping easier in the 21st century.

Online marketplaces could take two forms: customer to customer( C2C) marketplaces which is focused on building communities of buyers and sellers and business to business to customer marketplaces ( B2B2C), this offers a common selling platform for smaller business to sell their goods. This essay seeks to discuss and analyze the websites of three online marketplaces, namely: OLX, Tonaton and Craigslist.

OLX

IDENTITY AND TRUST MECHANISMS

OLX is an online classified which is located in 106 countries and incorporates about 40 languages. OLX operates in Ghana and has a Ghanaian website. As an identity mechanism, the URL (www.olx.com.gh) ends with "gh". Additionally, the homepage of OLX has phrases such as "Ghana free classifieds" and "find ads in Ghana" creating more awareness that it is a Ghanaian website. The "about OLX" hypertext also redirects visitors of the website to another page which gives more information about OLX such as the number of countries it operates in.

As a trust mechanism, OLX provides “terms of use" so that people are aware of what they get themselves into should they use OLX. An avenue is also created on the website to allow users give feedback.

SECURITY MECHANISMS

OLX put in place some mechanisms to ensure security of transactions as well as the security of the buyer. In this regard, anyone who wants to sell something on this market place has to select the product category within which his product falls. The person is then given a standard form of the product category to fill .This form provides all the needed information about the product and in that case any false information may render the transaction void unless the buyer decides to still take the product despite the misrepresentation. The seller is made to put his phone number in addition to the product to enable the buyer make further enquiries when needed.

OLX complies with the US- EU Safe Harbor Framework and the Us- Swiss Safe Harbor Framework. OLX uses a third party credit card processing company for purchases and other third party companies to monitor the site's traffic. It makes use of the Secured Socket Layer (SSL) technology to process payment transactions to third party service providers partners. One's registration information is protected by a unique customer password and user ID. (http://html5.m.olx.co.za/terms)

GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE

It is an international classifieds website. It is available in different sites based on geographical location. When a customer visits olx.com, and wants to change location, it automatically suggests his or her location for selection before proceeding with the shopping experience. Olx.com is available in 104 countries within all the continents of the world. The olx websites have the internet country codes top level domain (ccTLD) for the various countries in which they are located. For example, in Ghana it is olx.com.gh, and in India olx.in and in Nigeria olx.com.ng When it comes to the local olx sites like olx.com.gh the customer also can select from the cities or towns within the country available on the site. OLX: http://www.olx.com.gh/

ARRANGEMENT OF ITEMS

OLX has almost the same features as that of Tonaton. With OLX, the first part of their home page is the list of the classified ads which one can find on their market. Below it is also a list of the popular towns and cities they operate. In between these is the option for visitors to post ads onto their market. The main website is mainly word based (low contextual cues) but a further selection of a particular product category would lead you to a high contextual cue site which is full of pictures in that product category.

PAYMENT OPTIONS

Paying for an item on OLX can only be done in person by cash. This is why people leave their contact numbers and e mail addresses on the page. This can be attributed to the fact we live in a country where people have not yet adopted the use of credit cards and also the fact that people are used to touching and seeing an item before they buy them.

COLOURS

OLX has a white background with its logo in indigo, lime green and orange. Other colours are orange and blue. The white allows the other colours to appear clearly. The indigo used depicts integrity and sincerity. The orange color appeals to the youth and it depicts affordability and quality .The green color depicts something new and fresh while lime is used to create anticipation.

FONT

Olx employs Calibri (body) is the main font that olx uses on the website

TONATON

It was launched in February, 2013. Tonaton means 'buy and sell" in “Twi”. According to statistics from Alexa Internet, tonaton.com became the 15th most visited website in Ghana after three months of operation.

IDENTITY AND TRUST MECHANISMS

Tonaton, just by virtue of its name translated as "buy-and-sell" in “twi”, suggests that the website is a Ghanaian one. In addition, prices are stated in Ghana cedis. Tonaton is however operated under the laws of Sweden. The hypertext "about us" on the website links users to another page on the website that provides further information about Tonaton.

To gain the trust of its users, Tonaton provides some safety tips for its users such as dealing locally and exchanging and paying for items at the same time. Tonaton allows for users to report ads as well. On the website is a help and support Centre where they provide answers to frequently asked questions and a means to interact with users. In place are measures such as hiding e-mail addresses, tracking reports of suspicious or illegal activity, all geared towards fostering