Information technology and how we use it has truly transformed peoples lives over the last 10 years. The widespread adoption of the PC, broadband internet and the mobile phone have given people a whole new way to interact with the world.

What surprises (although probably shouldn’t) is how it’s the technology guys that have pushed this change onto traditional industries. For example, Apple (a computer company) revolutionised the music industry, both with the iPod and iTunes downloads, Amazon (an online book retailer) have created the most disruptive piece of technology to the literary world since the invention of the printing press – the kindle. Google (an internet search engine) have developed a brand new open source internet browser, mobile device operating system and computer operating system (among many, many other things).

Out of the few short examples above, it amazes me how the industry leaders of 1999 have let this happen and responded so inadequately. The music industry has spent its time and money suing people who download music thinking that 1 lawsuit will stop 1 million downloaders. Perhaps it could have spent its time looking at how and why people were downloading and how it could capitalise on it, rather than how it was suffering from it.

Similarly, the film industry has been incredibly slow in adopting to new market trends. 10 years ago you had to wait months or years for a film to move from the cinema to video or TV – now it’s weeks or months. Is that all it can manage in 10 years? Let’s see the film industry itself find new ways of satisfying it’s customers by looking at the core aim of the industry, rather than being disgruntled by how other people are changing it. The consumers are changing things because the industry doesn’t.

It’s the same story with book publishers and countless other industries and products. Established players lose perspective and open the door for outsiders to come in and revolutionise their industry. Theodore Levitt wrote a fantastic article in the 1960′s about companies should see themselves in the bigger picture, and orientate themselves towards the customer and their needs, rather than the other way around. For example, oil companies should see themselves as energy companies and should be the biggest investors in renewable energy. For one reason or another, this still doesn’t seem to be happening for many established organisations. I’m not sure why – perhaps the people at the top are complacent, perhaps they’re too stuck in their ways…who knows. What I do know, is that those who can’t see change and adapt to it, will fail.

I’m glad that I’m running a young business that looks at things differently. Perhaps that’s why I look at things this way, or perhaps I run such a business because I look at things this way. Retail is moving online in a big way, and the next decade will see transformation in the way we buy and physically acquire goods and services. I look forward to being a part of that change in some way…and hopefully seeing it coming with enough foresight to adapt to it.

I wish everyone peace and prosperity in the new year.

Dear Seller, Am happy to be the winner of your item and am sorry for not reading the item description ,so i will be sending it to my Store in Abroad,so i will be responsible for the shipping costs and i will be paying you via PayPal ONLINE PAYMENT,so i want the shipping via ( Royal Mail First Class Delivery ) so get back to me asap You can email me to my private email address laura445ster@hotmail.com You can call me on +447024061033

As a grand master eBayer myself, i thought this was a little strange. Giving an alternate email address and phone number in the email was a little odd, as was the bad English and unclear message. I promptly reported this to eBay’s Trust and Safety department to have them look into it, and requested the buyer’s contact details before heading to bed.

The next day i awoke to a plethora of emails in my inbox regarding this. eBay confirmed that the buyer’s account had been breached and therefore the sale was invalid. They then removed the item from eBay altogether so that i was not able to give a ‘Second Chance Offer’ and sell to the next highest bidder, or indeed hit the ‘Relist’ button to save me re-writing the auction description.

The rest of the emails were from the fraudsters; both from eBay and PayPal which look very genuine and ask me to ship the item to an address in Nigeria and then enter the tracking number into my PayPal account (they don’t mention where in my PayPal account since there is certainly no box to do it). Upon entering this information, the funds will clear into my account.

What interests me about this whole fiasco is the following:

• as an eBay seller who has sold an item to a fraudster, i’m basically slapped back to where i was 5 days ago before i listed the item. I’ve lost out completely. If i was leaving the country tomorrow, i wouldn’t be able to re-list and sell my item, instead, i’d have wasted my time and still have whatever i was trying to sell. Not great service from eBay there!
• the persistence and skill of the fraudsters, yet their inability to write a clear email in English! The emails i received were all fairly well designed (though many of them were picked up by my crafty Gmail Spam filter) but all had terrible grammar mistakes and sections which didn’t make sense.
• Nigeria! What on earth is it about Nigeria. This seems to be a fairly common problem on eBay, and it always seems to involve shipping to Nigeria!
• the number of people that must fall victim to this type of crime. If i was less eBay savvy and didn’t use Gmail, i could easily have thought these emails were real, and shipped my £200 iPod off to the other side of the world.

It therefore appears to me that this is a rather serious problem that eBay (and possibly the Nigerian Government) need to be looking into a little deeper, and doing something about. I’ve been contacted by eBay before to say that my account had been breached and that i should change my password immediately. Even i used to use a short, common word as my password. I promptly changed that one to a unique 12 digit alpha-numeric code and have thankfully since been fine.

Do you use 1 password for everything? Have you thought about changing it recently? A piece of paper on your wall with all your 12 digit alpha-numeric passwords written on it is probably a lot safer than using your name for them all!

EDIT: The most recent email i’ve received (because yes, this is still ongoing!) is that eBay will take legal action against me if i do not ship the item in the next 24-48 hours! This is serious harrassment! It doesn’t bother me that much, but think if this was your granny trying to clear out her attic! Because the internet is faceless, this is no different to conning old ladies out of their pensions, or robbing disabled people because you know they can’t get up.

2nd EDIT: It’s getting a little ridiculous! I’ve not been told that legal action is being taken against me, and i’ve had an email from the FBI who will presumably (because i didn’t read it) be looking into the transaction and prosecuting me!