1. [H2: Match between system and the real world] (Severity 3)
When completing Task 1 - looking for “buy” books. The tabs “sell books” and “edit posting” seem pretty obvious as for what they may do. The not so obvious tab / link choice is “find books”. Not sure if “find books” relates to buy since search is considered a separate task.
Possible Solution(s)
If I recall, the concern with “buy” was that it isn’t guaranteed users will be able to buy something, but neither is “sell”. The words communicate the action that can be completed even if the site does not guarantee that users will be able to complete either goal. A separate disclaimer about the services offered may be a better solution.
A possible compromise design can just change the description link in the homepage to “find books to buy” – get that notion into the user head and then perhaps find book tab is understood to also allow “buy”.
Perhaps keep the “find books” tab to use for search purposes. See next comment about this. (This also conveniently tells a student all the books needed for a course.) And then add a “buy books” tab that simply lists what is available for sale. Allow the list to be sorted by course, title, author, etc. and include number of copies available. Users can see at a glance what is available. I don’t think there will be that many books that the page will be ridiculously long.
2. [H1: Visibility of system status & H6: Recognition rather than recall] (Severity 3)
In the search results, users do not know if the book listed is actually available for purchase. One has to actually look up each individual book description to find out if there are copies available for sale.
Possible Solution(s)
Simply indicate the number of copies available for sale next to each book.
3. [H2: Match between system and the real world] (Severity 2)
In the make offer page, the reminder by the “Send offer” button: “Remember – there’s no obligation to buy”, feels out of place. By the time the user is ready to click the button, the user is ready to complete the task and the reminder just makes the user think again – as if questioning the user’s decision at that point, thus somewhat annoying.
Possible Solution(s)
I think the response page does a good job of reminding users of the no obligation policy. To address any doubts during the process of filling out the form and before clicking on the “Send offer” button, there should be a way, say a link to a policy page, that allows the user to check the policy on making offers before doing so.
4. [H2: Match between system and the real world] (Severity 2)
Not all users know the meaning of the terms “obo” and “firm”, especially international students. When one is trying to sell a book, the term “firm” may become obvious from the choices available. But the “willing to bargain” still does not translate to “obo” even if one already knows what that means.
Possible Solution(s)
I think the terms should still be used since a user only need to learn the meanings once. The terms can be defined in the policy and/or help area. In the sell area, could put “obo” in parenthesis next to “willing to bargain”.
5. [H4: Consistency and standards]
It is not clear why there should be a login link as well as an account button. The two should really mean the same, an area where the user needs to logon and then do administrative tasks with his/her account.
Possible Solution(s)
I think the “account” button could be replaced by a “policy” button. The policy area can address some of the concerns for previous problems, and include the privacy policy and member guidelines. The term “help” is very general since policy info can be part of help. I’m interpreting it as “help with the Bess system”. The area would include info about how to use the system, such as how to do search, how to create an account and what one can do in the account. Maybe an alternative term to “help” is simply “BESS help”, to distinguish it from the “policy” button.
General problems: Problems/bugs probably due to limitations of the implementation and not real usability problems of the design.