Trust and reputation on eBay: Towards a legal framework for feedback intermediaries

Bob Rietjens

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Abstract

In ten years, eBay has gone from a small website for trading Pez dispensers to an electronic garage sale for millions of people around the globe. Part of the secret to its success is its Feedback Forum. The Feedback Forum induces trust between internet buyers and sellers. It allows eBay members to rate each others' performance after every deal that was struck on eBay. All ratings are published on the eBay website so that other eBay members can decide who to trust. It is questionable whether this trust is justified. Although the Feedback Forum has benefits regarding honest repeat players, it does not provide any real protection against fraudsters. To create a truly safer trading environment, a more elaborate and sophisticated reputation system is needed. However, current intermediary liability schemes give strong disincentives to put such a reputation system in place. This article argues in favour of putting in place a legal framework for feedback intermediaries to resolve this problem. Trust in Allah, but tie your camel. (Old Muslim Proverb)

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References

2003The Digitization of Word of Mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms 2000Reputation systems 2005Supporting trust in virtual communities 2007PENNIES FROM EBAY: THE DETERMINANTS OF PRICE IN ONLINE AUCTIONS*2004A Robust Reputation System for P2P and Mobile Ad-hoc Networks 1999The Production of Trust in Online Markets 2002Evidence of the Effect of Trust Building Technology in Electronic Markets: Price Premiums and Buyer Behavior1 2013Internet Law : Text and Materials

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2015The impact of interactivity of electronic word of mouth systems and E-Quality on decision support in the context of the e-marketplace 2015Understanding buyers' loyalty to a C2C platform: the roles of social capital, satisfaction and perceived effectiveness of e‐commerce institutional mechanisms 2018The Data Sharing Economy: On the Emergence of New Intermediaries 2016The economics of algorithmic selection on the Internet 2009Trust in virtual teams

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