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**Kristijntje** · 06-19-2007, 09:51 AM,

Quote:The reputation of online sellers at Amazon carries more weight with consumers than the online seller ratings at eBay, according to a study released Monday by the University of BC's Sauder School of Business.

Professors Paul Chwelos and Tirtha Dhar found that the high ratings for merchants on eBay had little significance because the feedback mechanism that allows buyers to rate sellers also lets sellers rate buyers -- resulting in a retaliatory system in which everyone is loathe to give criticism for fear of being criticized themselves.

"It is a set of incentives that produces feedback that isn't very useful or informative to buyers," said Chwelos, who co-authored the study, Differences in 'Truthiness' across Online Reputation Mechanisms with colleague Dhar, in which they considered more than 100,000 online transactions, looking at the experience of sellers who listed on both sites...

full article: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/...16f9d91950

**amy** · 06-20-2007, 03:50 AM,

Quote:Professors Paul Chwelos and Tirtha Dhar found that the high ratings for merchants on eBay had little significance because the feedback mechanism that allows buyers to rate sellers also lets sellers rate buyers -- resulting in a retaliatory system in which everyone is loathe to give criticism for fear of being criticized themselves.

eBay sellers will hate me, but I prefer Amazon's system where only buyers leave feedback to eBay's system where both buyer and seller leave feedback. I agree with the study's finding that eBay's feedback percentage ratings have little significance. I think the added rating criteria eBay added to its feedback system will add a little more "meaning" to eBay's rating system. It should help merchants identify aspects of their customer service that they need to work on and it will provide buyers with a better picture of a seller's true performance.

sneakymagenta · 06-20-2007, 03:31 PM,

Quote:resulting in a retaliatory system in which everyone is loathe to give criticism for fear of being criticized themselves.

Goth Fairy Girl's buyers weren't afraid when they left her 125 negatives. Happy001