Title: Traders beware: an examination of the distribution of eBay sellers' online reputation

Authors: Zhangxi Lin, Dahui Li, Wayne W. Huang

Addresses: Center for Advanced Analytics and Business Intelligence, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-2101, USA. ' Labovitz School of Business and Economics, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, USA. ' Department of MIS, College of Business, Ohio University, OH, USA

Abstract: This research includes two studies based on online reputation scores and negative comments collected from eBay.com. In the first study, we found that lognormal distribution fitted better than power law distribution with sellers| reputation scores, and six-month Negative Feedback Rates were also log normally distributed; the 80/20 law was also applicable to online transaction volumes as well as negative feedback scores. The second study revealed that most complaints from buyers were not due to online fraud; buyers could be more responsible for online disputes than sellers. These results will help C2C buyers making right decisions in online trading.

Keywords: internet fraud; online auctions; reputation systems; lognormal distribution; risk; power law distribution; eBay; electronic business; online reputation; seller reputation; consumer-to-consumer; C2C auctions; buyer complaints; online trading.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2007.015449

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2007 Vol.5 No.5, pp.499 - 517

Published online: 17 Oct 2007 *

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