By Marcin Bober

This study evaluates the effect of textual feedback comments on the trustworthiness of sellers in online auctions. More specifically, we focus on trust-rebuilding strategies of sellers who have been accused of misbehaviour. Lack of trustworthiness makes users less willing to place a bid. Owners of online auctions sites try to overcome this limitation by reputation systems that include various elements, such as textual feedback comments and numerical reputation scores. According to the earlier research most users read at least one page of these feedback comments before they place a bid (Pavlou & Dimoka, 2006). Apart from the trust-building effects of the seller's feedback score (Ba & Pavlou 2002), researchers have also documented an effect of the buyer's textual comments and the seller's reaction to this comment (Utz, Matzat & Snijders, 2009). According to Kim et al. denial is the most successful trust repairing strategy in case of morality-based trust violations, while apology in case of competence based trust violations (Kim et al., 2004) However, trust-rebuilding strategies in online markets do not work in the same way as in face-to-face interaction. In this study we test the idea that the provision of an apology is the most efficient trust-rebuilding strategy.

The data was gathered using an online questionnaire, which was completed by 191 present or past eBay members recruited on the large commercial “opt-in” internet panel. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two scenarios (between subjects design), which determined the content of the textual feedback. The scenarios differed in terms of severity of the trust violation: the first one described a situation where the product was broken (severe violation) and in the second, the delivery of the parcel was delayed (mild violation). The participants ranked the attractiveness of three simultaneously displayed eBay feedback profiles. We have used the special software, which allowed us to generate the sets of offers basing on the Choice-Based Conjoint (CBC) Analysis procedure. The offers were composed out of 4 different attributes such as: price, feedback score, accusation in form of a negative comment, and type of reply. The aggregated data from all the rankings allowed us to estimate the effects of the aforementioned attributes on the willingness to purchase from the particular seller. Additionally we controlled for eBay and internet proficiency, trust disposition and the demographic characteristics.

The results confirmed the findings from the previous research: the buyers pay more for a product from a seller with a higher reputation score and negative feedback comments decrease the final selling price. More important, the textual feedback plays extremely important role for the buyers. The results provide evidence for the hypothesis that it is possible for the sellers to counteract the negative effect of textual feedback by choosing the right strategy of formulating the reply.

Most of the studies of reputation systems focus on sellers' reputation scores. This research suggests that qualitative indicators, such as comments and replies, also affect trust development. Our results demonstrate the importance of textual feedback and try to quantify it using monetary values.