Quality, value, satisfaction, trust, a

Exploring the WOW in Online Auction Feedback
Bruce D. Weinberg, Bentley University
Lenita Davis , The University of Alabama
ABSTRACT
Ebay, the leading online-retailer, has captured the fascination of both American consumers and
corporations, as it has garnered approximately 45% of all gross online retail sales, $5.3 billion
out of $11.9 billion, during the first quarter of 2003. George Day has described eBay “as perhaps
the most successful of all the breakthrough applications on the Internet.” While there are many
reasons cited for the success of online auctions, the reputation system, or Feedback Forum as it is
called on eBay, has been considered the most critical element. Some auction studies have
investigated the impact of seller-reputation on consumer/bidder behavior and auction results;
however, they have considered only aggregate or summary measures of reputation, such as the
overall feedback rating. This research extends our understanding of online-auction reputation
systems by a) classifying online-auction feedback as a type of “word-of-web” (WOW),
specifically, rating-and-review word-of-web, b) identifying a property that is unique to online
auctions -- “bidirectionality,” and c) discovering that, in addition to the overall feedback rating,
consumers/bidders process several feedback profile elements/details, such as individual-auction
feedback reviews and comments, when evaluating sellers and making bidding decisions.
INTRODUCTION
Ebay, the leading online-retailer, has captured the fascination of both American consumers and
corporations (Adler 2002). With 68.8 million members, it has garnered approximately 45% of all
gross online retail sales, $5.3 billion out of $11.9 billion, during the first quarter of 2003 (eBay
2003, US Census Bureau 2003). And the future of Internet auctions looks bright as eBay
financial results for Q1 2003 compared to Q1 2002 reported increases in net revenues and GAAP
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