Positive eBay ratings prove useful

IDG News Service - San Franciscans, and people from the Bay area in general, are groundbreakers and often start trends that spread across the rest of the country. They are also earnest folk, eager to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack. And one way they apparently attempt to do that is through the eBay rating.

Online auction company eBay Inc. uses a rating system for its over 100 million registered members that includes feedback comments and ratings given by other eBay members who have bought from or sold to that person. For example, a user with the registered identity of, say, "Prince Charming," with a feedback rating of 125 with 100% positive feedback reviews, means that he has received positive feedback from at least 125 other eBay members, all of whom gave a 100% positive rating.

The feedback rating system is intended to foster trust between eBay users and serve "as a mark of distinction for those who conduct transactions with respect, honesty and fairness," according to eBay. The San Jose-based company also asserts on its Web site that the comments and ratings are valuable indicators of a person's reputation as a buyer or seller on the online auction site. But why stop there? some in the Bay area are beginning to ask. Why can't a positive eBay rating also be used as a character reference off-line in the real world too?

"Lisa," a San Francisco resident, recently told me a story over lunch about a friend of hers from high school, "Bob." By the time they both got to college, Bob found himself in need of money and began running scams. "There were phony car accidents, claims filed for lost airline luggage that never existed and more than a few regretful women who dated him," Lisa said. Subsequently, their friendship fell apart.

Ten years later at their high school reunion, Lisa met up with Bob again where he tried to convince her and a few other former friends that he was a changed man, worthy of their renewed friendship. First he showed a picture of his cute baby daughter, and he soon followed that up with an invitation to the group to come over to his home to see his new life.


Back at his house, he explained that he now makes his living selling things online. "He proudly pulled up his eBay account on his PC and scrolled down the screen to the most important part: his feedback score," Lisa said. "No negative feedback for the last 12 months.