The Use of Reputation in Electronic Commerce: An Empirical Investigation

Reputation is a key factor in successful commerce. In the absence of direct product and company knowledge, buyers often rely on a variety of reputation mechanisms associated with the seller to allay fears of risk and product quality. The following paper examines the effectiveness of reputation mechanisms (third-party seal, brand name, seller guarantee) on potential consumers' perceptions of a web-based business's reputation. Preliminary results of a small pilot study indicate that brand name may have the most impact on positively enhancing a web-sites reputation.