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Deirdre
eBay Community Development

Hello everyone! Welcome to the “Building Buyer Trust to Increase Sales” Workshop.

I’m Steve Woda, the founder of buySAFE, and I’m excited to host today’s workshop.

buySAFE enables qualified online retailers to display a powerful trust signal (the buySAFE Seal) backed with a broad guarantee (a surety bond of up to $25,000). Our goal is to make every online transaction trusted, reliable and risk-free. Currently, buySAFE is the world’s leading e-commerce trust and safety company having bonded more than $10 billion in product inventory online and bonding more than 2.5 million product listings each and every day.

Today in this workshop I will provide research showing the importance of building trust among buyers as well as data that shows the positive impact sellers see when buyer confidence exists. Lastly, I’ll explain how you can use credible signals and other methods to build trust and turn more shoppers into buyers.

I’d like this workshop to be interactive, so feel free to jump into the discussion at any time. If you are unsure how a workshop works, feel free to ask for help.

At the end of the workshop, I’ll provide you with the opportunity to receive a free copy of buySAFE For Dummies written by best selling author of eBay For Dummies, Marsha Collier.

Let’s get started!

II. THE PRESENCE OF INFORMATION ASYMMETRY IN ONLINE TRANSACTIONS

Information asymmetry describes a situation where one party has more/better information than the other party.

In an online transaction there is information asymmetry because:

• The seller has the product,


• The seller knows whether he can/will perform, and


• The buyer knows only what the seller discloses

Additionally, the nature of online transactions increases the buyers’ disadvantage because they must send money for an item before it is received.

As a result, shoppers don’t always feel confident about buying online.

IV. WHAT SELLERS CAN DO TO BUILD TRUST

Michael Spence, co-winner of 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics, says that when information asymmetry exists, sellers must send credible signals of trust to the less informed buyers.

Sellers must:

• Demonstrate professionalism


• Communicate clearly


• Provide a smooth, easy shopping and purchase experience


• Be reachable


• Be responsive

Unfortunately, your competitors (and even fraudulent sellers) also do many of these things. That’s why we recommend choosing signals that are harder to get and maintain...

A step above:

• Increase your feedback ratings


• Make your items eligible for eBay Express & PayPal Buyer Protection


• Get third party verifications (ID Verify, BBB Online, TRUSTe)


• Use SSL certificates (for your off eBay businesses)


• Get bonded with buySAFE


• Invest in creating and building your brand

Welcome Tom! Great to have you here. Now that I've posted some content, do you have any specific questions for me? Are there others with questions I can answer?

-Steve

How exactly do you get these thrid party verifications?

You say to increase your feedback ratings. I have 100 per cent positive, but fail to get some of my buyers to give feedback. This results in a lower number of feedback. Any suggestions on getting buyers willing to take that extra step?