The value of online seller reputation: evidence from a price comparison site

Thompson, Stephen; Haynes, Michelle

Abstract

This paper examines the value of seller reputation for e-retailers trading via a price comparison site (PCS). E-markets are widely held to accommodate sellers of differing service quality, including some who behave opportunistically. The paper uses a sample of offers on up to 295 digital cameras traded on a leading PCS, over a 134-day period to estimate reputation’s price impact. User-generated reputation measures have a significant impact in the expected direction. However, their magnitude is small compared to variables capturing economy-wide reputation. The strength of the reputation signal increased non-monotonically with the number of reviews on which it was based.

Citation

Thompson, S., & Haynes, M. (2017). The value of online seller reputation: evidence from a price comparison site. Managerial and Decision Economics, 38(3), 302-313. https://doi.org/10.1002/mde.2777

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 10, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Dec 7, 2015
• Publication Date: 2017-04
• Deposit Date: Oct 14, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 14, 2016
• Journal: Managerial and Decision Economics
• Print ISSN: 0143-6570
• Electronic ISSN: 1099-1468
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 302-313
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/mde.2777
• Keywords: Reputation, Pricing, e-Commerce
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/770171
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mde.2777/abstract
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Thompson, S., and Haynes, M. (2015) The Value of Online Seller Reputation: Evidence from a Price Comparison Site. Manage. Decis. Econ., which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mde.2777. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.