
How eBay built a new world on little more than trust - Libertatea
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/13/how-ebay-built-new-world-little-more-than-trust
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analog31
>> The solution was to ask buyers and sellers to rate one another and to make
those ratings public.

As I understand it, eBay feedback is now one-way. A seller can't leave a
negative rating for a buyer.

 _How are Feedback scores calculated?

For each transaction, buyers and sellers can choose to rate each other by
leaving Feedback. Buyers can leave a positive, negative, or a neutral rating,
plus a short comment. Sellers can leave a positive rating and a short
comment._

[http://pages.ebay.com/help/feedback/howitworks.html](http://pages.ebay.com/help/feedback/howitworks.html)

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sigmar
Ebay was founded in 1995 and it is hard to remember what the internet was like
back then. It democratized retail purchases so that everyone can buy and sell.
In many ways, I would agree with this article's viewpoint that eBay was a
precursor to uber and airbnb. A very early precursor since smartphones had to
proliferate before we could open an app and email hosts while on the go.

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ExpiredLink
>> _The solution was to ask buyers and sellers to rate one another and to make
those ratings public._

So it isn't trust but social control.

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throwaway1967
Social control? Where's the control part? Ebay does not mandate that anyone
participate in its system. We are all free to avoid it (as I do). Ebay doesn't
affect me and I find it strange that you label "social control" a system where
people voluntarily join and freely choose to accept to share their ratings for
the benefit of others.

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nickpsecurity
What's the state-of-the-art in these kinds of systems in terms of one that's
easy to use and makes it easier to eliminate effects of malicious feedback?

