Already a valuable resource for many small businesses, eBay has also proven to be the most trusted company, according to a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe. That could also spell good news for online merchants who use the auction giant as a sales channel.
The survey asked 6,300 consumers to name up to five companies in 24 different industry sectors that they believed to be the most trusted for honoring their privacy commitments, and final assessments were based on three distinct criteria: the company's overall reputation for product and service quality; the company's limits on collection of its customers' personal information; and the use of advertisements and solicitations that respect consumer privacy.
| Most Trusted Companies |
| eBay |
| American Express |
| Procter & Gamble (all brands) |
| Amazon |
| Hewlett Packard |
| U.S. Postal Service |
| IBM |
| Earthlink |
| Citibank |
| Dell |
| Source: Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe |
eBay's community-based approach to e-commerce is likely a major factor in instilling trust among its users. The combination of feedback — comments that helps users build credibility and establish positive reputations — and an in-house customer support team create a safe environment whereby users feel protected.
While eBay, a verified TRUSTe licensee, aggregates user information and creates personal files on its users, the company's privacy policy ensures that information is not used or disclosed without explicit consent.
Internet traffic is a reflection of eBay's popularity among consumers. The auction company has consistently ranked among the top sites for those accessing the Internet from both home and work, Nielsen//NetRatings found, and eight of the top twenty auction sites that Hitwise monitored in May 2004 are eBay components.
Similarly, thousands of entrepreneurs rely on eBay for their businesses -- banking on the trust that the site has garnered. The company has said that more than 430,000 individuals make a full-time living doing business on the site.
Internet strong in trust, spam tops identity theft concerns
Respondents assigned the highest levels of trust to Internet companies, banks and healthcare organizations, while companies in the hospitality and retail food store industries were not considered as trustworthy. Among the companies that ranked highest in their respective industries were: Harley Davidson (auto and transportation); Blue Cross/Blue Shield (healthcare); Weight Watchers (health and beauty); Air Alaska (airlines); Trader Joe's (food service); Mattel (toys) Best Buy (retail); and Cingular (telecom).
More than three-quarters of the respondents ranked identity theft highest when asked what worries them most if their personal information were to be leaked to individuals or organizations that were not authorized to receive that data.
Notably, the annoyance of spam was reported as the second-greatest concern, ranking higher than financial or legal issues. In fact, nearly twice as many respondents cited spam as a major issue in 2004 than they did the previous year. Spam's high ranking on the list of concerns could be due to the fact that 63 percent of the survey respondents have never experienced a privacy breach, yet spam has affected nearly every Internet user.
Concerns about Misuse of
Personal Information |
| Identity theft |
76% |
| Unwanted e-mail activity (spam) |
58% |
| Loss of civil liberties |
48% |
| Unwanted junk mail |
37% |
| Telemarketing Abuse |
36% |
| Stolen assets |
32% |
| Public embarrassment |
22% |
| Stalking or spying activities |
21% |
| Source: Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe |
Robyn Greenspan is managing editor of ClickZ Stats, where this story originally appeared.
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