A Dollar for Your Thoughts: Feedback-Conditional Rebates on eBay

Abstract

We run a series of controlled field experiments on eBay where buyers are rewarded for providing feedback. Our results suggest that the feedback rate increases when a rebate is given, though the effect is small. Moreover, the nature of buyer feedback is influenced by rewards: buyers are more likely to give positive feedback following a high-quality transaction (fast shipping) and less likely to give negative feedback following a low-quality transaction (slow shipping). In sum, you can buy feedback but you cannot buy unbiased feedback.