playing field
uyers and

\line reviews be commerce’s
eat equalizer’?

ick Vaillancourt, Senior Columnist

who purchased products

or services from them,

and allowed them to leave
comments ona buyer’s profile
as well,

Suddenly, that buyer who
promised to pay for the item
within 24 hours could be called
out by the seller for paying late,
or not paying for the item at all.
It was eBay’s way of weeding
out the bad apples, and helping
those trying to run a business
worry about just running the
business.

The eBay feedback model
evolved with time, and its
ratings have become more
geared toward ensuring
that quality sellers get the
most exposure. Buyers with
repeat negatives on their
profiles are dealt with by site
administrators, usually with a
suspension or removal from the
site altogether. The model may
seem primitive now, but in 1997
it was the first of its kind.

In recent years, other
online initiatives have followed
in eBay’s footsteps. Not a bad
idea when you consider how
prominent online reviews
have become in the buying
behaviour of consumers.

A study conducted by
BrightLocal revealed that, “79
per cent of consumers trust
an online review as much as
personal recommendations.”
The same study concluded
that 73 per cent of those
surveyed made decisions on the
trustworthiness of a business
based on online reviews.

What does that mean for
businesses? Companies with
positive reviews are able to
convert up to 183 per cent more
business than a company with
negative or no reviews, and

with consistent good reviews
they are potentially earning a
business with 58 per cent more
sales revenue.

The story of online reviews
is one of dollars and cents,
which is why initiatives meant
to give business a voice online
are now starting to find some
traction. That consumer’s blind
rant about a business they don’t
like isn’t as damaging as it once
might have been, thanks in
large part to innovative new
uses in online review websites,
such as rating a review. This
particular technique, in which
a user can rate another user’s
review as either “useful” or
“not very helpful,” has sprung
up on Yahoo, TripAdvisor,
Amazon, and Yelp, just to name
a few. These sites will take the
information from these ratings
to rank the order in which
reviews appear. Those that
are deemed more useful are
featured more prominently on
the page, while the others are
found at the bottom of the list.

Other sites too have
adopted eBay’s bilateral review
approach, such as Airbnb and
Uber. In the case of Airbnb, a
site that allows a user to find a
place to stay within someone’s
home, reviews could be critical.
No one wants to welcome a
stranger into their home if
they have a track record of
destroying the furniture. The
case is the same with Uber, the
app-based taxi service, which
allows drivers to refuse fare
from customers if they are rated
poorly.

Many business owners
welcome the opportunity to
participate, and some are not
pulling punches.

Take, for example, a case
from April 2013, in which the
owner of a popular Beverly
Hills restaurant publicly
shamed some of his prospective
customers on Twitter for
not showing up for their
reservations on a busy Saturday
night. The owner, who had
prepared for a packed house
that evening, turned away
dozens of walk-in customers,
only to have seven parties “no-
show” that night.

"I hope you enjoyed your
GF’s B-day and the flowers
that you didn't bring when you
no-showed for your 8:15 res.,”
read one tweet from Noah
Ellis’ Twitter account. A tweet
posted shortly thereafter tagged
seven people as no-shows for
reservations that evening at
Red Medicine, the restaurant
co-owned by Ellis. The public
shaming of his customers
sparked a mixed reaction on
social media, but many took
to Yelp to give Red Medicine
poor reviews. It didn’t seem
to matter, since the media
attention caused by Ellis’
tweets gave the restaurant more
exposure, thus expanding its
customer base.

A review that enables a
business owner to publicly
shame customers clearly isn’t
the answer, but bilateral reviews
seem to be more acceptable
because they still provide some
discretion. The idea is still in
its infancy, and the complete
story of online reviews will only
unfold through the passage
of time. Nonetheless, digital
innovation seems to have made
the relationship between buyer
and seller somewhat more
equal.