| Despite wide proliferation of e-commerce, many consumers are reluctant to purchase online. The accounting profession and other independent companies have developed assurance services in order to control online risks and help web businesses earn consumers' trust. Such assurance services typically result in a proprietary seal placed on the web site. The type of assurance provided varies considerably from in-depth audit to review of trading policies. Unfortunately, currently available seal-type assurance services have low market acceptance.; This study extends previous literature by examining an alternative approach to mitigating online risks and comparing it to information assurance seals. This approach is based on collecting and presenting information based seller's reputation feedback profile. Empirical tests found that the quality of reputation feedback profile is strongly associated with consumer purchasing behavior in auction and posted price settings, specifically with the decision to buy from the seller, product selling price, and overall product demand. Further, this study presents evidence that information captured in seller's reputation feedback profile impacts consumer purchasing behavior significantly more than the information assurance seals, especially with the decision to buy from the seller in both, auction and posted price settings, demand for product in auction setting, and possibly selling price in auction and posted price settings. |
