A survey on the usability and effectiveness of web-based trust rating systems

In Today's online environment, it is hard to measure the trustworthiness of seller/product. However, such trustworthiness is crucial to be determined in order to generate buyer's confidence prior to transaction. There exist a number of web-based trust rating systems that assist buyers in determining the trust level of seller/product. These systems have been widely used in many e-commerce websites and in online forums. Further, they have varying types of trust measurements and user interfaces. Although many users have used these systems when performing online transactions or activities, the usability and effectiveness of these trust rating systems are still largely unknown. Thus, the major aim of this paper is to investigate these issues, in particular to discover the most and least preferred trust rating systems from user's perspective, the influence of ratings, and the effectiveness of these online trust rating systems.