Are eBay’s Feedback Ratings Consistent with the Sentiments Embedded in Textual Comments? An Empirical Study

Abstract

eBay’s feedback rating system is currently widely used. In this study, we examine if eBay’s feedback rating types (+, 0, −) are consistent with the sentiments reflected in the textual comments posted by buyers. Using the datasets collected from eBay, we test the hypotheses associated with the research questions at three levels: individual, group, and total. Overall, the types of feedback ratings are consistent with the sentiments embedded in the textual comments. However, there are some issues with eBay’s current feedback rating system: (1) at the individual level, the correlation coefficient between the ratings and the comments’ sentiments is low at 0.4311 (<0.5). While the three types of ratings are symmetric, like (−1, 0, +1), buyers’ textual comments have asymmetric distributions of sentiments among these three types. The three simple feedback ratings (+, 0, −) are not fully aligned with the sentiments revealed in the textual comments posted by buyers. We propose expanding the current three ratings into five ratings such as (−2, −1, 0, +1, +2), which might help remedy the issue. We contribute to the literature by tapping into this less-studied area vital to improving the online marketplace’s efficiency.