TOPIC 10 - TRUST

1) What does this mean by the following statements?

Trust is not associative (non-symmetric):

In terms of buyers and sellers, the amount of trust each party has, isn't always the same. The sellers may have a high amount of trust which means the buyer will provide money for the good agreed upon. Even though the buyer may not have the same level of trust, as long as the money is paid, the seller will agree to sell the goods.

Trust is not transitive:

This means that just because the first customer trusts the seller, doesn't mean the second customer will. To a certain extent, this is true. While trust cannot be obtained directly onto the next customer, customers can rely on what other people say to determine whether they will trust the seller. But still, a seller needs to build up that trust. Not only by word of mouth, but have some sort of proof that the customer won't be dissatisfied with the transaction.

Trust is always between exactly 2 parties:

In some cases, this can be true. But it entirely depends on the number of parties involved. When the transaction is between a buyer and seller, this is generally true. But when suppliers, resellers, etc are involved - it can be said that trust can occur between more than two parties.

Trust will involve either direct trust or recommender trust:

Direct trust relates to a consumer basing their judgment of trust on their perspective to the transaction taking place. Recommender trust relates to a consumer basing their judgment on the views of others who have already had experience in the said transaction. With this said, it can be concluded that trust involves either direct or recommended trust.

2a) Have a look at the following websites. What are some of the elements that have been incorporated to increase your trust in the sites? If there are also some aspects which decrease your level of trust describe them as well.

http://www.eBay.com.au
Ebay has a security centre which gives tips on increasing the users' security. Having this feature enables the users to feel confident that everything is secure and enables a good piece of mind. There are constant logos and ebay-related images that solidify a genuine site.
A possible factor going against ebay is the few users who take advantage of other ebay users (Fraud).

http://www.anz.com.au
Without even having to move from the home page, it is obvious that this page is professinal and legitimate to ANZ. This enables users to know they are dealing with an actual bank website, and having certain images that correspond with advertisements they have on tv and in newspapers, allows users to gain a sense of comfort and trust. It has security alerts and proper copyright references.

http://www.thinkgeek.com
One thing that works for this site is that it looks like a lot of effort has gone into creating it which sends a message that if this site weren't trustworthy or legitimate, they wouldn't go to such measures. They had a customer service section which would aid in the confidence this site gives its users and having not been on this site before, if i was interested in the things they were selling, i would choose to use this site.
A possible factor working against this site i probably that it is unknown to many people, and people are always extra cautious when potentially buying off sites like these.

http://www.paypal.com
This site probably offers the most trustworthy features. When i clicked on the home page, it gave me an option to make my account more secure by enabling it to be controlled by mo own security system on my laptop. This straight away ensures security is their main priorety and they don't try to confuse you with over-excessive information.

2b) Find a web site yourself that you think looks untrustworthy.

http://www.ozlove.com.au/
One major untrustworthy segment online, is online dating. How do you know if the picture shown is what the person actually looks like. Worst case scenerio, it can be a place where potential rapists and murderers decide to choose their victims.