Determinants of successful online transactions – effects of transaction assurance seal and reputation rating affecting trust and purchase intention of consumers

Abstract

As the Internet continues to grow and flourish, more and more consumers like to buy things on the Internet. Online auction has become the biggest marketplace, because of the convenience and speed of online transactions. Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan reported C2 C transaction rise by 20% annually, and its market is expected to grow continuously, meaning C2C marketplace is receiving much increased attention. Nonetheless, there are many risks that come with online shopping. The lack of ability to inspect merchandise before purchase will put consumers a trick of fraud (identify theft). Therefore, effectively increasing consumers` trust in online sellers will make consumers more willing to buy goods from them. This study reported some characters that might influence consumers` trust in online sellers, and investigated the influence of trust on purchase intention. The focus of this study is to examine the consumers` perceived effect of sellers` transaction assurance seal, reputation and ability to protect trade information. With Yahoo! Auction as the research subject, 260 questionnaire surveys were conducted online, and 226 were considered effective. The research hypotheses were developed by using structural equation modeling (SEM), and the results supported the model.