Asymptotic trust algorithm: extension for reputation systems in online auctions

Online auctions have become a big business and the number of auction site users is growing rapidly. These virtual marketplaces give traders a lot of opportunities to find a contracting party. However, lack of physical contact between users decreases the degree of trust. Auction portals require an efficient mechanism for building trust between participants, whereas most of them provide simple participation counts for reputation rating. Moreover, a single opinion has virtually no effect on a big online store that already has many reputation points, so buyers are very hesitant to give negative feedback for fear of retaliation. Consequently, almost no negative feedback is provided (1).