TV news may tout that some of our familiar consumer watchdogs aren't as true as they used to be, but this doesn't mean the need for safeguards doesn't exist. This is true especially in the burgeoning region of cyberspace, specifically within the mercantile giant eBay and its trading population that's roughly the size of New York City.

Former eBayer Steve Ebin, age 17, recognized this gap and decided to fill it with Reliablemerchants.com. But that's just what you might expect from someone who already holds two other patents on business concepts. Ebin explains, "I was on ebay for awhile, selling computer programs, and I discovered a lot of flaws even though it's a good system." The flaws he describes were ones relating to the manipulation of feedback and the lack of customer security when it came to auction integrity.

His response was to work with mathematicians to devise a method of extrapolating information from feedback with regard to what it says and how many responses a seller receives. Using an algorithm he designed himself, he developed a new and more efficient way of determining reliability. The end result of each calculation is a number between 1 and 100. If the rank 95 or over, the seller is eligible for inclusion in the Reliable Merchants family.

The service is free and is manned by a team of 5 employees, managed by COO Ebin, CEO Ron Friedman, and CTO Jonathan Kops.

Each participating eBay merchant receives a seal of approval that can be automatically inserted within their auctions and that link back to a Reliable Merchants page. The seal gives customers the assurance that this seller is in good standing.

When asked how the company guarantees the participating merchant remains in good standing, Ebin responded, "Each merchant is given a rating update daily. If the number falls to 94 or below, they're suspended for 30 days. If this continues or the number isn't raised, the merchant is expelled." Each complaint is overseen by a manual investigation to further insure the process' integrity, according to the young COO.

Can the merchant continue to use the seal? The answer is yes, however the link back will no longer operate, and so it becomes the customer's responsibility to investigate each auction. But how likely is it that an average eBay buyer will take the time to follow through? There's no way to know for sure, but Reliablemerchants.com does provide a page on their Web site that outlines some common sense rules for safe trading. The rules include: Avoid spam-advertised sales Use credit cards for purchases Look into a seller's references before buying Don't conduct business with an anonymous user Beware of sellers using free mail services Keep copies of all emails relating to the deal.

As the online trading community continues to grow, auction fraud cases increase as well, so Reliablemerchants.com arrives at a fortuitous time.

This company's plans for the future include expanding the service to other auction sites like Yahoo, possibly adding image hosting, and other auction-related services.

Signing up is easy - there are four simple steps. Type in your user name and you will receive an email reply that includes a password. This step verifies your eBay account and the email provides a link to resume the setup. Once you enter the basic information, you receive the Reliable Merchant numerical ranking in a flash. If you qualify, you can describe yourself for the Reliable Merchant page.

This is the only tricky part! The first box to be filled can contain no more than 250 CHARACTERS (not words). You can go over this limit by extending the description to a second box that's included and situated directly below the first. If you fail to limit yourself, you run the risk of hitting an error page. I know, because I rattled on far too long. My response was to immediately email their support, and I received a swift and clear reply. My name and numerical ranking is listed for all eBay buyers to see.

Compared to the eBay feedback system, there's not a whole lot of difference, but the ReliableMerchants process seems more tamper proof. Even with eBay's restriction that limits feedback for concluded transactions, bogus sales can be staged to upgrade the seller's rating. Even if you attain a good ranking, Reliable Merchants demands you maintain this standing.

Given the ease of the process and the good intentions this company displays, my only complaint is that they've limited themselves. I'm sure sellers would love to see buyers ranked in a like manner because, even if the customer is always right, a bad sale isn't always the seller's fault.

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