Drew
12-16-2013, 06:32 PM
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1549595.1387228791!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/shop17n-2-web.jpg
Online shoppers are less likely to buy something from a person who’s black or has tattoos, a new study suggests.
Researchers sent out 1,200 online classified ads for Apple iPods and were shocked at the discrimination they found. Ads featuring a black or tattooed hand holding the iPod received 18% fewer offers — and bids that did come through were lower than those offered to white sellers without visible tattoos, according to the report published in the Economic Journal of the Royal Economic Society.
“We might have moved many of our consumer transactions online, but personal biases in terms of who we trust still affect how we interact with others,” study co-author Jennifer Doleac, a public policy and economics professor at the University of Virginia, told the Daily News.
“This is true when we’re interacting online as well as offline.”
The ads researchers placed were all for an 8GB silver iPod nano, and included an explanation that it was for sale because the seller didn’t need it. In a photo, it was held by a man’s hand that was white, black or white with a wrist tattoo.
People were more likely to respond to an ad, go through with the purchase, and be more comfortable making a long-distance payment when the seller was white and didn’t have any visible tattoos, researchers wrote.
They were most wary when talking to black sellers.
“For instance, they are less likely to include their names in their emails,” Doleac said.
Researchers did note that black sellers got more responses in areas with larger black populations and fewer responses from buyers who lived in high-crime areas. They weren’t aware of the buyers’ race.
Doleac was most surprised that white tattooed sellers got similar results to black sellers. This means buyers are “statistically discriminating,” rather than discriminating solely based on race.
“The buyer is trying to avoid dealing with someone who is less educated, for instance, or who might live in a bad neighborhood,” she explained.
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/sellers-race-matters-e-commerce-article-1.1549596
Online shoppers are less likely to buy something from a person who’s black or has tattoos, a new study suggests.
Researchers sent out 1,200 online classified ads for Apple iPods and were shocked at the discrimination they found. Ads featuring a black or tattooed hand holding the iPod received 18% fewer offers — and bids that did come through were lower than those offered to white sellers without visible tattoos, according to the report published in the Economic Journal of the Royal Economic Society.
“We might have moved many of our consumer transactions online, but personal biases in terms of who we trust still affect how we interact with others,” study co-author Jennifer Doleac, a public policy and economics professor at the University of Virginia, told the Daily News.
“This is true when we’re interacting online as well as offline.”
The ads researchers placed were all for an 8GB silver iPod nano, and included an explanation that it was for sale because the seller didn’t need it. In a photo, it was held by a man’s hand that was white, black or white with a wrist tattoo.
People were more likely to respond to an ad, go through with the purchase, and be more comfortable making a long-distance payment when the seller was white and didn’t have any visible tattoos, researchers wrote.
They were most wary when talking to black sellers.
“For instance, they are less likely to include their names in their emails,” Doleac said.
Researchers did note that black sellers got more responses in areas with larger black populations and fewer responses from buyers who lived in high-crime areas. They weren’t aware of the buyers’ race.
Doleac was most surprised that white tattooed sellers got similar results to black sellers. This means buyers are “statistically discriminating,” rather than discriminating solely based on race.
“The buyer is trying to avoid dealing with someone who is less educated, for instance, or who might live in a bad neighborhood,” she explained.
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/sellers-race-matters-e-commerce-article-1.1549596