Public Eye, which has been monitoring online shopping sites since 1996 and claims to have more certified businesses in its online program than the Better Business Bureau and its two closest rivals have in the physical world combined, is now attempting to leverage that trust and provide and an alternative to the person- to-person auction sites such as eBay Inc. Firms such as eBay Auction Universe and Yahoo Auctions, which uses technology from Onsale Inc, put two parties together to trade, but leave it up to each party to complete the transaction, which leaves both sides vulnerable to fraud by the other. This differs from the other auction sites such as the regular Onsale, which sell merchandise from vendors. Public Eye’s service is called eSafeExchange and the web site was launched this week. Public Eye has licensed auction technology from Woburn, Massachusetts-based FairMarket Inc for its trading post. It has an arrangement with TradeSafe Online Corp, which will execute the transactions. TradeSafe is a general merchandise escrow service that has been operating on the web for four years. When two parties are brought together, the buyer sends the money, which is held in TradeSafe’s escrow account, completely separate from eSafeExchange or Public Eye. The seller then sends the goods, which the buyer inspects and if they accept, TradeSafe releases the money to the seller. Public Eye’s managing partner Errol Smith says eSafeExchange is doing a similar thing to eBay, but in the niche of safety. However, it is not trying to compete with the likes of eBay, the poster child of the recently rejuvenated internet IPO market. Smith says Public Eye is only looking for reflected goodwill for Public Eye as a result of establishing the site and therefore does not feel there will be any potential conflict of interest. It does, however, plan to carry advertising on eSafeExchange. Smith reckons Public Eye has sufficient brand recognition to attract users to its service, but is not looking to emulate the volume of eBay, and anyway, it does not make any money from transactions, only advertising. http://esafeexchange.thepubliceye.com
