[E]bay--The Virtual Auction with Continual Ethos

     For both the potential buyer and seller, the establishment of ethos on [E]bay begins with  registration .  This web page requests essential personal information, such as the full name, residential address, and email address.  This information is used by [E]bay in order to verify the registrant as a potential user of  the [E]bay system.
     The registration procedure is easy and quick to use.  A simple three step confirmation process allows the registrant to verify the information twice.  Upon final confirmation [E]bay requests that the registered user create an userID with which to conduct business.

The First Time Buyer and Ethos

     For the first time buyer, the establishment of ethos is important, for such person does not have an established business reputation.  The potential buyer begins the ethos construction with the first bid placed in an  on-line auction.   [E]bay strongly recommends an examination of the seller's reputation.   [E]bay allows the buyer to examine the seller's reputation by way of a web page which contains  feedback.   This feedback is an accumulation of positive, negative, and neutral comments left by past buyers.  The scoring system found in the above reference uses numerical values assigned to each response.  The cumulative total of the responses is assigned by [E]bay as the number found to the right of the seller's user ID.  This number represents a form of entechnic ethos that is derived from atechnic pistis.  At the same time it is a form of entechnic ethos for the past buyers listed in the feedback section.
     The winning bidder or bidders in any auction ([E]bay offers regular and dutch auctions) are the only persons allowed to leave feedback on [E]bay's system.  This feedback is linked to allow email response.  This is the avenue for entechnic pisteis from those buyers.
     The potential buyer must judge the seller's reputation along with the product.   The buyer places a bid.  If successful [E]bay at this point momentarily ceases its involvement in the pending transaction.  The buyer and seller are required to finalize the transaction through direct contact via email, fax, or telephone.  In this contact the buyer convinces the seller of the seriousness of the bid.  This is entechnic ethos establishment for the buyer.  The buyer's establishment of ethos is best done with prompt payment to the seller upon completion of the deal.  But the direct contact with the seller allows the buyer to perform traditional persuasion in the forms of "virtual" and traditional conversation.  This includes, of course, any information that could elicit a positive response from the seller.  The parties' interaction results in both entechnic and atechnic ethos for the buyer.  The seller's feedback is atechnic ethos for the buyer when he posts  positive feedback of the buyer.  This information is crucial in the buyer's effort to establish an effective business reputation.  The initial rating of the first time buyer is not an effective ethos establishment, since the number is low.
     As the buyer uses [E]bay over and over, the numerical rating increases, if subsequent sellers contribute positive feedback.  In subsequent transactions the seller accesses the buyer's rating in order to judge the feasibility of the bid.  Subsequent transactions generate opportunities for the seller to judge the buyer's completion of the transactions.  Again, expedient response by the buyer leads to potential atechnic pistis.  This information, once sent to and judged by [E]bay, increases the buyer's rating.  This cycle of ethos development leads, if the buyer is a dependable customer, to positive business reputation construction which is derived from both entechnic and atechnic means.

Virtual Ethos vs Traditional Ethos

     In the above scenarios, it seems that the development of the buyer's ethos is potentially more dynamic, as compared to that in traditional rhetoric. As mentioned in the introduction of this site, traditional rhetoric utilizes physical gestures and cadences in order to establish ethos.  The virtual ethos, on the other hand, is initially non-verbal and without gestures.  The indication from the buyer of intent to conduct business is the only rhetoric available to the seller, until completion of the deal.  The difference is that the buyer has an ethos that is continuous.  In other words, the ethos, once established, can convey positive characteristics to any buyer or seller that uses the [E]bay system.  This is similar to the seller's ethos, which has more opportunities to grow, simply due to the potential magnitude of business.  The seller can offer several products for auction on [E]bay, which can lead to potentially rapid ethos development.

The First Time Seller and Ethos

     The seller begins ethos construction with entechnic means.  The product, obviously, plays a part.  The seller uses description in the basic entechnic ethos establishment.   The addition of pictures also aid in ethos development.  A potential buyer feels safer with a seller if the product is visible.  The buyer examines the seller's product and decides to place a bid.  If the buyer places a successful bid then [E]bay encourages both parties to engage in direct communication.  For the first time seller this is very important.  The traditional ethos found in the direct contact, very much like that in the buyer's case, aids in initial ethos development.  The direct contact generates a form of atechnic pistis of the seller, which is derived from buyer's feedback, and is judged by [E]bay and tallied accordingly.  This total becomes the seller's rating.
     Thus, upon subsequent transactions the seller's ethos increases if deals are successfully closed and buyers are pleased.  Entechnic and atechnic ethos and pistis combine forces seamlessly in the overall forum of [E]bay.  By offering several items for auction the seller creates more opportunities for ethos development.  Ethos development becomes dynamic.  This is incredibly advantageous over traditional ethos establishment, which is limited in discourse.  Despite the bodiless aspect of ethos development in [E]bay the overall speed of such development is faster and broader in effect.  The buyer and seller have ample opportunities in which to build ethos.  They must uphold their respective ends of the transactions in order to benefit.  [E]bay is an auction that allows ethos to grow in many ways.  This sets it apart from traditional auctions conducted with auctioneers and bidding paddles.