Conclusions

• Author: Pierre Hausemer - Julia Rzepecka - Marius Dragulin - Simone Vitiello - Lison Rabuel - Madalina Nunu - Adriana Rodriguez Diaz - Emma Psaila - Sara Fiorentini - Sara Gysen - Tim Meeusen - Simon Quaschning - Allison Dunne - Vadim Grinevich - Franz Huber - Linda Baines
• Pages: 105-108

Exploratory study of consumer issues in online peer-to-peer platform markets –

Task 1 Report

105

5 Conclusions

The aim of the report is to indicate the economic importance of P2P online markets

in Europe and to contribute to the definition of the main P2P business models.

These objectives are m et by analysing the services and characteristics of 485 P2P

platforms based in the EU and Norway, operationalising the Task 2 survey results

and through a review of secondary data and publications.

The academic and policy literature analysed in this report suggests that P2P

transactions can raise consumer protection issues due to aspects such as

regulatory uncertainty on what rules apply to certain types of P2P transactions, lack

of clarity as to the legal status of peer providers or data privacy concerns. As

demonstrated by Brescia (2016), unlike conventional businesses that generate trust

among consumers via complying with governmental regulations, platforms ensure

trust through a variety of trust-building tools. Many platforms aim to encourage P2P

transactions and address consumer protection issues through self-regulation, in

particular through the trust-building services they provide to peers, such as peer

review and rating systems. However, these systems may not always be sufficient to

fully address the consumer issues identified in both the literature and in the

consumer survey part of Task 2.

Consumer protection issues are particularly important considering that P2P

platforms have developed considerably in recent years: 52% of the platforms

in the sample (252) were created in or after 2010. According to the academic

literature, the recent increase in P2P transactions is due to P2P market advantages

such as lower prices, increased access to goods or environmental concerns. 81% of

the platforms in the sample are small or medium-sized (below 10,000 daily

visitors), and the literature suggests that P2P markets will continue to grow in the

near future.

Service provision

Many platforms aim to address consumer issues through self-regulatory

approaches via the services they provide to their peers. Platforms facilitate

transactions and foster trust among peers through services before, during, and

after P2P transactions are concluded. However, these services, and the trust they

create may not always be sufficient to fully address the consumer issues identified

in the literature.

This report finds that online P2P platforms offer a wide range of services, and that

they differ significantly as to how comprehensive their service offer is. However,

most platform services focus on facilitating transactions and not as much on

providing peers with clarity and easy access to complaints handling mechanisms in

case something goes wrong. As this report finds, most platform services are

concentrated before the transaction phase, and much less after transactions occur.

The review of the services provided by 485 platforms finds that:

 Pre-transaction services include peer review and reputation systems

(52%), information about applicable regulation and taxes (45%), and

advice/rules on safety (48%). Platforms in the sharing/renting