Executive summary

• 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: 10-13

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

Task 1 Report

10

Executive summary

The objective of Task 1 is to provide an indication of the economic importance of

the five P2P markets analysed in the study

1, as well as the different P2P business

models used. These objectives are met 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.

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

accommodation and sharing/renting goods sectors provide fewer pre -

transaction trust-building services like peer review systems or identity

verification than platforms engaged in sharing/hiring rides, odd jobs or

(re)sale of goods.

 About half of platforms have peer review or peer rating systems.

Platforms facilitating the sharing/renting of accommodation and

sharing/renting of goods provide fewer pre-transaction trust-building

services like peer review systems or identity verification than platforms

engaged in sharing/hiring rides, odd jobs and (re)sale goods.

1 The markets are: (re)sale goods, sharing/renting goods, sharing/renting accommodation, sharing/hiring rides and odd jobs.