MinistryOfTruth - 8:23 pm on Oct 4, 2006 (gmt 0)

I don't think it's true to say that none of the big sites use these verification logos. Check out newegg, they have loads of these things at the bottom of their index page - truste, BBB, the whole lot. Buy.com has a bizrate icon at the bottom of its index page. Bizrate has a truste icon at the bottom of its index page. Overstock.com has BBB and verisign logos at the bottom of its pages.

However, it looks like companies with a strong off-line presence (e.g. target, walmart, circuit city) rarely use truste or bbb, probably because they already have a high degree of customer trust.

I think in general it makes sense that these things would increase conversion rates. And since so many large e-commerce sites use them, i'd imagine they probably do help sales - even for highly established sites.

[edited by: MinistryOfTruth at 8:24 pm (utc) on Oct. 4, 2006]