netmeg - 5:42 pm on Mar 4, 2007 (gmt 0)

I don't know that you'll get a truly representative idea of the value of the BBB seal here on WebmasterWorld. Most of us are webmasters or on the other end of the stick in some fashion; we know in at least a general sense what is and what is not behind the seal.

I haven't had occasion to obtain it for a client as yet, but will be doing so soon after we've completed updating a particular client's ecommerce site. I've been reading around, talking to clients, and talking to client's clients, and have come to the conclusion that the worth of paying for the seal probably is to a large degree determined by the demographic you're trying to attract. The client for whom we will be purchasing the seal deals mostly with businesses, financial institutions such as banks and CUs; they also do a lot of government (municipal, state, federal and military) business, and they rely on upon building customer relationships and repeat business - they believe that seal will mean something to those groups. Even if it never directly translates to more sales, it's important to the image of trust and reliability that they want to convey.

I have other clients in other fields who deal with entirely different types of customers, and it would probably not be worth spending the money on for them.

Heck, when all else fails, poll some of your customers and ask what types of things are important to them when choosing an online presence with which to do business. That's what we did (and are always doing)