eBay made quite a splash (in filtered water of course!) this week announcing the launch [1] of WorldofGood.com [2]. The site creates a global marketplace for goods and foods that are certified as "friendly" and "green" according to a rating system called Trustology [3].
Trustology uses a wide variety of organizations that are engaged with the producers of these goods to certify that WorldofGood products are good for either local people, the enviroment, animal-friendly, or that the purchase of those goods supports a cause. It was a wide array of "good" measures, but I was reasssured that eBay had thought through how we would know how to measure "organic" and "good".
However, I was struck by one characeristic of the site (and it seems to me that the site is still under construction in some ways, so this may just be a beta concern). When I clicked on Pottery & Glass [4], a particular interst of mine, I saw that all 153 products listed were from Central and South American artists. Same thing with the 213 baskets. And the coffee producers.
So, does "World" in this case really southern hemisphere? Is it too narrow-minded to think that American and European artists could also benefit from this marketplace?
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