Hippie 2.0: eBay Goes Hippie with WorldofGood.com

A Web 2.0 community launched last month, slipping right under my radar until I spotted it on MoMB and it made me look twice. eBay apparently developed a conscience when I wasn't looking and has joined forced with World of Good, Inc. to create a new community site centralized around commerce.

The WorldofGood.com mission statement is “to provide a trusted platform where individuals can create positive change through commerce, as part of a global community.” The idea central to the site is that the more you educate consumers about where their goods come from and what they are made of, the more opportunity you are giving them to affect change simply by what they are buying.

World of Good, Inc. is probably familiar to anyone who has ever shopped in a Whole Foods store or a grocery store with a natural foods section; their Fair Trade products seem to be everywhere. They've rebranded their own product line as Original Goods to separate it from the joint effort with eBay.

WorldofGood.com features articles, discussion forums, and blog posts, all about sustainable products, Fair Trade issues, and how to incorporate both into your regular purchasing habits. It will also feature a commerce section, which sellers are currently applying to sell through an eBay Business Account, utilizing many of the existing eBay technology.

This is an interesting concept. At first glance, you get the feeling that eBay is just jumping on the global consciousness bandwagon, but adding the community element may just keep it more honest and real than you might initially expect. The joint effort plans to vet the sellers to ensure that the same sustainable and Fair Trade criteria used by Original Goods are met, and they are offering discounts for sellers who start listing before 30 June 2008.

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