Ask HN: Is Better Business Bureau accreditation worth it for a small startup?

1 pointshikari1715y ago2 comments

I was contacted today by a salesperson from my local Better Business Bureau. She began the call by saying that someone had contacted them about our website and had inquired about our trustworthiness for online transactions. That had the intended effect of scaring me / preparing me for her sales pitch.

Bottom line: they want $595 per year for "BBB Accredited Business" status. We get to put their seal on our site and we get listed in their online directory of accredited businesses.

I've actually thought seriously in the past about going through this process in hopes of improving e-commerce conversion rates for our "Etsy for genealogy research" web app. But I found the manner in which the pitch was delivered troubling. It hearkened back in my mind to Jason Fried's concerns with Get Satisfaction's business model.

Can anyone share any opinions or experiences with Better Business Bureau accreditation? If you've paid them for it, has it been worth it? If not, what made you decide against it?

Thanks!

2 comments

kls15y ago

It is $600 thrown away, their model relies on scarcity of information, the Internet has staked the heart of companies with scarcity of information as a business model and it is why they have become irrelevant for most online companies. Your local plumber may benefit from them, but you most certainly will not. Take that $600 and put it in ad-words and you would serve your business better.

brk15y ago

Sounds like a bunch of horseshit to me. The BBB is a dead org. Nobody contacted them about your site and their fee is robbery.

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