Karma - reputation start up for the sharing economy

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Hi, there! My name is Kellee, and I work at a reputation management start up based in Los Angeles, California. I used to work customer service and trust & safety at Airbnb, so I’m very familiar with the platform :slight_smile:

The start up I work for is called Karma, and we help make the sharing economy a safer place by aggregating reviews and feedback that users earn on sharing economy sites such as Airbnb. This is all done to produce a Karma Score - think of it like a credit score for your reputation and behavior in the sharing economy. We also support Ebay, Etsy, DogVacay - among others.

The reason I’m posting in here is that Karma is quite useful to Airbnb hosts, especially when deciding whether or not to accept a reservation from a new guest with no reviews. Airbnb hosts on Karma have requested that prospective guests with no reviews sign up for a Karma account and get a Karma Score so they feel more comfortable allowing that person into their home.

I’d love to answer any questions you may have and also invite you all to join our public beta version of Karma. Simply go to havekarma.com, log in with Facebook or LinkedIn, and be on your way with a Karma Score :slight_smile: I’d also like to invite you to email us at hello@havekarma.com with any questions you have about the site or any thoughts in general.

Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well!


twitter.com/karmateam

Thanks for your time!

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Hi,
Does Karma do criminal background checks?

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Hi there! Currently we’re not offering criminal background checks, but it is something we hope to launch in our next big push. Is this something you’re interested in?

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I don’t see how Karma is an advantage over AirBnB’s verification process without criminal background checks. It seems like more “Oh, who does this person know” kind of stuff…?

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The advantage of Karma is that we take it a step further than just verifying your ID, public information, credit card, etc. We make it easier for new Airbnb users to show their prospective hosts that they’ve demonstrated good behavior in the past, and they’re likely to do so in your listing. It’s more of a personal and contextual approach than just verifying that someone is a real human.

With that being said, we do understand the importance of incorporating criminal background checks! It’s high on our priority list, as I mentioned. Let me know if you have any other questions!