More than a third (34%) of consumers will not conduct a sharing economy transaction without having assurance about the identity of the other party in the transaction, according to a recent survey conducted on behalf of HooYu by Atomik Research

The report pits consumer fear as the top factor restricing growth of the sharing economy.

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In recent years, companies that take part in the sharing economy have seen their figures rise, with the example of Ebay given, which now has over 158 million active buyers.

However, customers remain cautious and the overall level of participation in the sharing economy is still relatively low, with only 39% of consumers "happy to trust" or trusting "with degree of reservation" without checking identity.

The HooYu survey analysed the participation and attitudes to trust in the sharing economy of 2000 respondents both in the UK and the US.

It found that consumers in the UK are more prudent than in the US when it comes to peer-to-peer transactions. Approximately 67% of the UK respondents do not participate in the sharing economy, compared to a non-participation rate of 31% in the US.

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Furthermore, not all sharing transactions require the same level of trust. Renting a personal item to another person is ranked the most mistrusted form of peer-to-peer transaction both in the US and the UK, with 74% and 69% of consumers who will "not at all" trust or are "uncertain" to trust without checking identity respectively.

Despite 60% of potential customers wanting to see assurance on participant identity before they will transact, most sharing economy platforms focus on Caveat Emptor and Buyer Beware.

Contrastively, HooYu aims to grow trust and participation in sharing economies with the help of its global identify verification platform after finding out that 79% of consumers are more likely to trust a stranger online after being sent an in-depth email verifying the person’s identity. HooYu can be used by business or individual consumer alike.