• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, February 20, 2007

Customer satisfaction with e-commerce last year rose to its highest level since 2003, according to the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Overall, online commerce sites scored an 80 on a scale of 100--up from 79.6 last year, but still down from an all-time high of 80.8 in 2003. Online retail, auction sites and brokerages all saw higher scores than last year, but satisfaction with online travel sites ebbed slightly.

With an 88, online retail site Barnesandnoble.com outscored all other sites examined by ACSI in conjunction with ForeSee Results. Amazon trailed close behind with an 87. Auction site eBay was rated 80--higher than other such sites, but lower than many retailers. eBay's lag behind retail sites, particularly Amazon, could prove problematic for the auction site, said Larry Freed, CEO of ForeSee. "eBay is winning the auction category handily, but should be worried that they are still considerably behind Amazon.com, since the two companies increasingly compete," said Freed in a statement.

Satisfaction with online travel fell to 76, down 1.3% from last year. Expedia and Travelocity both slipped 1.3% to 78 and 74, respectively; Orbitz increased 1.4% to 75.