Customers are willing to pay a 10.7% premium for ‘excellent’ online customer service – an amount that was sized in the aggregate to be $17.3 billion a year. That is a surprisingly large number, says StellaService CEO Jordy Leiser (via E-Commerce Times).

“It was quite a shock for us, actually, especially considering that so few companies meet the criteria for offering this level of service.” According to the survey, ‘excellent’ online customer support includes online tools, interfaces and content, easy to use return policies and a human operator if needed. StellaService found that Zappos.com, Diapers.com, BlueNile.com, Amazon.com, Staples.com, Crutchfield.com, LLBean.com, BestBuy.com, Apple.com, Sears.com, REI.com, Ebags.com, Onlineshoes.com, Orvis.com and Netflix.com were the top 15 retailers that offered the best online customer support.