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The value of reputation on eBay: A controlled experiment

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Author Info
Paul Resnick
Richard Zeckhauser
John Swanson
Kate Lockwood

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Abstract

We conducted the first randomized controlled field experiment of an Internet reputation mechanism. A high-reputation, established eBay dealer sold matched pairs of lots—batches of vintage postcards—under his regular identity and under new seller identities (also operated by him). As predicted, the established identity fared better. The difference in buyers’ willingness-to-pay was 8.1% of the selling price. A subsidiary experiment followed the same format, but compared sales by relatively new sellers with and without negative feedback. Surprisingly, one or two negative feedbacks for our new sellers did not affect buyers’ willingness-to-pay. Copyright Economic Science Association 2006

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10683-006-4309-2
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal Experimental Economics.

Volume (Year): 9 (2006)
Issue (Month): 2 (June)
Pages: 79-101
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Handle: RePEc:kap:expeco:v:9:y:2006:i:2:p:79-101

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Web page: http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=102888

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Related research
Keywords: Field experiment eBay Reputation

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Christopher Avery & Paul Resnick & Richard Zeckhauser, 1999. "The Market for Evaluations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 564-584, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Glenn W. Harrison & John A. List, 2004. "Field Experiments," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1009-1055, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Sanjeev Dewan & Vernon Hsu, 2004. "Adverse Selection In Electronic Markets: Evidence From Online Stamp Auctions," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(4), pages 497-516, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. John A. List & David Lucking-Reiley, 2002. "The Effects of Seed Money and Refunds on Charitable Giving: Experimental Evidence from a University Capital Campaign," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(1), pages 215-233, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Luís Cabral & Ali Hortacsu, 2004. "The Dynamics of Seller Reputation: Theory and Evidence from eBay," Working Papers 04-05, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Cynthia G. McDonald & V. Carlos Slawson, 2002. "Reputation in An Internet Auction Market," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 40(4), pages 633-650, October.
  7. Camerer, Colin, 1996. "Can Asset Markets be Manipulated? A Field Experiment with Racetrack Betting," Working Papers 983, California Institute of Technology, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences. [Downloadable!]
  8. Daniel Houser & John Wooders, 2006. "Reputation in Auctions: Theory, and Evidence from eBay," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 15(2), pages 353-369, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Shapiro, Carl, 1983. "Premiums for High Quality Products as Returns to Reputations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 98(4), pages 659-79, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Doug Bryan & David Lucking-Reiley & Naghi Prasad & Daniel Reeves, 2000. "Pennies from eBay: the Determinants of Price in Online Auctions," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1736, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
  11. Robert Slonim & Alvin E. Roth, 1998. "Learning in High Stakes Ultimatum Games: An Experiment in the Slovak Republic," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(3), pages 569-596, May.
  12. Gary E. Bolton & Elena Katok & Axel Ockenfels, 2003. "How Effective are Electronic Reputation Mechanisms? An Experimental Investigation," Working Paper Series in Economics 3, University of Cologne, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  13. Eric J. Friedman* & Paul Resnick, 2001. "The Social Cost of Cheap Pseudonyms," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 10(2), pages 173-199, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Gary Bolton, 2003. "How Effective are Electronic Reputation Mechanisms?," Working Papers gb1, The Pennsylvania State University, Laboratory for Economic Mangement and Auctions, revised 01 Aug 2003. [Downloadable!]
  15. Doug Bryan & David Lucking-Reiley & Naghi Prasad & Daniel Reeves, 1999. "Pennies from eBay: The Determinants of Price in Online Auctions," Working Papers 0003, Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University, revised Jan 2000. [Downloadable!]
  16. Tanjim Hossain & John Morgan, 2006. "...Plus Shipping and Handling: Revenue (Non) Equivalence in Field Experiments on eBay," Advances in Economic Analysis & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 6(2), pages 1429-1429. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. David Lucking-Reiley, 1999. "Using Field Experiments to Test Equivalence between Auction Formats: Magic on the Internet," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1063-1080, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Gary Bolton & Duncan Fong & Paul Mosquin, 2003. "Bayes Factors with an Application to Experimental Economics," Experimental Economics, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 311-325, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Gary E. Bolton & Axel Ockenfels, 2008. "Does Laboratory Trading Mirror Behavior in Real World Markets? Fair Bargaining and Competitive Bidding on EBay," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Gary E Bolton & Axel Ockenfels, 2007. "The Limits of Trust in Economic Transactions - Investigations of Perfect Reputation Systems," Working Paper Series in Economics 33, University of Cologne, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Yannick Gabuthy & Nicolas Jacquemet & Nadège Marchand, 2008. "Does Resorting to Online Dispute Resolution Promote Agreements? Experimental Evidence," Post-Print halshs-00259453_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
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