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Buy it Now: A Hybrid Internet Market Institution

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Author Info
Steve Anderson (University of California Santa Cruz Dept. of Economics)
Daniel Friedman (University of California Santa Cruz Dept. of Economics)
Garrett Milam (Ryerson University Dept. of Economics)
Nirvikar Singh (University of California, Santa Cruz)

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Abstract

This paper analyzes seller choices and outcomes in approximately 700 recent Internet auctions on eBay. The 'Buy it Now' option that is available in these auctions allows the seller to supplement or replace the auction with a posted price offer. We use a structural model to control for the endogenous conduct of the auction (e.g., number of bids and bidders) as well as product and seller characteristics. Among other results, we find that the 'Buy it Now' option was used more often by sellers with higher ratings (awarded by previous buyers) and sellers offering fewer units; and that posted prices were more prevalent for used items. Sellers obtained higher prices for unused and undamaged items overall, and especially when selling at the 'Buy it Now' price.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz in its series Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series with number 1023.

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Date of creation: 01 Apr 2004
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Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucscec:1023

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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. McAfee, R Preston & McMillan, John, 1987. "Auctions and Bidding," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 25(2), pages 699-738, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Rubinstein, Ariel & Wolinsky, Asher, 1990. "Decentralized Trading, Strategic Behaviour and the Walrasian Outcome," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(1), pages 63-78, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Timothy Cason & Daniel Friedman, 2002. "A Laboratory Study of Customer Markets," Advances in Economic Analysis & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1020-1020. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Stoll, Hans R., 2003. "Market microstructure," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 9, pages 553-604 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Ockenfels, Axel & Roth, Alvin E., 2006. "Late and multiple bidding in second price Internet auctions: Theory and evidence concerning different rules for ending an auction," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 297-320, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Paul Resnick & Richard Zeckhauser & John Swanson & Kate Lockwood, 2006. "The value of reputation on eBay: A controlled experiment," Experimental Economics, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 79-101, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Michael R. Baye & John Morgan, 2001. "Information Gatekeepers on the Internet and the Competitiveness of Homogeneous Product Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(3), pages 454-474, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Spulber, Daniel F, 1996. "Market Microstructure and Intermediation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 135-52, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Steve Anderson & Daniel Friedman & Garrett Milam & Nirvikar Singh, 2004. "Seller Strategies on eBay," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series 1024, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Budish, Eric B. & Takeyama, Lisa N., 2001. "Buy prices in online auctions: irrationality on the internet?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 325-333, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Bulow, Jeremy & Klemperer, Paul, 1996. "Auctions versus Negotiations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 180-94, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Alvin E. Roth & Axel Ockenfels, 2002. "Last-Minute Bidding and the Rules for Ending Second-Price Auctions: Evidence from eBay and Amazon Auctions on the Internet," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1093-1103, September. [Downloadable!]
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  14. 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!]
  15. Cason, Timothy N. & Friedman, Daniel & Milam, Garrett H., 2003. "Bargaining versus posted price competition in customer markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 223-251, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. David Lucking-Reiley, 1999. "Using field experiments to test equivalence between auction formats: Magic On the Internet," Framed Field Experiments 0055, The Field Experiments Website. [Downloadable!]
  17. Spulber, Daniel F, 1996. "Market Making by Price-Setting Firms," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 63(4), pages 559-80, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Gale, Douglas, 1987. "Limit theorems for markets with sequential bargaining," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 20-54, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. 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!]
  20. Fudenberg, Drew & Tirole, Jean, 1983. "Sequential Bargaining with Incomplete Information," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(2), pages 221-47, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. 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)
  22. Cason, Timothy N. & Friedman, Daniel, 1996. "Price formation in double auction markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 1307-1337, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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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. Nicholas Shunda, 2007. "Auctions with a Buy Price: The Case of Reference-Dependent Preferences," Working papers 2007-42, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Tim Grebe & Radosveta Ivanova-Stenzel & Sabine Kröger, 2006. "How eBay Sellers set “Buy-it-now” prices - Bringing The Field Into the Lab," Discussion Papers 181, SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich. [Downloadable!]
  3. Stanley Reynolds & John Wooders, 2009. "Auctions with a buy price," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 9-39, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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