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Determinants and Effects of Reserve Prices in Auctions

Author

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  • Stowasser, Till
  • Englmaier, Stowasser
  • Schmöller, Arno

Abstract

We use a unique hand collected data set of 6,258 auctions from the online football manager game Hattrick to study determinants and effects of reserve prices. We find that chosen reserve prices exhibit both very sophisticated and suboptimal behavior by the sellers. On the one hand, reserve prices are adjusted remarkably nuanced to the resulting sales price pattern. However, reserve prices are too clustered at zero and at multiples of EUR 50,000 as to be consistent with fully rational behavior. We recover the value distribution and simulate the loss in expected revenue from suboptimal reserve prices. Finally, we find evidence for the sunk cost fallacy as there is a substantial positive effect on the reserve price when the player has been acquired previously.

Suggested Citation

  • Stowasser, Till & Englmaier, Stowasser & Schmöller, Arno, 2016. "Determinants and Effects of Reserve Prices in Auctions," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145540, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145540
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles

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