IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v65y2022ics0969698921004495.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimal seller strategy in overlapping auctions

Author

Listed:
  • Zhuang, Hejun
  • Popkowski Leszczyc, Peter T.L.

Abstract

Little research has been conducted on a common phenomenon in today's online environment: the concurrent selling of identical products in online auctions. To fill this gap, the current research proposes a game-theoretical model to analyze the seller's optimal strategy for selling two identical items in overlapping auctions. The overlap is modeled endogenously (as the seller's decision), trading off multiple influences including the positive effect on the overlap from bidders' forward-looking behavior and the seller's time discounting, versus the negative impact from bidders' learning and varied demand (i.e., bidder entry). The combined impact of these factors governs the conditions for which a simultaneous, sequential, or partially overlapping strategy is optimal. When the effect of bidders' forward-looking behavior and/or the seller's time discounting dominates, running simultaneous auctions is optimal; when bidders' learning (and bidder entry) dominates, running sequential auctions is optimal. Partially overlapping auctions are optimal when neither effect dominates and the opposing effects are offsetting.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhuang, Hejun & Popkowski Leszczyc, Peter T.L., 2022. "Optimal seller strategy in overlapping auctions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:65:y:2022:i:c:s0969698921004495
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102883
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698921004495
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102883?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lindsey, Christopher & Mahmassani, Hani S., 2017. "Sourcing truckload capacity in the transportation spot market: A framework for third party providers," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 261-273.
    2. Mireia Jofre-Bonet & Martin Pesendorfer, 2003. "Estimation of a Dynamic Auction Game," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(5), pages 1443-1489, September.
    3. Lange, Andreas & List, John A. & Price, Michael K., 2011. "Auctions with resale when private values are uncertain: Evidence from the lab and field," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 54-64, January.
    4. Ernan Haruvy & Peter T. L. Popkowski Leszczyc, 2010. "The Impact of Online Auction Duration," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 99-106, March.
    5. Anwar, Sajid & McMillan, Robert & Zheng, Mingli, 2006. "Bidding behavior in competing auctions: Evidence from eBay," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 307-322, February.
    6. Joo Heon Park & Douglas L. MacLachlan, 2013. "Estimating willingness to pay by risk adjustment mechanism," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 37-46, January.
    7. Peters, Michael & Severinov, Sergei, 2006. "Internet auctions with many traders," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 220-245, September.
    8. Seokjoo Andrew Chang, 2012. "Time dynamics of overlapping e-auction mechanisms: Information transfer, strategic user behavior and auction revenue," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 331-342, April.
    9. McGee, Peter, 2013. "Bidding in private-value auctions with uncertain values," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 312-326.
    10. Engelbrecht-Wiggans, Richard, 1994. "Sequential auctions of stochastically equivalent objects," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(1-2), pages 87-90.
    11. Yi Zhao & Sha Yang & Vishal Narayan & Ying Zhao, 2013. "Modeling Consumer Learning from Online Product Reviews," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(1), pages 153-169, May.
    12. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. Ali Pilehvar & Wedad J. Elmaghraby & Anandasivam Gopal, 2017. "Market Information and Bidder Heterogeneity in Secondary Market Online B2B Auctions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(5), pages 1493-1518, May.
    14. Pownall, Rachel A.J. & Wolk, Leonard, 2013. "Bidding behavior and experience in internet auctions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 14-27.
    15. Zhuang, Hejun & Popkowski Leszczyc, Peter T.L. & Lin, Yuanfang, 2018. "Why is Price Dispersion Higher Online than Offline? The Impact of Retailer Type and Shopping Risk on Price Dispersion," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 136-153.
    16. Yili Hong & Chong (Alex) Wang & Paul A. Pavlou, 2016. "Comparing Open and Sealed Bid Auctions: Evidence from Online Labor Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 49-69, March.
    17. repec:oup:restud:v:84:y::i:1:p:300-322. is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Xin Wang & Ye Hu, 2009. "The effect of experience on Internet auction bidding dynamics," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 245-261, September.
    19. Aoyagi, Masaki, 2003. "Bid rotation and collusion in repeated auctions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 79-105, September.
    20. Nicola Doni & Domenico Menicucci, 2014. "Information Revelation in Procurement Auctions with Two‐Sided Asymmetric Information," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 952-968, December.
    21. 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.
    22. Donald B. Hausch, 1986. "Multi-Object Auctions: Sequential vs. Simultaneous Sales," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(12), pages 1599-1610, December.
    23. Bajari, Patrick & Hortacsu, Ali, 2003. "The Winner's Curse, Reserve Prices, and Endogenous Entry: Empirical Insights from eBay Auctions," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(2), pages 329-355, Summer.
    24. Robert Zeithammer, 2007. "Research Note--Strategic Bid-Shading and Sequential Auctioning with Learning from Past Prices," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(9), pages 1510-1519, September.
    25. Paulo B. Goes & Gilbert G. Karuga & Arvind K. Tripathi, 2010. "Understanding Willingness-to-Pay Formation of Repeat Bidders in Sequential Online Auctions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 907-924, December.
    26. Luiz T. A. Maurer & Luiz A. Barroso, 2011. "Electricity Auctions : An Overview of Efficient Practices," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2346.
    27. Agranov, Marina & Yariv, Leeat, 2018. "Collusion through communication in auctions," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 93-108.
    28. Pages, Juan-Francisco & Mochon, Asuncion, 2011. "Cross-bidding impact throughout the product life cycle," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 80-83, October.
    29. Goetzendorff, Andor & Bichler, Martin & Goeree, Jacob K., 2018. "Synergistic valuations and efficiency in spectrum auctions," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 91-105.
    30. Sherstyuk, Katerina & Dulatre, Jeremy, 2008. "Market performance and collusion in sequential and simultaneous multi-object auctions: Evidence from an ascending auctions experiment," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 557-572, March.
    31. Damian R. Beil & Lawrence M. Wein, 2009. "A Pooling Analysis of Two Simultaneous Online Auctions," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 11(1), pages 33-51, October.
    32. Lawrence B. Pulley, 1983. "Mean-Variance Approximations to Expected Logarithmic Utility," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 685-696, August.
    33. John H. Kagel & Colin M. Campbell & Dan Levin, 1999. "The Winner's Curse and Public Information in Common Value Auctions: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 325-334, March.
    34. Ernan Haruvy & Peter T. L. Popkowski Leszczyc, 2010. "Search and Choice in Online Consumer Auctions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1152-1164, 11-12.
    35. Youngsoo Kim & Ramayya Krishnan, 2015. "On Product-Level Uncertainty and Online Purchase Behavior: An Empirical Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(10), pages 2449-2467, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pohle, Julia & Voelsen, Daniel, 2022. "Das Netz und die Netze. Vom Wandel des Internets und der globalen digitalen Ordnung [The net and the networks. Transformations of the Internet and the global digital order]," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 455-487.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Newberry, Peter W., 2015. "The effect of competition on eBay," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 107-118.
    2. Ernan Haruvy & Peter T. L. Popkowski Leszczyc, 2010. "Search and Choice in Online Consumer Auctions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1152-1164, 11-12.
    3. Anna Adachi, 2016. "Competition in a Dynamic Auction Market: Identification, Structural Estimation, and Market Efficiency," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 621-655, December.
    4. Yan Chen & Peter Cramton & John A. List & Axel Ockenfels, 2021. "Market Design, Human Behavior, and Management," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5317-5348, September.
    5. Ronald Peeters & Martin Strobel & Dries Vermeulen & Markus Walzl, 2016. "The Impact of the Irrelevant: Temporary Buy-Options and Bidding Behavior in Auctions," Games, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Yixin Lu & Alok Gupta & Wolfgang Ketter & Eric van Heck, 2019. "Information Transparency in Business-to-Business Auction Markets: The Role of Winner Identity Disclosure," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 4261-4279, September.
    7. Heczko, Alexander & Kittsteiner, Thomas & Ott, Marion, 2023. "The benefits of auctioneer competition: Merging auctions and adding auctioneers," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-038, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Wedad Elmaghraby & Anandasivam Gopal & Ali Pilehvar, 2012. "Reference Prices and Bidder Heterogeneity in Secondary Market Online B2B Auctions," Working Papers 12-06, NET Institute, revised Sep 2012.
    9. Sayman, Serdar & Akçay, Yalçın, 2020. "A Transaction Utility Approach for Bidding in Second-Price Auctions," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 86-93.
    10. Anwar, Sajid & Zheng, Mingli, 2015. "Posted price selling and online auctions," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 81-92.
    11. Englmaier, Florian & Schmöller, Arno, 2010. "Determinants and Effects of Reserve Prices in Hattrick Auctions," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 326, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    12. Taylor, Greg, 2012. "Defensive sniping and efficiency in simultaneous hard-close proxy auctions," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 51-58.
    13. Yixin Lu & Alok Gupta & Wolfgang Ketter & Eric van Heck, 2019. "Dynamic Decision Making in Sequential Business-to-Business Auctions: A Structural Econometric Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3853-3876, August.
    14. Brünner, Tobias & Reiner, Jochen & Natter, Martin & Skiera, Bernd, 2019. "Prospect theory in a dynamic game: Theory and evidence from online pay-per-bid auctions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 215-234.
    15. Martin Spann & Robert Zeithammer & Marco Bertini & Ernan Haruvy & Sandy D. Jap & Oded Koenigsberg & Vincent Mak & Peter Popkowski Leszczyc & Bernd Skiera & Manoj Thomas, 2018. "Beyond Posted Prices: the Past, Present, and Future of Participative Pricing Mechanisms," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 5(1), pages 121-136, March.
    16. Anwar, Sajid & McMillan, Robert & Zheng, Mingli, 2006. "Bidding behavior in competing auctions: Evidence from eBay," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 307-322, February.
    17. Robert Zeithammer & Christopher Adams, 2010. "The Sealed-Bid Abstraction in Online Auctions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 964-987, 11-12.
    18. Dennis Clerck & Erik Demeulemeester, 2016. "A sequential procurement model for a PPP project pipeline," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 38(2), pages 427-457, March.
    19. Sailer, Katharina, 2006. "Searching the eBay Marketplace," Discussion Papers in Economics 1234, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    20. Haji, Anouar El & Krawczyk, Michał & Sylwestrzak, Marta & Zawojska, Ewa, 2019. "Time pressure and risk taking in auctions: A field experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 68-79.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:65:y:2022:i:c:s0969698921004495. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.