IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/atlecj/v37y2009i4p383-395.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Alternative e-Prices on eBay Book Auctions

Author

Listed:
  • Jannett Highfill
  • Kevin O’Brien

Abstract

This paper uses the usual eBay auction variables and some data from ABE and Amazon, namely, lot size and the alternative e-price, the lowest price for a given book on a given site, to examine in the question of how information from ABE and Amazon affects eBay auction outcomes. We find that although lot-size sometimes affects bids and final sale price, the alternative e-price effects are more important. Sellers on eBay set their minimum prices below the alternative e-prices, but the closer the minimum price is set to the alternative e-price, the lower the final sale price. Decomposing this result into bidding versus final sale price per se effects, our evidence suggests that the primary comparison shopping effect is on bidding behavior. Copyright International Atlantic Economic Society 2009

Suggested Citation

  • Jannett Highfill & Kevin O’Brien, 2009. "The Effect of Alternative e-Prices on eBay Book Auctions," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 37(4), pages 383-395, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:37:y:2009:i:4:p:383-395
    DOI: 10.1007/s11293-009-9179-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11293-009-9179-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11293-009-9179-5?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. Jannett Highfill & Kevin O’Brien, 2007. "Bidding and prices for online art auctions: sofa art or investment," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 31(4), pages 279-292, December.
    2. Adams, Christopher P., 2007. "Estimating demand from eBay prices," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1213-1232, December.
    3. Stephanie Rosenkranz & Patrick W. Schmitz, 2007. "Reserve Prices in Auctions as Reference Points," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(520), pages 637-653, April.
    4. 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.
    5. Ladislav Wintr, 2008. "Some evidence on late bidding in eBay auctions," Working Paper Research 126, National Bank of Belgium.
    6. David Lucking‐Reiley & Doug Bryan & Naghi Prasad & Daniel Reeves, 2007. "Pennies From Ebay: The Determinants Of Price In Online Auctions," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 223-233, June.
    7. Utpal M. Dholakia & Itamar Simonson, 2005. "The Effect of Explicit Reference Points on Consumer Choice and Online Bidding Behavior," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 206-217, October.
    8. Shunda, Nicholas, 2009. "Auctions with a buy price: The case of reference-dependent preferences," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 645-664, November.
    9. Thomas Andrews & Cynthia Benzing, 2007. "The Determinants of Price in Internet Auctions of Used Cars," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 35(1), pages 43-57, March.
    10. Kamins, Michael A & Dreze, Xavier & Folkes, Valerie S, 2004. "Effects of Seller-Supplied Prices on Buyers' Product Evaluations: Reference Prices in an Internet Auction Context," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(4), pages 622-628, March.
    11. Amar Cheema, 2008. "Surcharges and Seller Reputation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(1), pages 167-177, February.
    12. Ladislav Wintr, 2008. "Some Evidence On Late Bidding In Ebay Auctions," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 46(3), pages 369-379, July.
    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. J-M Chen & H-L Cheng & I-C Lin, 2011. "On channel coordination under price-dependent revenue-sharing: can eBay's fee structure coordinate the channel?," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 62(11), pages 1992-2001, November.
    2. Jen-Ming Chen & Hung-Liang Cheng, 2012. "Effect of the price-dependent revenue-sharing mechanism in a decentralized supply chain," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 20(2), pages 299-317, June.

    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. Kevin Hasker & Robin Sickles, 2010. "eBay in the Economic Literature: Analysis of an Auction Marketplace," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 37(1), pages 3-42, August.
    2. Genti Kostandini & Elton Mykerezi & Eftila Tanellari & Nour Dib, 2011. "Does Buyer Experience Pay Off? Evidence from eBay," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 39(3), pages 253-265, November.
    3. Chen, Kong-Pin & Lai, Hung-pin & Yu, Ya-Ting, 2018. "The seller's listing strategy in online auctions: Evidence from eBay," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 107-144.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Liu, Kang Ernest & Shiu, Ji-Liang & Sun, Chia-Hung, 2013. "How different are consumers in Internet auction markets? Evidence from Japan and Taiwan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 1-12.
    7. Shunda, Nicholas, 2009. "Auctions with a buy price: The case of reference-dependent preferences," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 645-664, November.
    8. Bose, Subir & Daripa, Arup, 2017. "Shills and snipes," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 507-516.
    9. Florian Englmaier & Arno Schmöller, 2008. "Reserve Price Formation in Online Auctions," CESifo Working Paper Series 2374, CESifo.
    10. Axel Ockenfels & David Reiley & Abdolkarim Sadrieh, 2006. "Online Auctions," NBER Working Papers 12785, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Sascha Füllbrunn, 2009. "A comparison of Candle Auctions and Hard Close Auctions with Common Values," FEMM Working Papers 09019, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Economics and Management.
    12. Barbaro, Salvatore & Bracht, Bernd, 2021. "Shilling, Squeezing, Sniping. A further explanation for late bidding in online second-price auctions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    13. Grebe, Tim & Ivanova-Stenzel, Radosveta & Kröger, Sabine, 2021. "How do sellers benefit from Buy-It-Now prices in eBay auctions?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 189-205.
    14. Stylianos Despotakis & Isa Hafalir & R. Ravi & Amin Sayedi, 2017. "Expertise in Online Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(11), pages 3895-3910, November.
    15. Nicola Dimitri, 2007. "Last minute bidding equilibrium in second price internet auctions," Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development (DEPFID) University of Siena 001, Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development (DEPFID), University of Siena.
    16. Shiu, Ji-Liang & Sun, Chia-Hung D., 2014. "Modeling and estimating returns to seller reputation with unobserved heterogeneity in online auctions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 59-67.
    17. R Malaga & D Porter & K Ord & B Montano, 2010. "A new end-of-auction model for curbing sniping," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(8), pages 1265-1272, August.
    18. Nicola Dimitri, 2022. "Last minute only bidding is implausible in eBay sealed bid type-of-auctions," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 225-239, June.
    19. Ivanova-Stenzel, Radosveta & Grebe, Tim & Kröger, Sabine, 2019. "How do sellers benefit from Buy-It-Now prices in eBay auctions?," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203606, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Auctions; eCommerce; D44; L81;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:kap:atlecj:v:37:y:2009:i:4:p:383-395. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.