The Effects of Different Bidding Strategies on Online Auctions

2279 Words10 Pages
The Effects of Different Bidding Strategies on Online Auctions 1. Introduction 2 2. Different bidding strategies 2 2.1 Sniping 3 2.2 Squatting 3 2.3 Winning at all costs 3 2.4 Stickling 3 3. Bidding strategies in relation to game theory 4 3.1 Why there are no dominant / dominated strategies and equilibriums 4 3.2 Assumptions in game theory 5 3.3 The effects different strategies have on online auctions 5 4. Conclusion 6 References 8 1. Introduction Auctions represent a very simple business model. Sellers offer a good or service for sale, many people can place a bid, and the highest bidder eventually gains the respective good or service. The amount of bidding strategies someone could use in this process was fairly limited before internet auctions were created, mainly due to the fact that usually all participants in an auction had to be in the same room and could only bid on one good or service at a time. The internet has changed that, however, and the economic impact of these auctions is rapidly growing (Pinker, Seidmann & Vakrat, 2003). With internet sites like ‘eBay.com’ people can now bid on an enormous selection of goods from any place they want and at any time they want. With this change comes an entirely new set of bidding strategies bidders can use, that simply were not available before the internet. When referring to (online) auctions, this paper will look only at the English auction, for that is the most commonly used model with websites similar to ‘eBay.com’. In the English auction model used online, bidding goes on from three to ten days, and stops at a preset time. All participants may place bids freely. These bids must be ascending, however. The highest bidder wins, and the price is the highest bid (Gonzales, Hasker & Sickles, 2004). Any

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