Buyer behavior under the Best Offer mechanism: A theoretical model and empirical evidence from eBay Motors

Ching I. Huang, Jong Rong Chen, Chiu Yu Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

We use data from eBay Best Offer listings to analyze haggling over prices in transactions with one seller and a series of potential buyers for a limited-supply product. We characterize this transaction mechanism as a sequential-move game to investigate buyer behavior. Our model suggests that a buyer's offer price increases in relations to the number of buyers who have previously made an offer on the item and the Buy-It-Now price chosen by the seller. On the other hand, the offer price decreases for items which have been listed on eBay for a longer period of time. We empirically test our theoretical predictions using data on the sales of Toyota Camry cars on eBay Motors. The empirical evidence is consistent with our model.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11-33
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Volume94
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2013

Keywords

  • Best Offer
  • E-commerce
  • EBay
  • Haggling

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