Title: An empirical study of online auction dynamics

Authors: Yanbin Tu; Min Lu

Addresses: Department of Marketing, School of Business, Robert Morris University, Moon Township, Pennsylvania, 15108, USA. ' Department of Economics and Legal Studies, School of Business, Robert Morris University, Moon Township, Pennsylvania, 15108, USA

Abstract: In this study, we segment online auctions into four segments. Time series analysis shows that current auctions are more likely affected by the most recently completed auctions, and the completed auctions have more influence on experienced sellers than on new sellers. The behaviour of selling used items can be explained by the behaviour of selling new items, and vice versa. The auctions listed by experienced sellers have certain influence on the auctions listed by new sellers, but the auctions listed by new sellers have no influence on those listed by experienced sellers. All these findings have significant managerial implications.

Keywords: online auctions; eBay; segmentation; time series analysis; VAR; Granger causality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2011.043257

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2011 Vol.9 No.4, pp.376 - 388

Published online: 22 Oct 2011 *

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