An Analysis of Starting Price in English Online Auctions

摘要

The most common argument is in favor of a low starting price in English online auction due to the hypothesis that a low starting price would attract more bidders and usually generate a higher selling price. However, from the studies of coin and education book auctions on both eBay and Taobao websites in this paper, we cannot find any evidence supporting this hypothesis. By contrast, the empirical results indicate that the starting price has positive and significant impact on the final selling price in English online auction regardless of the product's type. Our analysis suggests that setting a too low starting price is not an optimal strategy for the sellers in English online auctions.