Since the initiation of the Internet, the reasoning that explains consumer behavior to use reserve prices or minimum prices, and how these choices relate to the final price of an online auction is unknown. Choices related to the lack of clarity on the final price on online auctions have led to an uncertainty with respect to how pricing of auction items should be handled by auction sellers.; The purpose of this study was to determine if there is an association between reserve and minimum prices, and the final price of an online auction. The data of 2160 online auctions from eBay was collected using the AuctionIntelligence software created by Cretes Consulting. The first auction start date of data collected was 4/27/2005, and the final auction end date of data collected was 6/14/2005. The correlation between the starting price of an auction and the final price of an auction was positive for all four samples at a 97% confidence level.; Behavior on eBay would seem to indicate the majority of sellers feel that starting a bid low ultimately yields a higher final price. This assumption implies that sellers are trying to maximize their sale price. The results of this study would seem to contradict this reasoning as the study showed a positive correlation between starting price and final price.
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