Internet Auctions and Frictionless Commerce: Evidence from the Retail Gift Card Market

AbstractEach day, a countless number of items is sold through online auction sites such as eBay and Ricardo. Though abuse is being reported more and more, transactions seem to be relatively hassle free. A possible explanation for this phenomenon is that the sites’ reputation mechanisms prevent opportunistic behavior. To analyze this issue, we first summarize and extend the mechanisms that affect the probability of sale of an item and its price. We then try to replicate the results as found in four recent papers on online auctions. Our analyses reveal that (1) it makes sense to differentiate between ‘power sellers’ and the less regular users, (2) there are variables that have an effect on sales that are often not controlled for, (3) one should carefully consider how reputation is operationalized, ( 4) neglecting heteroscedastidty in the data can have serious consequences, and (5) there is some support indicating that effects differ across auction sites.

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Gift Card Meanings

Proceedings of the 2010 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-11797-3_5 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 5-5

Author(s):

Caroline Graham Austin ◽

Lei Huang ◽

Daniel L. Huffman

Keyword(s):

Gift Card

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Late and Multiple Bidding in Competing Second Price Internet Auctions

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.504302 ◽

2004 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Marta Stryszowska

Keyword(s):

Internet Auctions

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Increasing response rates to follow-up questionnaires in health intervention research: Randomized controlled trial of a gift card prize incentive

Clinical Trials ◽

10.1177/1740774517703320 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 381-386 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Amy J Morgan ◽

Ronald M Rapee ◽

Jordana K Bayer

Keyword(s):

Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Confidence Interval ◽

Odds Ratio ◽

Response Rate ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Response Rates ◽

Health Intervention ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Gift Card

Background/aims Achieving a high response rate to follow-up questionnaires in randomized controlled trials of interventions is important for study validity. Few studies have tested the value of incentives in increasing response rates to online questionnaires in clinical trials of health interventions. This study evaluated the effect of a gift card prize-draw incentive on response rates to follow-up questionnaires within a trial of an online health intervention. Method The study was embedded in a host randomized controlled trial of an online parenting program for child anxiety. A total of 433 participants were randomly allocated to one of two groups: (1) being informed that they would enter a gift card prize-draw if they completed the final study questionnaire (24-week follow-up) and (2) not informed about the prize-draw. All participants had a 1 in 20 chance of winning an AUD50 gift card after they completed the online questionnaire. Results The odds of the informed group completing the follow-up questionnaire were significantly higher than the uninformed group, (79.6% vs 68.5%, odds ratio = 1.79, 95% confidence interval = 1.15–2.79). This response rate increase of 11.1% (95% confidence interval = 2.8–19.1) occurred in both intervention and control groups in the host randomized controlled trial. The incentive was also effective in increasing questionnaire commencement (84.6% vs 75.9%, odds ratio = 1.74, 95% confidence interval = 1.07–2.84) and reducing the delay in completing the questionnaire (19.9 vs 22.6 days, hazard ratio = 1.34, 95% confidence interval = 1.07–1.67). Conclusion This study adds to evidence for the effectiveness of incentives to increase response rates to follow-up questionnaires in health intervention trials.

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