Seller Search and Market Outcomes in Online Auctions
研究了卖家在在线拍卖市场中搜索买家的行为如何影响最终成交价，发现市场特征、搜索时长和跨网站搜索均与更高售价相关，对理解信息技术如何影响市场效率有参考价值。
It has become widely accepted that information technology (IT) has had a profound influence on market transactions, with lower search costs for buyers often considered the key to lower prices and higher consumer welfare. However, sellers also use online channels to search for buyers whose product preferences and valuations match the sellers' offerings, and limited research has examined the impact of IT on sellers' search strategies or associated market outcomes. In this study, we investigate how market characteristics, the length of time the seller searches the auction marketplace for a buyer, and seller search in other websites influence the final sale price in online auctions. The online auction market for used vehicles provides a valuable opportunity to observe search processes of sellers, as the unique vehicle identification number associated with each vehicle enables the tracking of an individual item across both subsequent auctions and across other websites. We find that the market characteristics, duration of search, and search in other websites are each associated with a higher final sale price. Our findings highlight the importance of examining both buyer and seller search behaviors to further our understanding of the impacts of IT on market outcomes and efficiency.