Snipers, Shills, and Sharks: eBay and Human Behavior - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ken Steiglitz is Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. He is the author of "A Digital Signal Processing Primer" and the coauthor of "Combinatorial Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity".

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"Wow--a rare treat, enjoyable to read and useful for anyone who ever wondered what to do when they crack open the eBay home page!"--Orley Ashenfelter, Princeton University

"There is a wealth of interesting detail about how eBay actually works in practice, along with lessons to be drawn from the theory. Graduate students in economics and allied fields will see this book as a very nice reader were they thinking of doing research in the area of auctions in general and eBay in particular. Steiglitz offers a useful gateway for those interested in delving deeper into this topic area. The book is invaluable for instructors looking to offer a course on electronic auctions."--John Morgan, University of California, Berkeley

"Steiglitz is uniquely positioned to discuss eBay--as a computer scientist, an aficionado of eBay and auctions for rare coins, and someone well versed in auction theory. The book is peppered with vivid examples and first-person tales. The main theme throughout is that real-world bidding behavior and prescriptions for auction design differ sometimes quite markedly from that predicted by classic auction theory. Steiglitz's approach is pragmatic: what does the empirical evidence reveal about how people bid on eBay, and which kinds of auctions are best for sellers? Most notably, the author provides behavioral explanations for commonly observed behavior on eBay, such as sniping, as well as anecdotal evidence about bidding rings and other seller manipulations."--David C. Parkes, Harvard University