iAnalyses of an Internet Auction Market Focusing on the Fixed-Price Selling at a Buyout Price

Internet Auction is a one of the most successful e-Commerce markets. Recently, it has been reported that the trades having buyout options are increasing. A “buyout option ” is available in many Internet auction sites. When a seller uses a buyout option, a “buyout price (buy price) ” of the good is set by the seller. If a buyer submits a bid equal to the buyout price, the auction immediately ends and the buyer can obtain the good by paying the buyout price. If the seller sets the start price to the price equal to the buyout price, it can be viewed as fixed-price selling. In the recent auction sites, identical goods are sold in an auction with a buyout price and in an auction without a buyout price simultaneously. Consid-ering such a situation, understanding how a buyout option affects the market is significant to design the future auction markets. However, there are following two problems. Understanding sellers ' behaviors in an Internet auction market As