A fast method for learning non-linear preferences online using anonymous negotiation data

In this paper, we consider the problem of a shop agent negotiating bilaterally with many customers about a bundle of goods or services together with a price. To facilitate the shop agent’s search for mutually beneficial alternative bundles, we develop a method for online learning customers’ preferences, while respecting their privacy. By introducing additional parameters, we represent customers’ highly nonlinear preferences as a linear model. We develop a method for learning the underlying stochastic process of these parameters online. As the conducted computer experiments show, the developed method has a number of advantages: it scales well, the acquired knowledge is robust towards changes in the shop’s pricing strategy, and it performs well even if customers behave strategically