May 7, 2007
The Magic of Online Auctions
Seth's Blog has an interesting blog post on the psychology of people trying to win items on eBay and the like. What's makes this post memorable is the fact that he addresses the lengths of irrationality people will go to in order to WIN! He also talks about setting a maximum bid and how the system will bid for you, releasing you from that human factor of competitiveness so that you can actually bid up to the max without losing your mind.
In business this is mucho important.
Here's a bit of the article:
In many auctions, the most irrational person wins.
Here's the proof: eBay offers a service where you can enter your maximum bid. Say you're bidding on a signed Derek Jeter baseball bat. You decide that the most you'd ever be willing to pay for this bat, under any circumstances, is $99. Type it in.
The auction may be at only $15, and eBay will automatically bid $16 for you. If someone else outbids you, eBay keeps increasing your bid automatically, but never exceeds your maximum.
Read the full post at Seth's Blog.
