Penny auctions

The Economics of Penny Auctions

An Empirical Study of Online Penny Auctions

We investigate why QuiBids has survived a string of bankruptcies and closings of penny auction sites over the past two years. We find that although inherently profitable on an auction by auction basis, penny auction sites have problems retaining users. In order to alleviate this problem, many sites implemented a Buy-Now system, where bidders could contribute money already lost in an auction tow...

Empirical Analysis of Auctioneer Profitability in QuiBids Penny Auctions

Given the string of bankruptcies of penny auction websites over the past two years, we use empirical data to investigate whether QuiBids remains profitable. Although profitable on an auction-by-auction basis, penny auction sites have problems retaining users. In order to alleviate this problem, QuiBids has implemented a Buy-Now system, in which losing bidders can contribute money they already l...

Towards an Intelligent Bidding Agent in QuiBids Penny Auctions

Empirical data shows that penny auctions on QuiBids are profitable for the auctioneer at the expense of the bidders. We seek to determine whether it is possible to design a bidding algorithm which outperforms actual QuiBids users, capable of consistently making a profit in QuiBids auctions over time. The ideal bidding strategy would win the item while minimizing the total number of bids placed ...

Designing a Bidding Algorithm for Online Penny Auctions

In this paper we construct several penny auction bidding strategies for high-valued items. In order to do this, we first analyze the behaviors of bidders in penny auctions using data collected from the penny auction website, QuiBids. We then construct several strategies based on exploiting these behaviors. We produce an algorithm which estimates the profit produced by these strategies using rea...