Selling "Money" on eBay: A Field Study of Surplus Division

Last registered on October 24, 2018
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Selling "Money" on eBay: A Field Study of Surplus Division
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003474
Initial registration date
October 21, 2018

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 24, 2018, 4:23 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Alia Gizatulina
Affiliation
University of St. Gallen
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Olga Gorelkina
PI Affiliation
University of Liverpool
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2014-03-30
End date
2015-06-30
Keywords
Other, Welfare
Additional Keywords
surplus division, bargaining, Internet trade, eBay
JEL code(s)
C72, C93, C57
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We study the division of trade surplus in a natural field experiment on German eBay. Acting as a seller, we offer Amazon gift cards with face values of up to 500 Euro. A random selection of buyers, the subjects of our experiment, make price offers according to the rules of eBay. Using a novel decomposition method, we infer the trade surplus from the data and find that on average the buyers offer one quarter of the surplus to the seller. Additionally, we document: (i) insignificant effects of stake size; (ii) poor use of strategically relevant public information; and (iii) differences between East and West German subjects.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Gizatulina, Alia and Olga Gorelkina. 2018. "Selling "Money" on eBay: A Field Study of Surplus Division." AEA RCT Registry. October 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3474-1.0
Former Citation
Gizatulina, Alia and Olga Gorelkina. 2018. "Selling "Money" on eBay: A Field Study of Surplus Division." AEA RCT Registry. October 24. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3474/history/36220
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2014-03-30
Intervention End Date
2015-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We document the distribution of surplus sharing among buyers and sellers participating on eBay trading platform.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Our experiments demonstrates that even at anonymous market places like eBay participants exhibit other-regarding preferences.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
To conduct our experiment, we used the existing bargaining mechanism known as the "Buy-it-now or Best offer" selling format of eBay.de. Mimicking the typical eBay sellers of gift cards, we collect price offers for Amazon gift cards of different nominal values. In this format the seller initially fixes a starting price and buyers either buy the product at this starting price or make offers below it. The buyers make their price offers to the seller privately: they cannot observe the offers of other buyers. The sellers are responders and can either accept the offer, reject it, make a counter-offer or not react at all, according to the platform's rules. If a buyer's offer is accepted, he receives the card from the seller and then he can credit the card's nominal value to his Amazon account to use it for purchasing anything available on Amazon. In our experiment, by choosing the face values of Amazon gift cards, we control the variable which is typically unobserved, namely, the buyer's valuation.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Natural field experiment, with naturally randomly arriving participants (we do not influence arrival rate).
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
283 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
359 bids
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
221 Listing in total, different nominal values of gift cards: 46 of 5 euros, 25 of 10 euros, 19 of 20 euros, 22 of 50 euros, 36 of 100 euros, 43 of 200 euros and 30 of 500 euros
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
June 30, 2015, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
June 30, 2015, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
358 bids
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

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Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials