The Science of eBay

PreacherTom writes "Professors of marketing, economics, management, and psychology have published dozens of papers to try to explain how and why eBay users buy and sell online. At the same time, there is no shortage of people offering helpful hints online. Kerry Miller takes a novel approach, offering 10 tips to maximize your profit that are based on a summary of these scientific analyses, rather than just 'educated' guessing."

Re:THE TIPS - ad free

[Ancil]

Ad free?

Looks to me like you've simply replaced Business Week ads with Slashdot ads.

Business Week had to pay the author who wrote this story, out of its ad revenues. What right does Slashdot have to those revenues?

Re:THE TIPS - ad free

[macaddict]

I won't click on auctions that have "hype" in the listing. My first thought is "What's wrong with it? Why are they having trouble selling it that they need to hype it?" Hype on the description page will also make me go look elsewhere. A clear, concise and detailed description, that looks like somebody put some thought into it, is what will get me to consider the item. I mostly buy books, so pictures are a big plus--I can see what edition is for sale and get a basic idea of the condition. I don't bother with Reserve auctions at all. Either start with what you're willing to sell it for or forget it--I don't have time to play games of "Guess the minimum bid!".

More and more I've been going to Amazon for used books, though. No auction to wait through and the prices are often much lower.