What are the costs and risks for buyers at an auction and how have auction sites sought to reduce these risks?

What will be an ideal response?

The costs for buyers when they participate in an auction are delayed consumption, monitoring costs, equipment costs, trust risks, and fulfillment costs. Delayed consumption occurs because auctions can go on for days and the product must then be shipped to the buyer. Buyers will typically want to pay less for an item for which they cannot receive immediate gratification. Buyers must also spend time monitoring the bidding, returning to the site frequently to see if they need to raise their bid. They must also purchase, or have already purchased, computer systems and Internet service, and learned how to operate these systems. Since buyers must pay for packing, shipping, and insurance, they will factor these fulfillment costs into their bid price.

Consumers also face an increased risk of experiencing a loss because online auctions are a major source of Internet fraud. Auction sites have sought to reduce these trust risks through various methods including rating systems, watch lists, and proxy bidding. Rating systems are designed so that previous customers can evaluate sellers based upon their experience with them. These evaluations are posted on the site for other buyers to see. Watch lists allow buyers to monitor specific auctions as they proceed over a number of days and only pay close attention in the last few minutes of bidding. In proxy bidding systems, buyers can enter the maximum price they are willing to pay and the auction software will automatically place incremental bids as their original bid is surpassed. In addition, one partial solution to high monitoring costs is, ironically, fixed pricing. At eBay, consumers can reduce the cost of monitoring and waiting for auctions to end by simply clicking on the "Buy It Now!" button and paying a premium price.