Factors Contributing to the Final Selling Price of Auctioned Gift Cards

In a perfectly competitive market, the price obtained for a homogeneous good, when auctioned, should be consistent when measured as a percentage of the final bid (including shipping) to total gift card value. Rather than that being the case, however, prices varied significantly during the time period studied. This study employed linear regression on gift cards sold that utilized the standard auction format. Results indicated that card value, the time of day the auction ends, the seller's feedback score and percentage of positive feedback, as well as the number of cards auctioned on the same day, the buyer's feedback score, inclusion of an image, PayPal as a means of accepting payment, and the number of words in the description influence the percentage of total value obtained for the card.