I have been watching the auction of a name brand item on the
quibid site. The site uses some interesting contingencies.
Each bid increments the price of the item by $0.01 but each bid
could cost you $0.60. When there is less than 20 sec left on the
countdown clock then each bid resets the clock for some unknown
number of times, the reset time will then be decreased to 15 sec
for some unknown number of times, and then be decreased to 10 sec
for some unknown number of times.
The item I am watching can be bought at Walmart for about $50.
The item has been stuck in the 10 sec clock reset mode for at
least 15 min and the current price is over $7.00.
Let's calculate: At $0.01 per bid then the item has received 700
bids. 700 bids x $0.60 per bid = $420.00. That is a nice return
on a $50 item.
As I said, each bid officially costs $0.60. But one type of item
that is up for auction are bid packs. The last 3 50-bid packs
went for $1.51, $1.53, and $2.14, which means that 518 bids were
spent to buy 150 opportunities to bid. Again, a nice return on a
virtual item.
Ken
PS - The bid price on the item broke $8.00 while I was typing
this email.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [email protected]
Professor
Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
---------------------------------------------------------------
On 1/7/2012 6:31 AM, Michael Britt wrote:
Rick,
I discovered quibids a while back and it is an interesting
site. I haven't participated in it, but I noticed they now
have commercials on TV so it must be gaining in popularity.
The connections to psych I saw with it were in the area of
Cialdini's influence principle of scarcity - if buyers doesn't
act quickly enough they'll "lose out on an incredible price"
kind of thing.
There's also an excitement about the site. Things are moving
really quickly. Not sure where that aspect of it fits into
psychology. What principles of social psych did you see in
it?
Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. [email protected]
http://www.ThePsychFiles.com Twitter: mbritt
On Dec 31, 2011, at 10:56 AM, Rick Froman wrote:
I just found this website (quibids - I didn't provide a
clickable link in case it would be blocked as spam - just
add .com to the end of the name) and thought it would make a
great example for anyone teaching Social Psychology. I don't
suggest actually participating in it. I do think it is quite
interesting in the number of Social Psychological principles
applied in its operation. Its almost like someone created it
as a term project in Social Psychology. I think it is funny
that one of the comments on the site included the term, "I'm
hooked!" in a positive way.
Rick
Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social
Sciences John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
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