A new study shows that most Ebay shoppers would rather pay less and pay for shipping than pay more and have free shipping.

80 auctions of new CD’s and Xbox games were held. Opening bid prices and shipping costs were manipulated on identical titles.

The researchers found that lowering the opening bid while raising shipping costs attracted more bidders faster and generated higher profits than the reverse.

Here’s a pdf of the research results.

Let the buyer beware, of himself?

[via Marginal Revolution]

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