A semi-parametric approach for estimating consumer valuation distributions using second price auctions

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Mukherjee, Sourav, Yang, Ziqian, Patra, Rohit K, Khare, Kshitij
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2023
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author Mukherjee, Sourav
Yang, Ziqian
Patra, Rohit K
Khare, Kshitij
author_facet Mukherjee, Sourav
Yang, Ziqian
Patra, Rohit K
Khare, Kshitij
contents We focus on online second price auctions, where bids are made sequentially, and the winning bidder pays the maximum of the second-highest bid and a seller specified starting price. For many such auctions, the seller does not see all the bids or the total number of bidders accessing the auction, and only observes the current selling prices throughout the course of the auction. We develop a novel semi-parametric approach to estimate the underlying consumer valuation distribution based on this data. Previous semi-parametric or non-parametric approaches in the literature only use the final selling price and assume knowledge of the total number of bidders. The resulting estimate, in particular, can be used by the seller to compute the optimal profit-maximizing price for the product. Our approach is free of tuning parameters, and we demonstrate its computational and statistical efficiency in a variety of simulation settings, and also on an Xbox 7-day auction dataset on eBay.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_07882
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A semi-parametric approach for estimating consumer valuation distributions using second price auctions
Mukherjee, Sourav
Yang, Ziqian
Patra, Rohit K
Khare, Kshitij
Methodology
Computer Science and Game Theory
Applications
62G15
We focus on online second price auctions, where bids are made sequentially, and the winning bidder pays the maximum of the second-highest bid and a seller specified starting price. For many such auctions, the seller does not see all the bids or the total number of bidders accessing the auction, and only observes the current selling prices throughout the course of the auction. We develop a novel semi-parametric approach to estimate the underlying consumer valuation distribution based on this data. Previous semi-parametric or non-parametric approaches in the literature only use the final selling price and assume knowledge of the total number of bidders. The resulting estimate, in particular, can be used by the seller to compute the optimal profit-maximizing price for the product. Our approach is free of tuning parameters, and we demonstrate its computational and statistical efficiency in a variety of simulation settings, and also on an Xbox 7-day auction dataset on eBay.
title A semi-parametric approach for estimating consumer valuation distributions using second price auctions
topic Methodology
Computer Science and Game Theory
Applications
62G15
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.07882