The remote launching code.
Customers pay in the form of personal information and attention to advertising content.
The researchers also found that improving the quality of the lower level service hurts the intermediary's profits. So, the intermediary's interests are best served by offering only two levels - the best possible level of service and the least possible level needed to make the product worthwhile to consumers. Bhargava's co-authors, both at Carnegie Mellon University, are Vidyanand Choudhard, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Industrial Administration, and Ramayya Krishnan, the Cooper Professor at The Heinz School of Public Policy and Management. Bhargava says even a brief canvass of the Web will show that the industry is already practicing this limited two level product and pricing strategy. Online auctions, such as eBay, charge both buyers and sellers.