Snipers, Shills, and Sharks: eBay and Human Behavior
"The book does a lot more than just explain why eBay works the way it does, however. As promised in the subtitle, Steiglitz also explores the quirks of human behavior in auctions, both on eBay and elsewhere, which have as much to do with psychology as with brute economic logic. . .. Steiglitz's book is an admirable achievement: a short, readable account of the economic theory of auctions that doesn't pound the reader into stupefaction with equations or some of the other dry-as-bones notions economists often invoke."--Mark Buchanan,New Scientist"In this interesting, well-written book, Steiglitz summarizes the basic literature on auction theory, with particular emphasis on eBay auctions...It will...be of interest to anyone who wants a basic introduction to auction theory or who uses eBay."--D.F. Sheets,Choice"What Steiglitz does well is discuss the quirks of eBay. He himself is a regular user and this allows him to comment with some authority upon the many different patters of observed behaviour...This is an interesting book, providing a fascinating insight from an important real-world auction market, and this will provide motivation to delve deeper into the subject to many a non-expert reader."--Mark Williams,The Business Economist"General readers interested in either behavioral economics in general, or auction behavior in particular, will findSnipers, Shills, and Sharksto be entertaining and informative read. Nave users of eBay will find it particularly useful since, as Steiglitz points out, many otherwise well-educated and informed people do not truly understand how the system works."--Sarah Boslaugh,MAA Reviews