Everyday eBay


Book Description

Everyday eBay is the first scholarly analysis of the internet marketplace that has become a global social, cultural and economic phenomenon. The eighteen new and classic essays gathered here examine eBay from a wide variety of perspectives as a bellwether of taste and material culture; as a rich site of cultural, racial, and sexual discourse and practice; as an emergent media form; and as a facilitator of global consumerism. From old toys steeped in nostalgia to 'rare' limited edition shoes, the contributors demonstrate that value on eBay is never simply about 'price'. On any given day, more than two million items are listed for sale on eBay, from everyday objects to kitsch and collectibles to the truly bizarre. Since its debut ten years ago, eBay has quickly become a central destination for millions of web browsers. According to eBay itself, up to 165,000 Americans now make their living by selling through the website, and other business analysts project that hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide now make their living through eBay.




Auctions


Book Description

How auctions work, in theory and practice, with clear explanations and real-world examples that range from government procurement to eBay. Although it is among the oldest of market institutions, the auction is ubiquitous in today's economy, used for everything from government procurement to selling advertising on the Internet to course assignment at MIT's Sloan School. And yet beyond the small number of economists who specialize in the subject, few people understand how auctions really work. This concise, accessible, and engaging book explains both the theory and the practice of auctions. It describes the main auction formats and pricing rules, develops a simple model to explain bidder behavior, and provides a range of real-world examples. The authors explain what constitutes an auction and how auctions can be modeled as games of asymmetric information—that is, games in which some players know something that other players do not. They characterize behavior in these strategic situations and maintain a focus on the real world by illustrating their discussions with examples that include not just auctions held by eBay and Sotheby's, but those used by Google, the U.S. Treasury, TaskRabbit, and charities. Readers will begin to understand how economists model auctions and how the rules of the auction shape bidder incentives. They will appreciate the role auctions play in our modern economy and understand why these selling mechanisms are so resilient.




Collector's Luck


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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Live Auctions


Book Description

Do I hear $16.95? A $227.5 billion enterprise around the world, live auctions feature everything from cars to homes, fine art to coal. The only book of its kind, this guide will show how lucrative, fast-paced, and exciting this business is. It covers rules, lingo, setting up an auction, hiring professional auctioneers, and how the most popular auctions work. • 24% of U.S. consumers, or around 50 million people, spend an average of four hours at live auctions each year • Expert author: the National Association for Auctioneers • Detailed run-down of every aspect of live auctions • Resource section with auction house listings




House Beautiful


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All about Auctions


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Auction Theory for Computer Networks


Book Description

Acquire the tools to address emerging challenges in modern computer networks with this multidisciplinary review of the fundamentals.




The Sketch


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Renewable Energy Auctions


Book Description

Renewable Energy Auctions provides an overview of renewable energy auctions globally, focusing on the Global South, since this is where auctions have been pioneered and provided most transformative results. Renewable energy auctions have become the dominant method for contracting utility-scale renewable energy projects, in large part due to the cost-efficient tariffs secured through this method. The ascent of auctions has been particularly rapid and transformative in the Global South, where many countries have secured renewable energy supplies at record-breaking prices. This book analyses the experiences of frontier auction markets in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and India, with the aim of improving how auctions are designed and implemented globally. The book goes beyond the topic of auction design - which is concerned with the micro-economics of design choices - to include auction implementation. Across ten chapters, the authors argue that choices around the auction implementing institution and the procurement process are overlooked in most publications on the subject, yet this is often a key factor for determining outcomes. Moving beyond the program level of analysis (auction design and implementation), the book includes both country and project level factors' impacts on auction outcomes, ultimately highlighting that successful price and investment outcomes are dependent upon integration of all three levels of auction design and implementation.




Plunder


Book Description

The authoritative exposé of private equity: what it is, how it kills businesses and jobs, how the government helps, and how we stop it Private equity surrounds us. Firms like Blackstone, Carlyle, and KKR are among the largest employers in America and hold assets that rival those of small countries. Yet few understand what these firms are or how they work. In Plunder, Brendan Ballou explains how private equity has reshaped American business by raising prices, reducing quality, cutting jobs, and shifting resources from productive to unproductive parts of the economy. Ballou vividly illustrates how many private equity firms buy up retailers, medical practices, prison services, nursing-home chains, and mobile-home parks, among other businesses, using little of their own money to do it and avoiding debt and liability for their actions. Forced to take on huge debts and pay extractive fees, companies purchased by private equity firms are often left bankrupt, or shells of their former selves, with consequences to communities that long depended on them. Perhaps most startling is Ballou’s insight into how this is happening with the active support of various arms of the government. But, as Ballou reveals in an agenda for reining in the industry, private equity can be stopped from wreaking further havoc.