How to break an addiction: Ebay

I love to go on eBay. I shop there in spurts. I can go for a period of time and bid on stuff and then I can go for periods of time when I do not even go on eBay. EBay is a good place to make money by selling old belongings or to find artifacts that just can not be found in stores anymore. But when you get addicted like I sometimes do, I remember something I learned in my last class. Its called the winners curse.

The winner's curse is a phenomenon akin to a Pyrrhic victory that occurs in common value auctions with incomplete information. In short, the winner's curse says that in such an auction, the winner will tend to overpay.

Now every time I go to place a bid I have to judge how much I want to spend on the item before hand. I try to stick to that amount too. I believe when you get stuck in the option of where you bid on an item and keep bidding on an item after you keep getting outbid the winners curse comes into play. This game of outbidding will most likely cause you to bid on an item just to have the satisfaction of winning the auction. But if you stick to your predetermined amount you will be just fine. Assuming that you did research on what a fair price on the item might be.

If I think of anymore ways to beat an eBay addictions. I will post later.