Bargain Bidders

University of Notre Dame physicist Laszlo Barabasi has discovered which kinds of eBay users get the best deals -- and why. Gathering large amounts of data on completed eBay auctions and performing statistical analysis on them, Barabasi found that people who only bid on a single item generally pay more in the end. Better deals usually go to "power bidders," users who bid on multiple items at a time and thereby flood the bidding process. This information may help protect single bidders, who are advised to place their bids near the end of an auction and stick to their original price.