In online C2C markets, buy-it-now (BIN) auction is a mechanism developed in past few
years to facilitate online auctions (Ho et al., 2007). BIN is different from ascending auction
in that buyers may buy immediately at or above the price set by sellers. BIN was
developed by eBay in 2000, and currently has been adopted by other electronic
marketplaces, including Yahoo and Taobao. Prior studies show that BIN can generate
higher revenue compared with ascending auctions (Mathews, 2004). Today, BIN auctions
are very popular on the online markets, such as eBay and Taobao. On eBay, most sellers
consider BIN an alternative way to auction; on Taobao, the largest online C2C market in
China, most seller utilize BIN pricing as the only way for selling their products.