Consumer Online Resale at Tradera : A Qualitative Study of Valuation and Pricing in the Online Auction Marketplace

Sammanfattning: Trade of second hand goods between private individuals has increased substantially during the 21st century, particularly in the light of a growing e-commerce scene. Consequently, individual consumers more notably find themselves in the role of sellers in the marketplace and take on responsibilities traditionally performed by businesses. The study at hand builds on this phenomenon and examines how consumer online resellers at the online auction marketplace Tradera make sense of valuation and pricing processes related to their intended resale of pre-owned branded clothing. For this purpose, nine private Tradera-users have been interviewed. By drawing on theoretical contributions from economic sociology and the sociology of valuation, the study has contributed to an enhanced understanding of consumer online resale behaviour and the role of individual valuation and pricing processes for the ordering of an online auction market. The results show that the informants find it problematic to economically value and price garments that are to be resold in the market since they are considered, more or less, usable and meaningful possessions. The study has found valuation of garment condition to be the main source of uncertainty as it distinguishes the economic value of branded garments in the marketplace. The informants broaden the definition of what is judged “new” to make valuation processes more favourable in accordance to their perception of second hand markets. The study further finds that the informants facilitate individual valuation and pricing processes, and simultaneously contribute to market order, by referring to an informal and socially constructed scale for valuating product condition that is marketplace-specific and complements Tradera’s formal categorization system by adding nuances. To cope with the situational uncertainty of not knowing the auction outcome in advance, the study has shown that the informants appear risk averse when pricing garments and therefore avoid misplacing the value distribution.