Finding a Home for Products We Love: How Buyer Usage Intent Affects the Pricing of Used Goods

Abstract

Consumers often dispose of used products by selling them in a secondary market (e.g., classified advertisements, Craigslist, eBay). When consumers must dispose of products to which they feel emotionally attached, they often expect to sell the product at a price in excess of its market value. However, the authors identify a condition in which product attachment can decrease rather than increase the minimum price sellers are willing to accept. Specifically, they propose that due to concern for how products are used following a transaction, strongly attached sellers may be more willing than weakly attached sellers to provide discounts to potential buyers whose usage intentions are deemed appropriate. Whereas prior research has focused primarily on one particular consequence of attachment, namely, the intensified reluctance of consumers to part with their possessions, this research identifies a novel consequence of attachment: a heightened sensitivity to the manner in which the product will be used following a transaction. Four empirical studies provide converging evidence that sellers’ product attachment determines the extent to which their minimum acceptable sales price is influenced by buyer usage intent.