Using Genetic Algorithm to Help the Seller Strategies in Online Auction

Abstract

In e-commerce platform, the auction market is the most attractive channel for the general public. Because of low cost, making the entry barriers are low. Online sellers rely on the auction website as the platform. However, “What sellers should do to maximize the profit?” is the main purpose for this paper. This study used Apple ipod nano as an auction object on Yahoo!Auctions, and we came up with eleven factors as research variables , and tried to use genetic algorithm to build a successful auction model for sellers. In this research , if the results showed that the optimal seller behavior of chromosomes are 1,6,9,11 from the portfolio, it means that the seller need to provide product images, accept “Buy it now” , inform buyers about deliver time and maintain a good seller reputation. Therefore, the seller might be recommend to make efforts on the provision of product information, include pictures of auction goods and answer all detail questions, accept “Buy it now” , inform the buyers when sending out the goods, and maintain good reputation.