The interaction of Shopbots
and Pricebots
Xin Sui
Nov 30, 2006
Shopbots
• Shopbots
– agents that
automatically search
the internet for goods
and/or services on
behalf of consumers
(minimize costs for
comsumer)
http://www.pricescan.com
Shopbots
• How shopbots affect sellers?
– if a seller doesn’t adjust their goods’ prices
according to its competitors’ , they may
experience decreased sales and may give
ground to its competitors.
– It’s better for sellers to reprice their goods as
quickly as possible
Pricebot
• Pricebot: Economically-motivated agents that set prices
so as to maximize the profits of the sellers.
• The paper “shopbots and pricebots” conducted several
experiments. Three strategies were considered.
– GT: using information about buyers
– MY: using information about buyers and its competitors’ prices
– DF: not use information about buyers and its competitors’ prices
1. When a MY seller is involved in a DF or GT population, it
outplays them
2. Faster price-setter earns more profit than others.
Pricebots need shopbots
• The strategy of Pricebots may most likely needs
the knowledge of competitors’ prices. How to get
such info? shopbots.
• Where to get shopbots?
– If the sellers build shopbots by themselves
• Overload their competitors’ web sites, so their accesses will
be prevented by their competitors
– if the sellers use shopbots provided by other
companies
• Overload shopbots, hinder human buyers, so their accesses
will be prevented by those shopbots
What is the solution
• Charging for price information service
– For shopbot, charging pricebots for price
information
– For sellers, charging shopbot for price
information
• Is there any other solution?
Discussion
• What kind of sellers will get more money by selling price
information?
• What kind of sellers will acquire less price information so
that pay less money on it?
• Is the money by selling information fee earned by a
seller less than that it pay for acquiring price information?
• If less, does the difference between them increase the
price of their goods or reduce its profits?
• If more, does the difference between them increase its
profits?