Conference Paper — 17th International Conference on Web and Internet Economics (WINE)
Online marketplaces allow consumers to evaluate, compare, and purchase products while providing a channel for third-party sellers to reach a broad consumer base and increase demand for their products. As platforms seek to maintain a large consumer base, many platforms prioritize increasing consumer surplus by offering competitively priced products. At the same time, it is common practice in such marketplaces to let sellers determine their own price, but such flexibility may result in higher prices that reduce consumer surplus.