Premium
ARBITRAGE ACROSS BORDERS: WHY ITUNES GIFT CARDS SELL ABOVE FACE VALUE ON EBAY
Author(s) -
NG CHEN FENG
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2012.00483.x
Subject(s) - arbitrage , reputation , face value , value (mathematics) , product (mathematics) , face (sociological concept) , commerce , economics , business , advertising , microeconomics , financial economics , computer science , finance , social science , geometry , mathematics , machine learning , sociology
This paper is one of the first to explore international price differences and arbitrage opportunities in the market for downloadable content, by linking the sale of iTunes gift cards above face value on eBay to the arbitrage of iTunes' products (which include downloadable music and videos). This paper shows that iTunes gift cards targeted to non‐U.S. buyers tend to sell for higher prices, controlling for seller reputation, shipping costs, and other variables. Information about the buyers' countries allows us to see whether it is the U.S. store's greater product availability or its lower prices that buyers are interested in . ( JEL D40, L10, F10)