Country-of-Origin Premiums for Retailers in International Trades: Evidence from eBay's International Markets

Using real-world transaction prices in the Internet auction Web site eBay's U.S., U.K., and global markets, the authors study the price dispersion of homogeneous products related to the sellers’ country-of-origin. For both tangible and intangible products and services, sellers from the United States enjoy a price premium. This premium appears to stem from country-of-origin equity instead of trading risk or product quality. The findings of this research suggest potential profitable opportunities in international trade by employing the retailer's country-of-origin as an arbitrage tool.