Why you overpaid at that online auction

<p dir="ltr">Ever put in the winning bid for something on an auction site only to realize you significantly overpaid? Yeah, there’s a phrase for that. On today’s show: the winner’s curse.<br /><br />Richard Thaler’s new book with Alex O. Imas is <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Winners-Curse/Richard-H-Thaler/9781982165116" target="_blank">The Winner’s Curse: Behavioral Economics Anomalies, Then and Now</a>.<p dir="ltr">Read Planet Money’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/planet-money/2025/11/11/g-s1-96954/how-to-avoid-the-winners-curse" target="_blank">newsletter on the winner’s curse</a>. <p dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><em>For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/" target="_blank">plus.npr.org</a>. Fact-checking by <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/1268825622/sierra-juarez" target="_blank">Sierra Juarez</a>. Music by <a href="https://dropelectric.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Drop Electric</a>. Find us: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@planetmoney" target="_blank">TikTok</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/planetmoney/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/planetmoney" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/money" target="_blank">Newsletter</a>.  </em><br /><br />See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>