Red—it’s the color of arousal, aggression, and...higher eBay bids? According to a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the answer is yes. eBay items with a red background were found to receive higher bids, but the color had the opposite effect on negotiation-based sales, influencing consumers to make lower offers.

Previous studies on the influence of color on aggression in animals have found that red-colored male lizards are more likely to win contests against yellow-collard lizards, and a Nature study published in 2005 found that Olympians who wear red are more likely to win. While previous research has focused on the effects of red-induced aggression in physical competitions, the researchers of the current study wondered how aggression might be expressed in purchase settings. They postulated two scenarios: in one, the aggressive buyer would want to ensure possession of the item being sold, and therefore would be more willing to pay for it; in the other, the aggressive buyer would want to get the best deal from the seller and would want to pay the least amount possible.

The researchers theorized that the influence of aggression on willingness-to-pay would also depend on the selling mechanism, i.e. auction vs negotiation, which determines whether the buyer is competing against other buyers or the seller.

To learn how consumers viewed different purchase scenarios, the researchers did a pretest, in which they asked 168 undergraduates to complete a TV purchase. Half of the participants read that they would be bidding in an auction, while the other half were expected to make an offer in a negotiation. The participants were then asked to describe who they felt they were competing against. The auction participants indicated that they were primarily going head to head against one another, while the negotiation participants indicated that they were competing with the seller.

Researchers Rajesh Bagchi of Virginia Tech and Amar Cheema of the University of Virginia then came up with three studies to test the effect of color on willingness-to-pay.

In the first study, the researchers examined data from real eBay auctions for a Nintendo Wii bundle, as well as a study replicated in the lab where the seller and product bundle were identical across auctions and the only difference was the background color: red or blue. The colors red and blue were chosen because they are on opposite ends of the color spectrum—red being the warmest, while blue is the coolest—and have a strong influence on behavior. Individuals who saw a red background made higher bid jumps, bidding more aggressively.

In the second study, people from an online panel were asked to imagine they were looking for a vacation package to South Beach, Florida. While searching online, they find a 4-day package listed for $790, but the seller also says buyers can make their best offer, which they can accept or reject. Participants then had the chance to see pictures of the hotel and its amenities on a webpage that had either a red or a blue background. In this scenario, participants who saw red offered lower prices.

In the final study, participants were asked to imagine they were purchasing a Wii video game console on eBay, and were then showed identical products on a white computer screen with either a red, blue, gray, or white banner at the top of the page.

Some of the participants learned that they would not be around when the auction ended in a few hours, and that they should make their maximum bid, or purchase the Wii for the "buy it now" price of $149.99. Those who saw the red banner offered higher bids.

Other participants were given the choice of using the "buy it now" option, or they could make their single best offer that the seller would either accept or reject. In this scenario, a red background had the opposite effect and decreased willingness-to-pay, causing the buyers to make lower offers.

The researchers learned that red-induced aggression affects willingness-to-pay. In auctions, an aggressive bidder tries to win the product for sale by outbidding other potential buyers, and therefore offers higher bid jumps. But in negotiations, the buyer is pitted against the seller, and makes lower offers because they want to get the best deal possible.

The findings of this study have implications for both online sellers and brick-and-mortar stores in terms of color schemes selected for websites, logos, and store design. If you’re selling on eBay, you probably want to photograph your items with a red background, and if you own an auto dealership, you should paint the walls a nice, calming blue.

Journal of Consumer Research. DOI: 10.1086/666466