Evaluating the accuracy of grey system theory against time series in predicting online auction closing price

Online auctions have expanded rapidly over the last decade and have become a fascinating new type of business or commercial transaction in this digital era. Bidding in an online auction is always a very challenging task since we do not know the outcome of the bid until we are outbid or until the auction is closed Knowing the closing price of a given auction would be an advantage since we can use this information to bid and win in a given auction. However, predicting the closing price of an auction is not a straightforward process. This paper reports on the prediction of online auction closing price using two well known theories namely the grey theory and the time series. The prediction accuracy and effectiveness for both models will be evaluated using a simulated auction environment.