The one flaw in all of these auctions, and I have never been able to come up with a solution, is there is no urgency to bid in a timely fashion. If REA closes at 4:00 PM for qualifying bids, and people are still bidding at 4:00 AM, we can assume that some bidders wait 10-12 hours after the initial close to start bidding. That is a flaw in the system, but as I said, I don't know how one could fix it. There is no practical way to offer an incentive to bid early, such as a small discount, so perhaps something could be built into the system to compel bidders to start earlier. Curious if anyone else has come up with a better idea.
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