Posted By:
barrysloateSteve Verkman's post got me thinking that there does need to be a way to have auctions end earlier, and perhaps monetarily penalizing a bidder after a certain time isn't ideal. So I came up with this new concept (and ran it past Leon):
Suppose an auction house begins its 30 minute clock at 9:00 PM. At that point there are many bidders participating, a good number who have multiple lots to follow.
At 11:00 PM, that 30 minute clock becomes a 15 minute clock. By that point a percentage of bidders are done anyway, and many with multiple lots have already crossed some of them off their list.
At midnight the 15 minute clock becomes a 10 minute or 5 minute clock. There are fewer bidders and fewer lots to negotiate, so now it's imperative that bidders wrap things up.
There are any number of ways to tweak that time constraint, but the idea is to end the auction at a reasonable hour. I really believe a good deal of the time in the wee hours of the night is dead time, with people waiting to get the last bid in. By condensing that time frame, everyone will be more productive.
My auctions generally end around midnight, but that is due to having only 100-150 lots. Auctions with a 1000 or more need to find some innovations to move things along.