Posted By:
Eric BrehmYes, there is no way to design an auction system that will please all bidders and all consignors in all circumstances. Perhaps some sort of hybrid system, along the lines of what Jeff L. suggested, is what is needed.
For example, REA's process could be foreshortened if they decided to close the whole auction at a point in time where the aggregate bidding rate had reached a certain minimum (rather than zero) within a particular 15-minute extension interval. Bidders would not be able to predict exactly when this would occur, and so would be encouraged to get their top bids in earlier, and thus get the whole thing resolved within a more reasonable time frame. I don't think sniping would be a problem, again because of uncertainty about whether or not the auction would be extended at the conclusion of each interval. And all lots would remain open and available for bidding throughout the entire auction.
But I suppose all of these suggestions for 'improvements' to the existing auction schemes could be continued ad nauseum...
Edited to add: I didn't start this thread to get any kind of 'REA vs. Mastro' thing going, but I thought the companies would benefit from getting feedback on how the auctions were conducted from the forum members here. Thanks to Rob and Doug for passing along their thoughts.