A few thoughts on REA bidding

[collectbaseball]

Originally Posted by E93

This does not keep me up at night (the way this auction will on May 1st ), but in the given scenario, why could the auction software not accept the 11k bid with an "up to 12k" option. If someone bids 12k, then it registers my 12k bid and tells the latecomer to the 12k level that he has been beaten to punch by an autobid and the next bid is 13k. If he were smart, he would know that there were no more further autobids in place or the next option would have been 14k.

JimB

I believe this is how ebay autobidding works -- if I place a max bid of $51 and someone comes along and places a $51 bid, I am still the high bidder at $51. But it indicates that the next possible bid is $52, so obviously the $51 is the highest max bid.

[barrysloate]

Jim- much to my chagrin the auction software I had did not necessitate alternate ceiling bids but allowed bidders to do it exactly as you said- if you bid 12K first and then they set their ceiling to 12K, they would be told somebody got there first who was the high bidder. Sounds fair, right?

Here is what really happens: bidders become irate, they don't understand what's going on, and they want to know why they were not high. They would call me at 1:00 AM to debate it, usually in the upper decibel level. To say it was a pain in the ass would be understating it. With alternate increments, that will never happen. Nobody will ever be tied.

[M's_Fan]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Jim- much to my chagrin the auction software I had did not necessitate alternate ceiling bids but allowed bidders to do it exactly as you said- if you bid 12K first and then they set their ceiling to 12K, they would be told somebody got there first who was the high bidder. Sounds fair, right?

Here is what really happens: bidders become irate, they don't understand what's going on, and they want to know why they were not high. They would call me at 1:00 AM to debate it, usually in the upper decibel level. To say it was a pain in the ass would be understating it. With alternate increments, that will never happen. Nobody will ever be tied.

This is how eBay works, I wonder if these knuckleheads get irate and call eBay when they tie with another bidder? I doubt that, for a couple of reasons: (1) When you tie with another bidder on eBay, but you didn't bid first, it simply says "you have been outbid by another bidder." Then you have to bid more. Its very simple. (2) eBay doesn't have bid slots with wide gaps, so people don't get mad, they just bid more. When you have wide gaps, people tend to get frustrated when someone else is parking in the bid slot, and you have to fork out a bunch of dough for the next slot.

In sum, they wouldn't even have to know they tied with another bidder, you just tell them they have been outbid, the same is if someone autobid higher. No way that could confuse anyone.

[oldjudge]

The reason the autobid is set as it is is so that a bidder never has to bid more than one increment higher than an EXISTING bid. If a bidder bid $10,000 on a lot and leaves an autobid for $11,000 then think how the system works. A new bidder sees a $10,000 high bid and he enters his bid at $11,000. This is one increment over the existing bid and he should be the high bid or be immediately topped by a $12,000 up to bid. Instead his bid is rejected and he is given the option of bidding $12,000. The second bidder is therefore denied the opportunity to top an existing bid by only one increment, and this is counter to the way that virtually every auction is run. Like I said, if bidders were allowed to bid any fixed increment they wanted (the way many auctions are structured) then a bidder could occupy any bid slot that he wanted.

[M's_Fan]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

The reason the autobid is set as it is is so that a bidder never has to bid more than one increment higher than an EXISTING bid. If a bidder bid $10,000 on a lot and leaves an autobid for $11,000 then think how the system works. A new bidder sees a $10,000 high bid and he enters his bid at $11,000. This is one increment over the existing bid and he should be the high bid or be immediately topped by a $12,000 up to bid. Instead his bid is rejected and he is given the option of bidding $13,000. The second bidder is therefore denied the opportunity to top an existing bid by only one increment, and this is counter to the way that virtually every auction is run. Like I said, if bidders were allowed to bid any fixed increment they wanted (the way many auctions are structured) then a bidder could occupy any bid slot that he wanted.

+1

[barrysloate]

Any system that would get the auctions to end earlier is a good one. When my bonus period started, the increments were 15 minutes. At a certain point they decreased to 10 minutes, and finally to 5 minutes. That works well because even bidders with multiple lots pending are dropping out on many as the auction winds down, so they don't need as much time to execute all their remaining bids. But anything to shorten it is a plus.