20 Dec
2000
20 Dec
'00
9:59 p.m.
On Wed, 20 Dec 2000, William Fulmor wrote:
I have no idea if eBay selected Vickrey's model,
or duplicated it by
accident, but AFAICT the only difference between theirs and his is that
with eBay, the winner pays one bid increment above the runner up's bid,
instead of exactly the lower bid.
Vickrey's is a "sealed bid" auction. eBay's is not. eBay also has a
"reserve" that acts as a trap door if you set your proxy bid above that
level.
AFAIK, eBay originated their particular system. But I think Sellam was
bitching about the "beat the clock" elements of the auction that encourage
sniping. I'm sure eBay didn't invent that aspect, but I don't know who
did (I only know of an earlier online implementation).
Personally, I find sniping inconvenient because to do it well requires
third-party software -- it should be built into the system. But it's just
part of the game. In effect, eBay auctions have a duration of about one
second (and a preview period of a few days).
Cheers,
Doug