[sell-3d] Ebay Dutch auctions - a lesson learned

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <drt-3d@xxxxxxx>]

Today I learned something new... After a year
of actively selling and buying in ebay, I thought
that in a Dutch auction the closing price is determined 
by an increment over the bid after the last one. As I 
discovered today, this is not true.  The closing
price is the lowest succesful bid.

Normally, this does not make a lot of difference, except
for the case where a bidder bids for ALL the items.
In my case, I placed a last minute bid in an Dutch
auction with 3 items with only 2 other bids, for $22 and
$24.  To make sure that I get all 3 I placed a bid for
$41 and I was thinking that I would get them for $25 each.

Instead, I got them for $41 each!!!  

Had I placed a bid for $1000 for all 3, I would be called 
to pay $1000x3!!!  That's because by bidding for all the
items I am the last succesful bidder and I determine the
closing price.

Now, if I had only placed a bid for 2 of them instead of
3, even at $1000 I would only have to pay $24 each!!!

Strange but this is how Dutch auctions work...

George

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