Auctions on AVF

[Nidri]

Auctions can be fun.
Though afaik current forum rules don't condone them.
With good reason I'm sure.

So here's a suggestion for how they might work in a way that's fun but fair.

Option #1 - 24-Hour 'Hidden' Auction.
a) Reserve price must be stated.
b) Offers submitted via PM within alotted 24-hour period.
c) Offers remain private. Seller not allowed to reveal 'highest offer yet'.
d) Highest offer gets it. Buyer not allowed to pull out, unless item misrepresented.
e) Details of winning offer then made public.

Option #2 - Reserve 'Countdown' Auction.
a) Sale price starts at elevated level, i.e. Avg. 2nd hand price + 20%.
b) Every hour, the price drops in predetermined, sensible increments. The seller doesn't have to 'announce' these drops. They are effected automatically. If, for example, the auction is posted at 13h23, price drops will happen at 14h00, 15h00, 16h00, etc. First PM to arrive wins. 'Early' PM's, i.e. One that arrives at 14h59 for a 15h00 drop, will be disqualified. However if you send a PM at 14h59 for the 14h00 price, that still qualifies. 'Forum time' is the only time that matters, not worldtimeclock.com or some atomic clock in Geneva. The arrival of PM's can be verified by Admins/Mods, I presume, so there shouldn't be any disputes.

Just some thoughts.
n

[BWS]

Great idea in theory, not so much in practice.

We've been looking for while into implementing a SMF add on for trading, which hopefully will make the classifieds section easier to manage, but an auction add-on Recipe for disaster until we sort the For Sale out first.

[chrisc]

Option 2 works better.  Another club I belong to do it this way.  We rely on the date and time of their email, which is the same thing.  It is entirely up to the seller to determine the winner.  I think this is called a "Dutch" auction (apologies to any Hollanders)

See:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_auction

You don't want to put any additional burden on an Admin person.

[Hi-Phibian]

We Dutchmen are proud of our auction and I intend to do some with daily drops soon.  Will be advertised the same way elsewhere with same drops. 







[Anyone who thinks that wealth is measured in money is blind and narrow minded.  Wealth is obviously measured in turntables and records.]

[Mongoose]

Option 1D, whats stopping a buyer from pulling out?

[chrisc]

We would send you around to have a word with him, Cedric

[Mongoose]

make sure its aroudn the 20th, thats when I have F all money and at my 

[grammadoelas]

A Dutch-style auction should be pretty easy to run under Classifieds: Preview an example here:

Speaker Cable • Straightwire Virtuoso • 3m • Spades

[chrisc]

Maybe the price was too high?  Did you not receive any offers?  Also, a daily drop at R100 is quite steep, could it not be a. it less?

But the idea is sound and I hope it catches on

[kenvanraas]

How about all auctions happen on one day only,say from Sun 00h01 - Mon 00h01. Preferably a day that also will attract more people 

[chrisc]

Yes, there must be a time limit on a Dutch auction, that is part of the design.  Open ended is useless, as you may end up giving it away. 

Obviously you will have a minimum price in mind, and should be realistic about this.  You may well feel that an item is "worth" say R10k, but if you give it some thought, will other people think the same way and a lower figure of R7k would be the lowest price you would accept

So in this instance you would start at R10,5k and reduce the price by R500 a day and allow the auction to last a week, ending at 21h30 on a Sunday.  The drop needs to be in proportion to the starting price vs the lowest price you would accept

Many auctions on Bid or Buy operate on this time-frame.  These are not Dutch auctions but they usually allow 22 days for an auction to be available

[grammadoelas]

Yes, there must be a time limit on a Dutch auction, that is part of the design.  Open ended is useless, as you may end up giving it away. 

Obviously you will have a minimum price in mind, and should be realistic about this.  You may well feel that an item is "worth" say R10k, but if you give it some thought, will other people think the same way and a lower figure of R7k would be the lowest price you would accept

So in this instance you would start at R10,5k and reduce the price by R500 a day and allow the auction to last a week, ending at 21h30 on a Sunday.  The drop needs to be in proportion to the starting price vs the lowest price you would accept

Many auctions on Bid or Buy operate on this time-frame.  These are not Dutch auctions but they usually allow 22 days for an auction to be available

What purpose does a time-limited auction serve- if it is to be a sale based on a Dutch-type auction? What are the benefits? Right at the start the astute buyer would have would have already factored in the total daily discount to predetermine the seller's floor price for the item on auction, decides to wait until the very last moment on the chance that there will be few, or no, other bidders doing the the same.

I posit that, if a Dutch auction, these variables should be left to the seller's sole discretion. He determines the selling price, he knows his floor price, he determines the price-drop, which could be a fixed or variable amount, and the frequency of the drop i.e. hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc. The whole idea is that the auction may close at any time at all. Usually this happens when the seller does not receive acceptable bids before his floor price is reached, or it's approaching. In addition, of course, the seller may also close the auction for any other reason.

Such a system should, hopefully, not put any additional strain on forum-admin at all, as it is not a "new" sales/auction system that needs to developed and deployed by admin afresh, because we could simply continue with it under classifieds as shown here.

[kay]

Some great ideas in this thread. I agree with BWS – we should sort out straight-forward sales first before we consider adding more complexity – but this would be a great addition to the classified section. One possibility for generating some forum-funding revenue is making (some) listings paid, at a low and reasonable rate.

[chrisc]

Gumtree offers to keep ads on page 1 for small fee.