About bidding on Ebay...

[Jacktal]

How about a short and sweet question?Can someone tell me what is a "Dutch auction"?I see that term quite often but haven't figured out what it means so have kept away from such so far.Please....and thanks............

[Javern]

A Dutch Auction is a special auction format in which a seller can list multiple identical items he or she wants to sell. The seller selects the starting bid amount and indicates how many of these items are available for the auction. Bidders who are interested in bidding on these items decide how many of the items they want and how much they want to pay for each item and then place their bid.

When the auction ends, the bidders who place the highest bid for the items will earn the right to purchase the items at the lowest successful bid made by one of the winning bidders.

[dwRavenstar]

Hi Jactal,

The answer is easily enough found. Better you read it for yourself rather than I attempt to give a condensed version. [:)]

Under "Related Links" click "Buyer's Guide"
Then under Ebay Help click "A-Z Index"
In "D" listings, near the bottom of the list see "Dutch Auction Format for Buyers"

Hope this helps.

Dave (dwRavenstar)

[jfugate]

A dutch auction is when someone has multiple items for sale and they allow bidding on more than one at a time. The items need to be all identicial.

If you had 6 HO boxcars to sell, all the same, you could sell them as a dutch auction.

Let's say the bids went like this:

guy A bids $10 for 2 cars
guy B bids $9 for 3 cars
guy C bids $8 for 2 cars
guy D bids $7 for 3 cars

Working your way down the bids (you have 6 identical cars, remember)

Guy A gets 2 cars, Guy B gets 3 cars, and guy C gets one car (although he wanted 2 cars, but he bid to low to get priority). The higher you bid, the further up the list you go as to priority in getting some of the items. But everyone pays the price of the lowest successful bidder, in this case $8 (guy C's bid) .

With a dutch auction, you don't need to be the highest bidder unless you want to *make sure* you get all the items you want. You still may not have to pay as much as you bid.