Dutch Auction

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Lesson 4 - Dutch Auction

When you are in an auction you simply bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay.  If someone outbids you then you lose, if you have bid the highest amount then you win.

So what happens if there are 2 (or more) items available?  That's called a Dutch Auction and causes the most confusion on ebay.

The screen shot below shows an item that has 2 items available.

Usually, underneath the quantity, it shows the name of the highest bidder - but in this case it says 'bidders list' and if we click on that then we get the following screen (where it says 'Person A', 'B' or 'C' below will actually show the ebay username of the bidders).

In this situation there are 2 item available, so the lowest successful bid will be the final price.  Successful bidders (Persons A and B) are shown in Yellow.

In this case Person A has bid more than $40 (it won't show you the highest bid that person A has made) and Person B has bid $40.  Person C has bid $5 but there is no more available items so their bid doesn't count.  Person B is the lowest successful bid so the final price (if the auction finished right now) would be $40 for both Person A and B.

In the situation above Person A only wanted 1 item, so what happens if they wanted 2?  Then the bid from Person B is now unsuccessful so the price is whatever Person A bid (which we can't tell from this screen shot).

Just remember that when you bid on an item and want more than just one then only bid the price you wish to pay per item.  Do not bid on two items and then type in a bid amount for both.

I'll explain this more with an example - I was running a Dutch auction for 2 items and a bidder placed a bid of '$12' for both items, which meant he was up for $24 if he won; he then won the auction and I sent an invoice for the the $24 (plus postage).  He was surprised as he assumed he was bidding $12 for the both of them.

If you still don't understand what a Dutch auction is then DON'T BID! 

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