I found and read a very easy and well written paper by David Reiley: "Vickrey Auctions in Practice: From Nineteenth Century Philately to Twenty-first Century E-commerce"(available in internet, just google it).
I did not know that collecting stamps was such a old hobby (a bit boring... isn't it?).
A Vickrey auction (or second-price auction) is a auction where the bidder who offers the highest price wins the auction, but he's not expected to pay the full amount of his bid, just the sencond highest price plus a small increment (if the highest bid is 100€ by bidder A and the second highest is 90€ by bidder B, bidder A will win and pay 91€, if the increment is 1€).
This is for example the type of auction going on in eBay.
William Vickrey won (post mortem) the Nobel Price for Economics in 1996 for his studies on auctions theory.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Auctions at the seaside in Italy
Well, I guess the first aution I have ever seen was in Italy, in Lido degli Estensi, a seaside resort on the Northern Adriatic coast.
There there's a auction house on the main pedastrian street called Ariete which sells "art", for many many years now. What is "art" in this case? Well... just any crap you can imagine.
The owner of the house sits on a chair and talks the all time in a mike about how beautiful and rare the items are! He calls out the first price and, if there are any people watching, most of them start laughing more or less openly...
There are chairs for the potential bidders and they are often used by tourists to rest for a few minutes before continuing the evening stroll (auctions are held in the evening, since during the day everybody is on the beach). Nobody seems to care for the items offered, free chairs and free eintertainment are a good attraction.
I have never understood how this auction house can survive: I have never seen anybody bidding!
... but I have to admit that it is fun to have a look, while sitting on the chairs and eating an ice cream :)
There there's a auction house on the main pedastrian street called Ariete which sells "art", for many many years now. What is "art" in this case? Well... just any crap you can imagine.
The owner of the house sits on a chair and talks the all time in a mike about how beautiful and rare the items are! He calls out the first price and, if there are any people watching, most of them start laughing more or less openly...
There are chairs for the potential bidders and they are often used by tourists to rest for a few minutes before continuing the evening stroll (auctions are held in the evening, since during the day everybody is on the beach). Nobody seems to care for the items offered, free chairs and free eintertainment are a good attraction.
I have never understood how this auction house can survive: I have never seen anybody bidding!
... but I have to admit that it is fun to have a look, while sitting on the chairs and eating an ice cream :)
why auctions?
Well, if you are wondering why I chose the topic auctions as subject for this blog, I can try to give you an answer.
My enthusiasm for auctions started with eBay. I consider eBay a genial idea, not only for the auctions going on there, but mostly because it made them available to everybody in a very easy way.
I started selling stuff on eBay. When I moved in a rented apartment in 2006, the former tenant left behind a lot of useless stuff (even condoms!) and I did not know what to do with it. I tried to give it away, but nobody was interested. I tried to put adds on local web sites, but again I could not reach anybody who wanted to have it.
Then I tried with eBay. I must admit that at the beginning I was a bit unconfortable with the idea that I have to pay money to put things on sale, but now I can say that this money is worth.
Since then I have 100% positive feed and 144 ratings... and a new hobby: auctions :)
My enthusiasm for auctions started with eBay. I consider eBay a genial idea, not only for the auctions going on there, but mostly because it made them available to everybody in a very easy way.
I started selling stuff on eBay. When I moved in a rented apartment in 2006, the former tenant left behind a lot of useless stuff (even condoms!) and I did not know what to do with it. I tried to give it away, but nobody was interested. I tried to put adds on local web sites, but again I could not reach anybody who wanted to have it.
Then I tried with eBay. I must admit that at the beginning I was a bit unconfortable with the idea that I have to pay money to put things on sale, but now I can say that this money is worth.
Since then I have 100% positive feed and 144 ratings... and a new hobby: auctions :)
here I am!
Hi everybody,
my name is Daria and I would like to use this blog to collect thoughts, ideas and information about my last hobby: auctions.
I am a completely newby in this field, but I find it fascinating! I hope I will find people who like me share this interest and I am sure we will have fun :)
Just a few words about me: I got a master in mathematics in 1998, but I cannot define myself a matematician. Since then I worked in the IT sector, first as a software developer and recently as a consultant.
I live in Europe in the beatiful city of Munich. My mother language is Italian, others are English, German, Spanish and a bit of Hindi.
my name is Daria and I would like to use this blog to collect thoughts, ideas and information about my last hobby: auctions.
I am a completely newby in this field, but I find it fascinating! I hope I will find people who like me share this interest and I am sure we will have fun :)
Just a few words about me: I got a master in mathematics in 1998, but I cannot define myself a matematician. Since then I worked in the IT sector, first as a software developer and recently as a consultant.
I live in Europe in the beatiful city of Munich. My mother language is Italian, others are English, German, Spanish and a bit of Hindi.
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