Dutch Auction

In a Dutch auction, the seller starts with a high initial price and gradually lowers it until a participant accepts the current price by placing a bid. The first bidder to accept the price wins the item at that price.

Dutch auctions are useful for selling multiple identical items, setting a fair market price for assets, or clearing excess inventory quickly.

Following are the attributes of this auctioning mechanism:

• Reserve Price : The minimum acceptable price established by the seller prior to the auction. It can be disclosed or undisclosed by the seller to the potential buyers. If set to 0, this turns the auction into a no-reserve or absolute auction, in which the item will be sold regardless of the value of the final bid.

• Opening Price : The initial price at which the auction opens.

• Start date and time : The auction start date and time (some time in future) before which it cannot be started.

• Round duration : A round is the duration for bidders to accept the present price offered by the seller. A new round starts each time the seller drops the price with the round duration getting refreshed. The seller can only drop the price, starting a new round only after the current round has ended.