Ask HN: Why aren’t online auctions more popular?

1 points by shpx 5y ago ↗ HN

For things like tickets or limited edition fashion items that sell out in 2 seconds after being released because of scalpers that use bots, why don’t merchants capture that price difference with short-running auctions or have the price start at some ludicrous amount and then gradually go down over the course of an hour?

Is it because doing something so complicated and greedy would be more damaging to their brand in the long term? Are there really no companies for whom this would be worth it?

1 comment

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gus_massa 5y ago ↗

Something like a Dutch auction?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_auction

My guess is that people that paid more will complain.

Perhaps a version where if there are 100 items, everyone pays the price of the 100th person that pressed the button.