Sealed First-Price Auction

You should use a sealed first-price auction when:

There is only a single unit being auctioned.
There are multiple bidders.
The winner should be the highest bidder.
The bidders want to bid strategically.

The winner will be the highest bidder, and they will owe their bid.

An example of when to use a sealed first-price auction is if you want to sell a used stroller at the highest possible price and the bidders do not understand that they should bid their true valuation in a Vickrey auction.

If the lowest bidder should win and be owed their bid, consider a reverse sealed first-price auction.

During the auction, you can create ballots and distribute them as you please. Each ballot can be submitted with a bid or declined. You will be able to see when each decision is made, but not the content of each decision.

When the auction resolves, you will be able to see the label of the winning ballot and the transaction price. The winning ballot will also be able to see that information.

No other information will be revealed to you.

Run your own sealed first-price auction

When should the auction be resolved?

Can the auction resolve early?

The auction will resolve early if all bids are in.

The auction will not resolve until the resolution time.

What currency should the auction use?

What is the reserve price?The transaction price must be at least:

In the case of a tie, who wins?

A randomly-chosen tied bidder wins.

The earliest tied bidder wins.

What information should be revealed to non-winning ballots?

Only that the auction resolved.

Whether or not the auction had a winner.

The transaction price, when available.

The label of the winning ballot, when available.

Both the transaction price and the label of the winning ballot, when available.