The description of the bidding platform mechanics is severely lacking and should be expanded. For instance, how do we determine the winner of an auction? Surely this is very important information in this task.
\nIs it the bidder who got in the last bid for an auction? Or the bidder who put in the most bids in an auction? Or none of these, and we can't even determine this information?
", "messages": [ { "id": "77003", "postDate": "05/05/2015 12:29:26", "content": "The description of the bidding platform mechanics is severely lacking and should be expanded. For instance, how do we determine the winner of an auction? Surely this is very important information in this task.
\nIs it the bidder who got in the last bid for an auction? Or the bidder who put in the most bids in an auction? Or none of these, and we can't even determine this information?
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "77004", "postDate": "05/05/2015 12:34:02", "content": "It would make the most sense that the last person who bids is the winner - I am not aware of an online auction format that would allow you to enter a bid that's lower than the existing highest bid.
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "77005", "postDate": "05/05/2015 12:36:01", "content": "But also, I think, we do not know if all auctions finished.
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "77008", "postDate": "05/05/2015 12:40:14", "content": "[quote=Chotch;77004]
\nIt would make the most sense that the last person who bids is the winner - I am not aware of an online auction format that would allow you to enter a bid that's lower than the existing highest bid.
\n[/quote]
\nOn the data description page, it says:
\nThe online auction platform has a fixed increment of dollar amount for each bid, so it doesn't include an amount for each bid.
\nIn another topic it was speculated that the reason for multiple bids of a single bidder is that they would first need to "catch up" to another bidder's bid. If this is true, how can we know that the last bid was sufficient to beat out all other bidders?
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "77010", "postDate": "05/05/2015 12:41:13", "content": "Or in other words: is the "fixed increment of dollar amount" over your previous bid, or is it over the current top bid?
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "77019", "postDate": "05/05/2015 12:55:18", "content": "I would imagine it would have to be over the top bid. Otherwise, it would be quite the frustrating customer experience.
\nImagine the bid increment is $5, the current bid is $100, and you had been the first bidder, so your only bid is $5. Then if your first proposal was correct, you'd have to enter 20 bids just to beat the current bid - that's a pretty bad customer experience.
\nThe fixed increment over the top bid makes a lot of sense.
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "77023", "postDate": "05/05/2015 13:06:22", "content": "That may not be a user-facing thing -- the database might simply automatically store as many records as necessary to catch you up, while in the actual user interface, you only made a single click.
\nSomething just doesn't quite add up with the huge number of bids that many of these auctions have.
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "77315", "postDate": "05/06/2015 13:43:57", "content": "I have another question.
\nIf 2 bidders create exactly the same bidding records during the auction and they are both the top bidders, who is the final winner? Is the bidder who create the latest bidding record? or this auction is no winner?
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "77317", "postDate": "05/06/2015 13:48:50", "content": "[quote=theringe;77315]
\nI have another question.
\nIf 2 bidders create exactly the same bidding records during the auction and they are both the top bidders, who is the final winner? Is the bidder who create the latest bidding record? or this auction is no winner?
\n[/quote]
\n\nAuction goes on until there is a winner.
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "77417", "postDate": "05/06/2015 22:51:28", "content": "Assuming that time is increasing, rather than decreasing. Have a look at some of the auctions, not sure which one I believe.
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "77906", "postDate": "05/11/2015 16:59:16", "content": "think how auctions work.
\nthey expire at some point.
\nlast bid is higher than any previous bid.
\nif you top my bid, I can then top yours and vice versa, so we both may have many bids.
\nlast bid is the winner.
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "78010", "postDate": "05/12/2015 07:09:54", "content": "This might as well be some kind of penny auction: if you bid you add 1/10/25/50 cents or more to the previous bid (and paying some fees to the auction site as well).
\nIt is also not stated whether the auction is extended when the last bid is placed. THis is the case for penny auctions: in the last ten seconds, when a bid is placed, the time is extended to 10 seconds again. This prevents sniping and allows humans and bots to drive up the price (and pay a lot of fees).
\nThe description on how that auction works is pretty thin, more info would be better here.
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "78012", "postDate": "05/12/2015 07:12:09", "content": "Also: there are humans which participate in all auctions and perform a lots of bids. It looks like they were not tagged correctly but they are. Look for example at dd055846eb553ab8e953b084f2048d53bdqec and e8291466de91b0eb4e1515143c7f74dexy2yr.
\nI hashed the auctions into integer numbers and made a scatter plot vs time. I hoped for seeing some random behavior for bots and some more correlated behavior for humans (yielding longer autocorrelation times or so). It seems however, that some humans are really crazy bidders.
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null }, { "id": "78144", "postDate": "05/13/2015 00:07:03", "content": "I'm not sure if we can assume that for a given auction highest (or lowest) time is the winning bid. There does seems to be 3 distinct periods in the auction data. The difference between the first and last bid is never more than two periods, and there are two clusters. Those that seem to start and end within 1 period, and those that seem to start and end within two periods.
\n\nIt seems possible that those bids that have the last bid in the first period or in the second period are the winners. It also seems those that have the first bid in the second period and last bid in the third period are also winners. If the auction start in the third period, however, it seems like we are not sure that auction is closed.
", "rawMarkdown": "", "votes": null } ], "comments": [ { "id": 77004, "author_name": "chotch", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/05/2015 12:34:02", "content": "It would make the most sense that the last person who bids is the winner - I am not aware of an online auction format that would allow you to enter a bid that's lower than the existing highest bid.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 77005, "author_name": "mpekalski", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/05/2015 12:36:01", "content": "But also, I think, we do not know if all auctions finished.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 77008, "author_name": "cfhlearns", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/05/2015 12:40:14", "content": "[quote=Chotch;77004]
\nIt would make the most sense that the last person who bids is the winner - I am not aware of an online auction format that would allow you to enter a bid that's lower than the existing highest bid.
\n[/quote]
\nOn the data description page, it says:
\nThe online auction platform has a fixed increment of dollar amount for each bid, so it doesn't include an amount for each bid.
\nIn another topic it was speculated that the reason for multiple bids of a single bidder is that they would first need to "catch up" to another bidder's bid. If this is true, how can we know that the last bid was sufficient to beat out all other bidders?
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 77010, "author_name": "cfhlearns", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/05/2015 12:41:13", "content": "Or in other words: is the "fixed increment of dollar amount" over your previous bid, or is it over the current top bid?
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 77019, "author_name": "chotch", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/05/2015 12:55:18", "content": "I would imagine it would have to be over the top bid. Otherwise, it would be quite the frustrating customer experience.
\nImagine the bid increment is $5, the current bid is $100, and you had been the first bidder, so your only bid is $5. Then if your first proposal was correct, you'd have to enter 20 bids just to beat the current bid - that's a pretty bad customer experience.
\nThe fixed increment over the top bid makes a lot of sense.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 77023, "author_name": "cfhlearns", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/05/2015 13:06:22", "content": "That may not be a user-facing thing -- the database might simply automatically store as many records as necessary to catch you up, while in the actual user interface, you only made a single click.
\nSomething just doesn't quite add up with the huge number of bids that many of these auctions have.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 77315, "author_name": "theringe", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/06/2015 13:43:57", "content": "I have another question.
\nIf 2 bidders create exactly the same bidding records during the auction and they are both the top bidders, who is the final winner? Is the bidder who create the latest bidding record? or this auction is no winner?
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 77317, "author_name": "kartha", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/06/2015 13:48:50", "content": "[quote=theringe;77315]
\nI have another question.
\nIf 2 bidders create exactly the same bidding records during the auction and they are both the top bidders, who is the final winner? Is the bidder who create the latest bidding record? or this auction is no winner?
\n[/quote]
\n\nAuction goes on until there is a winner.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 77417, "author_name": "g1685786", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/06/2015 22:51:28", "content": "Assuming that time is increasing, rather than decreasing. Have a look at some of the auctions, not sure which one I believe.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 77906, "author_name": "charlesdavis", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/11/2015 16:59:16", "content": "think how auctions work.
\nthey expire at some point.
\nlast bid is higher than any previous bid.
\nif you top my bid, I can then top yours and vice versa, so we both may have many bids.
\nlast bid is the winner.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 78010, "author_name": "tkurth", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/12/2015 07:09:54", "content": "This might as well be some kind of penny auction: if you bid you add 1/10/25/50 cents or more to the previous bid (and paying some fees to the auction site as well).
\nIt is also not stated whether the auction is extended when the last bid is placed. THis is the case for penny auctions: in the last ten seconds, when a bid is placed, the time is extended to 10 seconds again. This prevents sniping and allows humans and bots to drive up the price (and pay a lot of fees).
\nThe description on how that auction works is pretty thin, more info would be better here.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 78012, "author_name": "tkurth", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/12/2015 07:12:09", "content": "Also: there are humans which participate in all auctions and perform a lots of bids. It looks like they were not tagged correctly but they are. Look for example at dd055846eb553ab8e953b084f2048d53bdqec and e8291466de91b0eb4e1515143c7f74dexy2yr.
\nI hashed the auctions into integer numbers and made a scatter plot vs time. I hoped for seeing some random behavior for bots and some more correlated behavior for humans (yielding longer autocorrelation times or so). It seems however, that some humans are really crazy bidders.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] }, { "id": 78144, "author_name": "bryantravissmith", "author_url": "", "post_date": "05/13/2015 00:07:03", "content": "I'm not sure if we can assume that for a given auction highest (or lowest) time is the winning bid. There does seems to be 3 distinct periods in the auction data. The difference between the first and last bid is never more than two periods, and there are two clusters. Those that seem to start and end within 1 period, and those that seem to start and end within two periods.
\n\nIt seems possible that those bids that have the last bid in the first period or in the second period are the winners. It also seems those that have the first bid in the second period and last bid in the third period are also winners. If the auction start in the third period, however, it seems like we are not sure that auction is closed.
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