A multi-attribute auction is a type of

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

in which the bids have multiple parts. Multi-attribute auctions allow agents to sell and purchase goods and services, taking into account more attributes than just price (e.g. service time, tolerances, qualities, etc.).

History

The earliest research paper about a multi-attribute auction appeared in a 1994 discussion on construction contracts. In 1997, they were discussed in the context of long-term electricity contracts.

Attributes

The structural elements of a bid are called designated ''attributes''. Attributes may be verifiable, unverifiable, or auctioneer-provided. If bids include a single quality, such as price, the auction is referred to as a ''single-attribute auction''. Generally, bids are prices in English auctions, and confirmations in Dutch and

Japanese auction A Japanese auction (also called ascending clock auction) is a dynamic auction format. It proceeds in the following way. * An initial price is displayed. This is usually a low price - it may be either 0 or the seller's reserve price. * All buyers ...

s. In Brazilian auctions, they refer to the numbers of units being traded. A scoring, or

utility In economics, utility is a measure of a certain person's satisfaction from a certain state of the world. Over time, the term has been used with at least two meanings. * In a normative context, utility refers to a goal or objective that we wish ...

function, is essential for multi-attribute auctions, as it calculates a single number from multiple attributes, making bids that vary in multiple ways comparable. This scoring function is announced by the auctioneer to the bidders before the start of the auction.

References

{{Reflist Types of auction

History

Attributes

See also

References