Let's just for a second pretend that I'd be an interested party (I won't be bidding).
I would assume that most of the people bidding are not 'players', I'd assume that they would just try to get it for a song and a bit, the equivalent of buying Manhattan from the Indians because they're not aware of what it's worth.
Mark is a smart guy so he won't be going for that.
The second group of potential buyers would be more savvy and would bid higher, they'd be outbidding each other bit by bit, probably in increments of 1,000 $US until they ran out of steam.
With the last moment of the bidding already announced the real players would wait until the very last moment and would then bid based on what the highest of the second group has bid using that as a way to guide their decision, in the hope that nobody else would be bidding a similar amount.
In a 'blind' bid like this, assuming a party really wants to get their hands on it they will have to decide what it's worth to them to get it, rather than to let the market do their valuation work for them. This may very well lead to substantially higher bids.
If I were Mark I'd add two things (if he decides to make the bidding public, which I would not advise him to do):
- Extend the bidding with 15 or 30 minutes after every new highest bid
- keep the identity of the bidders secret, just show the highest bid
Since he's already under way and it is difficult to change the rules once the game has started I don't think that is a viable option any longer anyway.
Let's just for a second pretend that I'd be an interested party (I won't be bidding).
I would assume that most of the people bidding are not 'players', I'd assume that they would just try to get it for a song and a bit, the equivalent of buying Manhattan from the Indians because they're not aware of what it's worth.
Mark is a smart guy so he won't be going for that.
The second group of potential buyers would be more savvy and would bid higher, they'd be outbidding each other bit by bit, probably in increments of 1,000 $US until they ran out of steam.
With the last moment of the bidding already announced the real players would wait until the very last moment and would then bid based on what the highest of the second group has bid using that as a way to guide their decision, in the hope that nobody else would be bidding a similar amount.
In a 'blind' bid like this, assuming a party really wants to get their hands on it they will have to decide what it's worth to them to get it, rather than to let the market do their valuation work for them. This may very well lead to substantially higher bids.
If I were Mark I'd add two things (if he decides to make the bidding public, which I would not advise him to do):
- Extend the bidding with 15 or 30 minutes after every new highest bid
- keep the identity of the bidders secret, just show the highest bid
Since he's already under way and it is difficult to change the rules once the game has started I don't think that is a viable option any longer anyway.