Collusion or Sniping in simultaneous ascending Auctions

Abstract

In simultaneous ascending price auctions with heterogeneous goods Brusco and Lopomo (2002) derive collusive equilibria where bidders divide objects among themselves, while keeping the prices low. Considering a simultaneous ascending price auction with a fixed deadline, i.e. the Hard Close auction format, a prisoner's dilemma situation results and collusive equilibria no longer exists, even for only two bidders. Hence, we introduce a further reason for sniping behavior in Hard Close auctions.