Auctionologies LLC

High stakes commodity auctions.

Real-time multi-parametric auctions

Fortune 100 customers

Hundreds of 'high-stakes' auctions performed.

Services

Auction Design

Auctions need to be precisely configured in order to minimize valuation uncertainty and maximize bidder competition.

This configuration includes:

» Product-related parameters: product specifications, delivery location, contract term.
» Auction-related parameters: starting prices, price and volume units and increments, bidder feedback and auction timing.

Additionally, the auction product itself often needs to be normalized. For example, a product might have several delivery locations, requiring the creation of a single 'virtual' pricing location, with up-charges for delivery to other locations. Auctionologies staff have extensive experience in configuring auction products and auction designs, and in creating 'normalized products', resulting in hundreds of successful high-stakes ($1-100 million) auctions.

Bidder Information Management

In order to compete effectively, bidders need enough information to be confident that the auction process is fair, and that there is a level-playing field. However, care needs to be taken to avoid giving bidders information which they can use to 'game' the auction. Care needs to be taken to prevent side-channel communication between bidders and the auctioneer, and between coalitions of bidders who wish to collude.

Auctionologies understands the critical role of managing the communication between the auctioneer and bidders. This includes pre-auction notices and announcements, intra-auction messages from the auctioneer to bidders, and post-auction reporting of results.

Bidder Training and Mock Auctions

Key to the success of an auction is that bidders need to fully understand the 'rules of the game'. Reading the auction rules alone is insufficient. Bidders need to participate in mock auctions with the same parameters as those in the actual auction. Additionally, to minimize collusion, bidders need to be trained individually, rather than together.

Auctionologies staff have training hundreds of bidders, and have developed efficient training protocols.

Auction Execution

Careful selection of the starting price, and timing of the its announcement are critical. Auctionologies understands the need for detailed monitoring of the auction process. This includes early detection of bidders having technical or other difficulties, and timely preventative intervention to assist these bidders.

Auction Reporting & Analysis

Auctionologies understands the value of providing post-auction reports to bidders. This serves two primary purposes, namely; increasing bidder confidence in the auction process, and providing a value-added reward to bidders in exchange for them accurately reporting their true values during the auction. Thus the post-auction information to bidders is critical to their ongoing involvement in the auction process.

Experience

Auctionologies auction experts:

» Introduced the concept of 'high-stakes rapid clock auctions' more than twelve years ago.
» Designed, implemented, and managed, hundreds of these auctions, resulting in transactions worth over $4 billion since then.
» Pioneered the development of auctions in the natural gas, petrochemical, and other industries.
» Implemented the Captrades auction system, used for 6 years to auction most of the electricity capacity for the State of Texas.
» Implemented hundreds of clock auctions for the sale and procurement of billions of dollars of petrochemicals, natural gas transportation and storage, and many other commodities.
» Implemented auctions for many large customers, including Dow Hydrocarbon, INEOS, Koch Supply and Trading, Williams Olefins, Enterprise Products, Nisource, Boardwalk, Centerpoint, and many others.
» Produced software for the largest US radio frequency spectrum auctions, between 2006 and 2008, including the $13.9 billion AWS Auction 66, and the $19.1 billion 700 MHz Auction 73, used by the largest bidders in these auctions (Time Warner, Comcast, Verizon, Vulcan Ventures, MetroPCS, USCellular, Cavalier, and many others), to prepare for these auctions, and to monitor the progress of their bidding during these auctions.

Auctionologies staff have demonstrated an ability to maintain the confidentiality of its customers' information, including auction prices, bidders' identities and activities, business strategies, and other proprietary information.

Contact

Address

3001 Bridgeway, Suite 361
Sausalito, CA 94965
United States
P:(415)272‑4086
F:(415)599‑4399
e-mail:info@auctionologies.com