A Variable Bid Increment Algorithm for Reverse English Auction

Abstract

In this paper we propose multicriteria strategies for conducting automated reverse English auctions based on software agents. Reverse auctions gained popularity as a result of the emergence of Internet-based online auction tools. A buyer agent negotiates with several seller agents over a single product. The preference model is based on reference points which represent the desired values and the reservation values over each criterion. To insure process evolution, English auctions design often considers a bid increment that represents the minimal amount that a bidder must improve on the current best bid. Generally, the bid increment is fixed before the beginning of the process and kept invariant during the process. Our aim is to allow adjusting the bid increment as the auction process progresses. We propose an anytime algorithm based on an exponential smoothing method that adapts the bid increment to the auction context.