A reserve price is the minimum acceptable bid in an auction.
If no bidder submits a bid above the reserve price, the auctioneer keeps the item offered for sale.
Alternately, in procurement auctions, a reserve price is the maximum acceptable bid.
Unlike a minimum bid, a reserve price
may or may not be disclosed to the bidders and may change over the course of the auction.
updated: 12 August 2005
HOW TO CITE THIS ENTRY
- To learn more:
- See news articles on auctions.
- Try a winner's curse applet on the applets page.
- Read about auction experiments at e-Economics.net.
- Learn about auctions by reading lecture notes.