Abstract

In this paper we describe a type of auction mechanism where the auctioneer A wants to auction an item among a certain number of bidders bi B i 1 n that submit bids in the auction with the aim of not getting Owing to this feature we call this mechanism a negative auction The main motivation of this mechanism is that both the bidders and the auctioneer give a negative value to the auctioned item and so they see it as a bad rather than a good The mechanism is presented in its basic simple version and with some possible extensions that account for the payment of a fee for not at- tending the auction the interactions among the bidders and the pres- ence of other supporting actors