Mobile reverse auction

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A Mobile Reverse Auction is a competition mechanism^[1] used by businesses to allow consumers to win items or services by attaining the lowest or highest unique bid, as opposed to traditional auctions where the highest bid wins.

Unlike B2B (Business to Business) reverse auction used business procurement, a Mobile Reverse Auction, is a unique auction method involving a high level of strategy and competition, offered to consumers on a B2C (Business to Client) model. Products or services, such as cars or holidays^[1] are placed on auction for a set amount of time, and depending on the specific auction, the player who holds either the "Lowest Unique Bid" or the "Highest Unique Bid" at the closing of the auction wins the auction, and is allowed to purchase the product or service for the bid price.

A "Lowest Unique Bid" is a bid value that has only one bidder, and is also the lowest out of all the unique bids in the auction.

A "Highest Unique Bid" is a bid value that has only one bidder, and is also the highest out of all the unique bids in the auction.

For example, if the auction results are as follows:

If the auction was declaring the lowest unique bid as the winner, then the player who submitted a bid of $0.06 would win the auction, and would be eligible to purchase the product or service for $0.06, because their bid was the Lowest Unique Bid. If the auction was declaring the highest unique bid as the winner, then the player who submitted a bid of $0.08 would win the auction, and would be eligible to purchase the product or service for $0.08, because their bid was the Highest Unique Bid.

A $30,000 car can be won for pennies this way. However, the true price is always more than a penny, as the auction site usually charges a fee of around 2 euros or $1 USD per bid. In bidding, the user will be charged for the service or the bid, regardless of whether they win or not.

(Mobile Marketing: The platform can also be leveraged effectively by brands that wish to use this as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool.)

When using the mobile reverse auction via their mobile phones, consumers typically receive one of three messages in response to their entry:

1. Unique - The bid value placed is unique (there are no other bids at this price), but it is not necessarily the lowest. The status message means the user has a chance of winning, but only if their bid becomes the lowest unique bid.

2. Not Unique - The bid value placed is not unique, meaning the user cannot win with this bid (there are already other bids at this price). The amount of bids at this price is also shown to the user.

3. Lowest Unique - This bid value is the Lowest Unique Bid (no other bids of this price, and is currently the lowest). This is currently the winning bid, unless another bid becomes the lowest unique bid. This assumes that the auction site was declaring the lowest unique bidder the winner.

4. Highest Unique - This bid value is the Highest Unique Bid (no other bids of this price, and is currently the highest). This assumes that the auction site was declaring the highest unique bidder the winner.

Bidders have the option to place multiple bids, which may improve their chance of winning.