Combinatorial auctions are important as they enable bidders to place bids on combinations of items; compared to other auction mechanisms, they often increase the efficiency of the auction, while keeping risks for bidders low. However, the determination of an optimal winner combination in combinatorial auctions is a complex computational problem. In this paper we (i) compare recent algorithms fo...

Truckload carriers provide hundreds of $billions worth of services to shippers in the U.S. alone each year. Internet auctions provide these shippers with a fast, easy way to negotiate potential contracts with a large number of carriers. Combinatorial auctions have the added benefit of allowing multiple loads to be considered simultaneously in a single auction. This is important because it enabl...

Drawing from our experiences of designing and fielding over 800 sourcing auctions totaling over $60 billion, I will discuss issues that arise in very-large-scale generalized combinatorial auctions, as well as solutions that work (and ones that do not). These are by far the largest (in terms of the number of items as well as the number of side constraints) and most complex combinatorial markets ...

Mixed Multi-Unit Combinatorial Auctions extend and generalise all the preceding types of combinatorial auctions. In this paper, we try to make headway on the practical application of MMUCAs by: (1) providing an algorithm to generate artificial data that is representative of the sort of scenarios a winner determination algorithm is likely to encounter; and (2) subsequently assessing the performa...

In this paper we explore whether an auctioneer/buyer may benefit from introducing his transformability relationships (some goods can be transformed into others at a transformation cost) into multi-unit combinatorial reverse auctions. Thus, we quantitatively assess the potential savings the auctioneer/buyer may obtain with respect to combinatorial reverse auctions that do not consider tranformab...

In this paper we explore whether an auctioneer/buyer may benefit from introducing his transformability relationships (some goods can be transformed into others at a transformation cost) into multi-unit combinatorial reverse auctions. Thus, we quantitatively assess the potential savings the auctioneer/buyer may obtain with respect to combinatorial reverse auctions that do not consider tranformab...

Mixed Multi-Unit Combinatorial Auctions extend and generalize all the preceding types of combinatorial auctions. In this paper, we try to make headway on the practical application of MMUCAs by: (1) providing an algorithm to generate artificial data that is representative of the sort of scenarios a winner determination algorithm is likely to encounter; and (2) subsequently assessing the performa...