Systems for dynamically allocating finite or unique resources

An electronic ticket auction system, comprising:

• a computer system configured to receive ticket bids over a network in an auction that includes a plurality of ticket groups for an event, including ticket bids from a first plurality of bidders for tickets in at least a first ticket group offered in the auction, the ticket bids including associated bid amounts;
• computer readable memory operable to store the bid amounts;
• and
• program code stored in computer readable memory, the program code configured to:
• cause an auction user interface to be displayed to at least one user, the auction user interface identifying:
• the event for which tickets are being auctioned:
• the plurality of ticket groups for the event for which tickets are being auctioned;
• a maximum number of tickets that a given user can bid on with respect to tickets in the first ticket group, wherein the maximum number is less than the number of tickets in the first ticket group that are up for bid;
• determine which bids are winning bids with respect to bids for tickets in the first ticket group;
• determine a ticket price for first group tickets associated with the winning bids, wherein the ticket price for tickets associated with the winning bids is based on the lowest winning bid amount for a first group ticket;
• selectively perform fair slotting packing and/or full shuffling packing in response to a packing instruction accessed from computer readable memory.

An electronic ticket auction system, comprising:

• a system configured to receive over a network user ticket bids in a ticket auction, including a bid from a first user and a bid from a second user, wherein the first user bid includes a first bid amount, and the second user bid includes a second bid amount that is less than the first bid amount;
• a data store configured to store:
• the first and second bid amounts;
• a rule that specifies that ticket bids must be for an even number of tickets or a specified multiple number of tickets;
• rankings for venue seats;
• and
• program code stored in computer readable memory, the program code configured to:
• determine a ticket price for the users associated with winning bids using the second bid amount, wherein the first user is assigned a ticket at a price using the second amount and that is less than the first bid amount;
• change a bid status of at least one bid from losing to winning at least partly in response to another bid being invalidated;
• notify at least one user if the at least one user's bib status changed from losing to winning, wherein the status change is not a result of a bid increase by the at least one user;
• determine whether no tickets remain available for the event via auction, and at least partly in response to determining there are no remaining tickets available for the event via auction, notify the at least one user that a ticket for the event is available for purchase at a fixed price;
• at least partly cause an auction user interface to be displayed to at least one user, the auction user interface identifying:
• an event for which tickets are being auctioned:
• a plurality of ticket groups for the event for which tickets are being auctioned;
• a maximum number of tickets that a given user can bid on with respect to tickets in a first ticket group, wherein the maximum number is less than the number of tickets in the first ticket group that are up for bid;
• corresponding current low winning bids for the ticket groups;
• a minimum acceptable bid for each of the plurality of ticket groups;
• and
• a minimum bid increment corresponding to each of the plurality of ticket groups;
• selectively perform fair slotting packing and/or full shuffling packing in response to a packing instruction accessed from computer readable memory.