Asymmetric Equilibria of English and Second-Price Auctions

We construct a continuum of inefficient, asymmetric equilibria of symmetric, independent, private-value second-price auctions where the auction winner can offer the item for resale to the losers. For the case where the reserve price in the initial auction equals zero we show that any surplus between the first best and that of a market where one bidder is a monopolist seller is supported by an equilibrium in undominated strategies. In addition, we show that an efficiency-minded seller may find it optimal to set a positive reserve price