Thanks for the feedback (including those who've replied anonymously). A couple of big sellers have expressed some interest too (I asked them directly) which is promising.

I have looked into software and I will need to spend some money and of course time in order to get this up and going. With limited funds and time I need to keep this very simple to start with - perhaps just Buy-It-Nows (in other words a shop) - but of course that depends on the seller and the software to support it.

I might even do something like have the last week of each month as the auction week but sellers would be able to and strongly encouraged to preview what they will be auctioning. I would send out a newsletter on the day the auction starts.

This does not necessarily meant that every auction finishes at exactly the same time (eg. midnight in a certain time zone on a certain day) but this may actually not be a bad thing - it would eliminate or at least reduce bids in the last 10 seconds because buyers wanting more than one item would have to place realistic bids a few minutes (or hours) before the auction ends. (Good for sellers and not so good for experienced buyers - but perhaps fairer and more realistic prices for all.)

Any thoughts on that one?