This auction method ensures the highest price floor, and by holding the auction open for 30 or so Ur days, would remove the need to make a mad rush at the vendors.
The way this works is folks put up a bid to buy the item, and if there are 5 items available, the top 5 bidders get the item, but the price they *all* pay is the 5th item. In other words, if the bids were:
Glitch A: 10,000
Glitch B: 8,000
Glitch C: 7,500
Glitch D: 7,000
Glitch E: 6,900
Glitch F: 6,500
... the sales price would be 6,900, and Glitches A-E would get one. Glitch F would be out of luck.
Now, if Glitch AA bid 11,000, Glitch D would then have the 5th highest bid at 7,000, so the sales price would go up to 7,000, and Glitches E and F would be out of luck.
(You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenIPO -- but I suggest having the minimum winning bid be public during the entire auction period, and allow folks to revise their bid. This will drive the price floor to the highest possible point)
This also has the side effect of removing the "blame" for prices from TS, who are simply guessing at the market value of the items. The imported Yetis were clearly undervalued.