Abstract: Systems and methods are described for electronic auction of event tickets that permit bidders to bid on a plurality of mutually exclusive ticket options without worry about having to purchase more tickets than desired. The systems and methods also direct collected ticket revenue away from ticket resellers, and toward the event organizers and performers. In an exemplary auction, each bidder places bids for multiple seating options at different locations in the venue. A novel system then calculates which sets of seats should be won by which bidders, in order to optimize auction results according to parameters selected by the auction host. It is possible for a bidder to win tickets for a desired set of seats without being the highest bidder, if the higher bidders for that same set of seats had each won for their own bids on different sets of seats elsewhere in the venue.