Best price (and markdown schedule) to clear a FIXED stock by a DEADLINE, in plain dollars.
USE THIS WHEN: you must sell a fixed number of units before a cutoff and
demand arrives over time — event tickets, perishable inventory, end-of-life
stock. NOT for 1:1 haggling (gt_negotiate_turn) or auctions (gt_auction_*).
Provide: inventory (units to sell); horizon_seconds (selling window in
SECONDS — 14 days = 14*24*3600 = 1209600); arrival_rate_per_second (expected
shoppers per second = expected total shoppers / horizon_seconds); and
buyer_arrival_prior — a rough model of willingness-to-pay, e.g.
{"family":"uniform","params":{"low":40,"high":150}}. Returns {static_price
(one good fixed price), static_expected_revenue, dynamic_schedule (list of
{t_seconds, recommended_price} markdown waypoints), sellthrough_rate,
rationale} — all prices in the SAME $ as your prior.
Example: 200 tickets, 14-day window, ~600 shoppers willing to pay $40-$150 ->
gt_mechanism_posted_price_optimal(inventory=200, horizon_seconds=1209600,
arrival_rate_per_second=600/1209600,
buyer_arrival_prior={"family":"uniform","params":{"low":40,"high":150}})
-> static_price ~$112, schedule marks down $114 -> ~$76 as the deadline nears.