auction software

An auction is the process of buying and selling things by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder. auction snipe software online auction software In economic theory an auction is a method for determining the value of a commodity that has an undetermined or variable price. In some cases, there is a minimum or reserve price; if the bidding does not reach the minimum, there is no sale (but the person who puts the item up for auction still owes a fee to the auctioneer). In the context of auction listing software wysiwyg auctions, auction + software a bid is an offered free auction listing software price.

Auctions are publicly seen in several contexts: in the antique business, auction systems software where besides being an opportunity for trade they also serve as social occasions and entertainment; in the sale of collectibles auction clerk software such as stamps, coins, classic cars, luxury real estate, and fine art; in thoroughbred horseracing, where yearling horses are commonly auctioned off; and in legal contexts where forced auctions occur, as when one's farm or house is sold at auction on the courthouse steps.

Although less publicly visible, the most economically important auctions are those in which the bidders are businesses or corporations. auction software download Examples of this type of auction include:

• spectrum auctions, in which companies purchase licenses to use portions of the electromagnetic spectrum for communications (for cell phone networks, for example.)
  
• timber auctions, in which companies purchase licenses to log on government land.
  
• electricity auctions, in which large-scale auction ebay mac software generators and consumers of electricity bid on generating contracts.
  
• environmental auctions, in which companies bid for licenses to avoid being required to decrease their environmental live auction software impact.
  
• debt auctions, in which governments sell debt instruments, internet auction software such as bonds, to investors. The auction is usually sealed and the uniform price paid by on-line auction software the investors is typically the best non-winning bid. In most cases, investors can also place so called non-competitive bids which indicates an interest to purchase the debt instrument at the resulting price, whatever it may be.

Internet auctions, dominated by the wildly successful eBay, have become very popular.

The auction master software world's two largest auction houses are Christie's and Sotheby's. The world's largest online auction site is eBay.

Auction computer software auction catalogs are frequently printed and distributed auction software free online before auctions of auction clerking software rare and/or collectible items; these catalogs may be very auction image software elaborate auction software works, with considerable details about auction software reviews the items being auctioned.

Auctioneers online auction businesses software are usually trained in the legal and practical aspects of conducting auctions. Some jurisdictions require auctioneers to be licensed and bonded. Auctioneers who have completed Auctioneer School commonly use the title Colonel and are given this honorary title because in the U.S. Civil War, Colonels of the armies were called upon to auction off the spoils of war.

Types of auctions

Auctions ebay auction creator software are

• English auction: This is what most people think of as an auction. Participants bid openly against one another, with each bid being higher than the previous bid. The auction ends when no participant is willing to bid further, or when a pre-determined "buy-out" price is reached, at which point the highest bidder pays the price. The seller may set a 'reserve' price and if the auctioneer fails to raise a bid higher than this reserve the sale may not go ahead.

• Dutch auction: auction listing software In the traditional Dutch auction the auctioneer mac ebay auction software begins with a high asking price which is lowered until some participant is willing to accept the auctioneer's price, or a predetermined minimum price is reached. That participant pays the last announced price. This type of auction is convenient when it is important to auction goods quickly, since a sale never requires more than one bid. The Dutch auction is named for its best known example, the Dutch tulip auctions; in the Netherlands this type of auction is actually known as a "Chinese auction". "Dutch auction" is also sometimes auction software by rainworx used to describe online auctions where several identical goods are sold simultaneously to an equal number of high bidders. Economists call the latter auction a multi-unit English ascending auction.

• Sealed auction creator ebay software first-price auction: Also known as Sealed High-Bid Auction or First-Price Sealed-Bid Auction (FPSB). In this type of auction all bidders simultaneously submit bids so that no bidder knows the bid of any other participant. The highest bidder pays the price they submitted.

• Sealed auction security software second-price auction, also known as a Vickrey auction: This is identical free ebay auction software to the sealed first-price auction, except the winning bidder pays the second highest bid rather than their own. In theory, this is mathematically equivalent to the English auction, because in both the first-place bidder receives the item at a price equal to the second-place bidder's willingness to pay, modulo the bid increment. True strategic equivalence requires a modified model of the English ascending auction in which the price rises continuously with bidders choosing when to drop out. When all but one bidder drops out, the good is allocated to the remaining bidder at the price at which the second-to-last bidder auction ebay software dropped out. Implemented as auction market research software such, this is known as a Japanese Auction.

• Silent free auction sniping software auction: This is a sealed variant often used in charity events, but involving the simultaneous sale of multiple items. Participants submit bids auction managment software normally on paper, near the item. They may or may ebay auction software not know how many other people are bidding or what their bids are. The highest bidder pays the price they submitted.

• Procurement auction: This kind of auction reverses the roles of seller and buyer. The buyer puts out an RFQ for a given commodity and providers offer progressively lower prices in hopes of getting the business. At the end of the auction, the lowest auction sniping software bid wins.

• Digital art auction: In this indefinitely long auction, designed for unreleased works auction listing software free that are trivially reproducible at zero cost (recordings, software, drug formulae), bidders openly submit their maximum auction accounting software bids (which may be adjusted or withdrawn at any time). The seller may review the bids and close with a price of their choosing at any time-the successful bidders that pay this price are those whose bid meets or exceeds it, and these are the only bidders who receive a copy of the item.

• Open outcry auction: This type of auction is used in stock exchanges and commodity exchanges, where trading occurs on ebay style auction software a trading floor and traders may auction creation software enter verbal bids and offers simultaneously. Transactions may take place simultaneously at different places in the trading pit or ring. This type of auction is being replaced by electronic trading platforms.

If more than one identical item free auction software is sold, there are two possible generalizations of the second-price auction. In a uniform-price auction, all of the winning bidders pay the price free software for ebay auction submitted by the highest non-winning bidder. Bidders will not typically bid their true value in a uniform-price auction software review auction with multiple units. In a Vickrey auction, the pricing rule is more complicated, but preserves the property that bidders will bid their true valuation. It is also possible to auction free online auction software each identical item individually. Once each item has been priced, the winning bidder is entitled to buy the remaining goods at the same price. Items the winning bidder opts not to purchase are auctioned again. This system creates a tension between the desire to hold back on bidding since later items will almost certainly be cheaper, and the chance that by losing auction software source code the first round of bidding auction software free all possibility of purchasing will be lost.

Bidders in the traditional Dutch auction and sealed first-price auction will tend to underbid what they believe the item is truly worth in hopes of getting the item auction ad software for less, or in order to avoid the ebay auction accounting software winner's curse. This behavior is known as bid shading. These two auctions are also theoretically equivalent, but in practice Dutch auctions will produce less auction selling software revenue than sealed first-price auctions (one of the important results of Experimental economics).

Work in the theory of auctions contributed to Vickrey's 1996 Bank of Sweden Prize.

See also

• Business model
  
• Estate sale
  
• Online auction business model
  
• Stock auction auction item software research software exchange
  
• Winner's curse

External links

• Sam Vaknin: The Spectrum of Auctions (Essay on auctions as applied in recent business transactions.)
  
• eBay. (The world's largest online auction site.)
  
• Sotheby's. (America's largest auction firm.)
  
• Christie's. software auction (America's second largest auction firm.)
  
• Heritage Galleries. (America's third largest auction firm.)
  
• Digi-Go Car Auction. (Online automotive auction website.)
  
• Ad-Bay. (America's advertising space auction auction bidding software marketplace.)
  
• MADCHEAP. (Nationwide auction listings.)