Auction

Overview of an auction

An item is consigned by its owner to an auction house for sale. After the item is appraised, the auctioneer will place the item up for bid, starting at a low price to generate bidding activity from prospective bidders. When the item is up for bidding, prospective buyers will submit their bids, one at a time. With each bid the price of the item will increase until no other bidders are willing to submit a higher offer, and then the item sells to the highest bidder. The activity at auction drives demand for the item, producing a gamification where each bidder has the opportunity to win the item they desire by outbidding other bidders.

An online-only auction takes place exclusively online. The auction is hosted on the internet where bidding activity takes place over a set period of time. There are no in-room, on site, telephone or absentee bidders with this format.

The main difference between a live auction and timed auction is that a live auction occurs in real time where a timed only online auction is automated for a given amount of time and takes place solely online.