It has often been said that anything, everything can be bought for a price, even if it isn't for sale which can make the price just skyrocket, depending of course on how badly someone wants something and on how much they are actually willing, or are able, to pay. Either way, the person who makes the largest offer will assuredly take home the coveted object. This is the premise that gives rise to auctions.



Auctions are defined as a process in which goods of any type ranging from antiques to tuna are sold by offering them up for bid. The purchaser is in the end the person who makes the highest bid. There are several types of auctions, depending on what they sell, how they sell it and the security they provide.

In the first case, we have got sale auctions for objects such as art; an auction that offers collectibles such as cars or antiques is called a dealer auction and then there are exchange auctions exclusive for professional commodities buyers.

There are different ways to run auctions, different ways to bid them off. The most popular is the English auction, the kind of auction people are accustomed to seeing on television where those present bid against each other and the highest bidder gets the item in dispute. There is the Dutch auction where the process is the opposite of the English auction: the asking price is the highest and goes down until a buyer is willing to meet the price or it reaches the minimum asking price. There are also open outcry auctions (like the stock market), silent auctions, reverse auctions amongst several other types of auctions.

In terms of security, there are two types of auctions: private, where the identity of the bidder is not disclosed, therefore staying anonymous; and public, where the bidders not anonymous and the auction is open to everyone.

As with every business and institution nowadays, auctions have found their way into the internet. Their model of choice is the English auction model, and the principles are the same. Of course there are some added bonuses that physical, tangible auction houses are unable to offer and that have made online auctions more attractive to interested parties.

First of all, a person can place a bid 24/7, whenever it is most convenient for them. Geographical locations are no longer a hindrance since they are non-existent on the internet. A person that finds him or herself in say London can easily bid on an item being auctioned off in Kuala Lampur without having to physically change location. These two aspects of online auctions decidedly help to increase the number of bidders and consequently, increase the number of auctioneers, making this part of the economy soar. Win-win situation. So name your price and hopefully somebody will meet it.

Erika Davis is known to write for many websites on the internet. and are some of her websites.