Different Types of Auctions

At Rabin Worldwide, we use an English auction style but there are numerous types of auctions.  The English auction is also called an ascending-bid auction and has an auctioneer, an audience of bidders, and a bidding process that moves quickly.  It is probably the most widely known format.

Today English auctions have easily moved into the electronic age and are carried out in real time with bidders physically present on-site or electronically connected through the Internet or by phone.  The auctioneer opens the bidding up at a low price and the competition among bidders is what drives the price higher.  Bidders shout-out prices or raise their bid paddles, and online bidders submit their bids electronically.  The price of the item continues to go up until all of the bidders but one drop out.  By default, the highest bid wins the item.

Less commonly used is the descending-bid auction or what is known as a Dutch auction.  It works in a similar fashion as the English auction in that it is interactive but prices start high and drop until bidders are willing to accept a price that meets the seller’s reserve price.  The strategy behind this method is that bidders have to be aware of the competition they face and act quickly to secure items.  The term Dutch auction comes from the fact that flowers in the Netherlands are sold using this process.   

Another kind of auction is the first-price sealed-bid auction or blind auction.  This is where all bidders simultaneous submit one sealed bid to the seller.  The sealed bids are opened all at once and the winner of the auction is the highest bidder.  Businesses and the government use this method to procure services and to award contracts to the lowest bidder.

Second-price sealed-bid auctions are also called Vickrey auctions.   These auctions are done in the same method as sealed first-price auctions but differ in the fact that the winning bidder does not pay his bid amount but rather that of the second highest bid.  This system encourages buyers to bid high since they know they will not pay their bid price and is similar to the bidding process used on eBay.  Wikipedia states that, “Vickrey auctions are also commonly employed in digital advertising, powering real-time exchange environments for display advertising, search engine marketing, and Facebook advertising.”

Sources:

cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/networks-book/networks-book-ch09.pdf

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction#Types

Rabin Worldwide is an international company that specializes in creating liquidity for complex manufacturing facilities with idle or marginally productive assets.  Rabin’s operations include selling entire plants, multiple plant locations, or surplus individual items by auction or liquidation and much more. Past auctions include names such as Hostess, Braniff Airlines, Montgomery Ward, and the Railway Express Agency.  Please contact us to discover how we may assist with your asset liquidation process.