Auction

auction

Buying and selling of property through open public bidding. Typically, potential purchasers make a succession of increasing bids or offers until the highest (and final) bid is accepted by the auctioneer. At a so-called Dutch auction, by contrast, the seller offers property at successively lower prices until one of his offers is accepted or until the price drops so low as to force the withdrawal of the offered property. Prospective buyers are usually allowed to examine auction items beforehand, and sellers may set a minimum price below which the property will not be sold. Auctions are important in the agricultural markets of many countries, permitting the rapid sale of perishable goods. Other items often sold at auction include artwork and antiques, secondhand goods, and farms and buildings repossessed by banks or the government. Auctions can be structured in many ways (e.g., bids submitted in person, via telephone, or over the Internet). Auction selling is also employed on stock and commodity exchanges.

---

auction

the competitive calls made in bridge and other games before play begins, undertaking to win a given number of tricks if a certain suit is trumps

---

Auction 

in international trade, a method of selling certain goods (such as fur pelts, tobacco, and tea) in separate lots. Prior to an auction the goods (or samples of them) are exhibited for the inspection of possible buyers. The time and place of the auction are announced beforehand. The general conditions of the sale of goods are determined by the seller. The buyer is considered to be the person who during the course of the auction has offered the highest price. At an auction, in contrast to an ordinary sale, the seller is absolved from responsibility for the quality of the goods that are sold. In the USSR, international auctions for the sale of fur pelts are regularly held in Leningrad.

At the form of auction known as a public sale there is a forced sale of the property of people who cannot pay their debts. Goods are also sold if they have not been claimed on time from transportation and warehouse enterprises and in certain other cases.

V. S. POZDNIAKOV