Auction sales are events whereby personal or commercial property and merchandise are sold at the highest price to bidders who place monetary offers on the items. Auction sales can take many forms from selling wholesale merchandise on an online auction site to holding an auction at a particular location to sell off unwanted belongings or settle debts. Some auction sales are conducted remotely by unseen bidders via the computer or telephone while other auctions sales are live and bidders place their bids in person in a fast-paced fashion.
Auction sales generally use similar formats, in that property is presented as available for viewing and purchase to others. The property can be anything from personal or household belongings to vehicles, real estate and promised goods or services. Many times, auctions are good ways for buyers to find bargains on the items they most want and make purchases that are far below current market value.
In some cases sales for merchandise, real estate and online car auctions are conducted entirely online using the Internet or some form of auction software on a computer. The auction software includes a means to list pictures and descriptions of the items for sale, keep track of bids placed by interested parties and a timer which counts down to the end of each auction listing. Once the highest bid is placed at the very end of the auction sale, the winning bidder makes payment to the seller and the item is released or shipped to the winning buyer.
In many cases, auction sales are held in person such as with public auto auctions, tax or estate sales. The announcer of the auction, called the auctioneer, presents each item available for sale to the interested parties then conducts a verbal promotion of the item to obtain the highest bid from the crowd of bidders. This can often be a very fast-paced and loud banter, but it’s the way traditional auction sales have been conducted for centuries.
An auction sale provides the owner of property the opportunity to offer items to a multitude of buyers with the hopes of obtaining the highest selling price. Once the items are sold, buyers are obligated by legal guidelines and ethical behavior to purchase the items for the price that they decided in the bidding process. An auction is a straightforward means for sellers to get the most financial return for the property being sold.
