Price of bidding[edit]

All-pay auction is an auction in which all bidders must pay their bids regardless of whether they win. The highest bidder wins the item. All-pay auctions are primarily of academic interest, and may be used to model lobbying or bribery (bids are political contributions) or competitions such as a running race.^[54] Bidding fee auction, a variation of all-pay auction, also known as a penny auction, often requires that each participant must pay a fixed price to place each bid, typically one penny (hence the name) higher than the current bid. When an auction's time expires, the highest bidder wins the item and must pay a final bid price.^[55] Unlike in a conventional auction, the final price is typically much lower than the value of the item, but all bidders (not just the winner) will have paid for each bid placed; the winner will buy the item at a very low price (plus price of rights-to-bid used), all the losers will have paid, and the seller will typically receive significantly more than the value of the item.^[56] Senior auction is a variation on the all-pay auction, and has a defined loser in addition to the winner. The top two bidders must pay their full final bid amounts, and only the highest wins the auction. The intent is to make the high bidders bid above their upper limits. In the final rounds of bidding, when the current losing party has hit their maximum bid, they are encouraged to bid over their maximum (seen as a small loss) to avoid losing their maximum bid with no return (a very large loss). Another variation of all-pay auction, Top-up auction is primarily used for charity events. Losing bidders must pay the difference between their bid and the next lowest bid. The winning bidder pays the amount bid for the item, without top-up. In a Chinese auction, the bidders pay sealed bids in advance and their probability to win grows with the relative size of their bids.^[57]

Structure of a bid[edit]

In usual auctions like the English one, bids are prices. In Dutch and Japanese auction, the bids are confirmations. In a version of Brazilian auction, bids are numbers of units being traded. Structure elements of a bid are called attributes. If a bid is one number like price, it is a single-attribute auction. If bids consists of multiple-attributes, it is a multi-attribute auction.^[58][59]

A Yankee auction is a single-attribute multiunit auction running like a Dutch aucti

Classical antiquity[edit]

Nonetheless, auctions have a long history, having been recorded as early as 500 BC.^[5] According to Herodotus, in Babylon auctions of women for marriage were held annually. The auctions began with the woman the auctioneer considered to be the most beautiful and progressed to the least. It was considered illegal to allow a daughter to be sold outside of the auction method.^[4] Attractive maidens were offered in a forward auction to determine the price to be paid by a swain, while in the case of maidens lacking attractivity a reverse auction was needed to determine the price to be paid to a swain.^[6]

During the Roman Empire, after a military victory, Roman soldiers would often drive a spear into the ground around which the spoils of war were left, to be auctioned off. Later slaves, often captured as the "spoils of war", were auctioned in the Forum under the sign of the spear, with the proceeds of sale going towards the war effort.^[4]

The Romans also used auctions to liquidate the assets of debtors whose property had been confiscated.^[7] For example, Marcus Aurelius sold household furniture to pay off debts, the sales lasting for months.^[8] One of the most significant historical auctions occurred in the year 193 AD when the entire Roman Empire was put on the auction block by the Praetorian Guard. On 28 March 193, the Praetorian Guard first killed emperor Pertinax, then offered the empire to the highest bidder. Didius Julianus outbid everyone else for the price of 6,250 drachmas per guard,^[9][10][11] an act that initiated a brief civil war. Didius was then beheaded two months later when Septimius Severus conquered Rome.^[7]

From the end of the Roman Empire to the 18th century, auctions lost favor in Europe,^[7] while they had never been widespread in Asia.^[4] In China, the personal belongings of deceased buddhist monks were sold at auction as early as seventh century AD.^[6]

been found.^[19]

Other early auction houses that are still in operation include Göteborgs Auktionsverk (1681), Dorotheum (1707), Uppsala auktionskammare (1731), Mallams (1788), Bonhams (1793), Phillips de Pury & Company (1796), Freeman's (1805) and Lyon & Turnbull (1826).^[20]

By the end of the 18th century, auctions of art works were commonly held in taverns and coffeehouses. These auctions were held daily, and auction catalogs were printed to announce available items. In some cases these catalogs were elaborate works of art themselves, containing considerable detail about the items being auctioned. At this time, Christie's established a reputation as a leading auction house, taking advantage of London's status as the major centre of the international art trade after the French Revolution. The Great Slave Auction took place in 1859 and is recorded as the largest single sale of enslaved people in U.S. history — 436 men, women and children.^[21] During the American Civil War, goods seized by armies were sold at auction by the Colonel of the division. Thus some of today's auctioneers in the U.S. carry the unofficial title of "colonel".^[8] Tobacco auctioneers in the southern United States in the late 19th century had a style that mixed traditions of 17th century England with chants of slaves from Africa.^[22]

Rise of internet[edit]

The development of the internet has led to a significant rise in the use of auctions as auctioneers can solicit bids via the internet from a wide range of buyers in a much wider range of commodities than was previously practical.^[3] In the 1990s, Multi-attribute auction was invented to negotiate extensive conditions of construction and electricity contracts via auction.^[23][24] Also in the 1990s, OnSale.com has developed Yankee auction as its trademark.^[25] In the early 2000, Brazilian auction was invented as a new type of auctions to trade gas by electronic auctions for Linde plc in Brazil.^[26][27]

The forward auction is the most common case — a seller offers an item or items for sale and expects the highest price. The reverse auction is a type of au