An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids , taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition exist and are described in the section about different types . The branch of economic theory dealing with auction types and participants' behavior in auctions is called auction theory .
96-582: Hôtel Drouot is a large auction place in Paris, known for fine art, antiques, and antiquities. It consists of 16 halls hosting 70 independent auction firms, which operate under the umbrella grouping of Drouot . The firm's main location, called Drouot-Richelieu, is situated on the Rue Drouot in the 9th arrondissement of Paris , on a site once occupied by the Paris Opera's Salle Le Peletier . The nearest Métro station
192-458: A family home being sold by the heirs). However, more recently, selling at auction has become an alternative to a normal property sale, due to the speedy nature of the entire process. In China, land auctions are under the sole control of local government officials. Because some developers may use bribes to please government officials to obtain the right to purchase the land, the central government requires that future land auctions be conducted using
288-510: A footrace , were used instead of the expiration of a candle. This type of auction was first mentioned in 1641 in the records of the House of Lords. The practice rapidly became popular, and in 1660 Samuel Pepys ' diary recorded two occasions when the Admiralty sold surplus ships "by an inch of candle". Pepys also relates a hint from a highly successful bidder who had observed that, just before expiring,
384-406: A spectrum auction in order to prevent the spread of corruption. Although this method cannot completely solve the problem of corruption, it is still a significant contribution to the auction. A government auction is simply an auction held on behalf of a government body generally at a general sale. Items for sale are often surplus needed to be liquidated. Auctions ordered by estate executors enter
480-451: A "receivership-like" state but calmly sell its assets, for example to prevent its portfolio being written off in the event of an actual compulsory liquidation. The parties which are entitled by law to petition for the compulsory liquidation of a company vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but generally, a petition may be lodged with the court for the compulsory liquidation of a company by: The grounds upon which an entity can apply to
576-484: A bidder can specify that they will pay for items A and B, but only if they get both . In combinatorial auctions, determining the winning bidder(s) can be a complex process where even the bidder with the highest individual bid is not guaranteed to win. For example, in an auction with four items (W, X, Y and Z), if Bidder A offers $ 50 for items W & Y, Bidder B offers $ 30 for items W & X, Bidder C offers $ 5 for items X & Z and Bidder D offers $ 30 for items Y & Z,
672-416: A bidding sheet often left on a table near the item. At charity auctions, bid sheets usually have a fixed starting amount, predetermined bid increments, and a "guaranteed bid" amount which works the same as a "buy now" amount. Other variations of this type of auction may include sealed bids. The highest bidder pays the price they submitted. In private value auctions , every bidder has their own valuation of
768-553: A brief civil war. Didius was beheaded two months later when Septimius Severus conquered Rome. From the end of the Roman Empire to the 18th century, auctions lost favor in Europe, while they had never been widespread in Asia. In China, the personal belongings of deceased Buddhist monks were sold at auction as early as the seventh century AD. The first mention of "auction", according to
864-491: A candle-wick always flares up slightly: on seeing this, he would shout his final – and winning – bid. The London Gazette began reporting on the auctioning of artwork in the coffeehouses and taverns of London in the late 17th century. The first known auction house in the world was the Stockholm Auction House , Sweden ( Stockholms Auktionsverk ), founded by Baron Claes Rålamb in 1674. Sotheby's , currently
960-530: A day in New South Wales . In timber auctions, companies purchase licenses to log on government land. In timber allocation auctions, companies purchase timber directly from the government. In electricity auctions , large-scale generators and distributors of electricity bid on generating contracts. Produce auctions link growers to localized wholesale buyers (buyers who are interested in acquiring large quantities of locally grown produce). Online auctions are
1056-465: A descending English auction. Fattigauktion is a similar Swedish practice involving poor people being auctioned to church organizations. Trade of wives by auctions was also a common practice throughout history. For instance, in the old English custom of wife selling , a wife was divorced by selling her in a public auction for the highest bid. ISIS conducted slave auctions to sell up to 7,000 Yazidi women as reported in 2020. A virginity auction
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#17330849037711152-404: A discretion for a period of time after dissolution to declare the dissolution void to enable the completion of any unfinished business. In some jurisdictions, the company may elect to simply be struck off the companies register as a cheaper alternative to a formal winding-up and dissolution. In such cases an application is made to the registrar of companies, who may strike off the company if there
1248-762: A form of E-commerce that relies on the advantages of a digital platform's ability to overcome geographical constraints, provide real-time information and reduce transaction costs, bringing greater convenience to people and allowing more people to participate as bidders, as well as being able to view a greater selection of auctions. Websites like eBay provide a potential market of millions of bidders to sellers. Established auction houses, as well as specialist internet auctions, sell many things online, from antiques and collectibles to holidays, air travel, brand new computers, and household equipment. Private electronic markets use combinatorial auction techniques to continuously sell commodities (coal, iron ore, grain, water, etc.) online to
1344-433: A greater number of bidders due to the possibility of a bargain. If more bidders attend the auction, a higher price might ultimately be achieved because of heightened competition from bidders. This contrasts with a reserve auction , where the item for sale may not be sold if the final bid is not high enough to satisfy the seller. In practice, an auction advertised as "absolute" or "no-reserve" may nonetheless still not sell to
1440-478: A higher price. In 2008, the US National Auctioneers Association reported that the gross revenue of the auction industry for that year was approximately $ 268.4 billion, with the fastest growing sectors being agricultural, machinery, equipment, and residential real estate auctions. The auctions with the largest revenue for the government are often spectrum auctions (typical revenue
1536-491: A person for the appointment of a liquidator and possibly of a supervisory liquidation committee. The person appointed by the holder of a floating charge debenture over a company’s assets to collect in and realise the assets of that company and to repay the indebtedness to the debenture holder. Administrative receivers can no longer be appointed by floating charge holders with the exception of floating charges created prior to 15 September 2003. Voluntary liquidation occurs when
1632-410: A pre-qualified group of buyers (based on price and non-price factors). Furthermore, online auctions facilitate the process for prospective bidders to discover and evaluate items by enabling searches across numerous auctions and employing filters to refine their selections. Liquidate Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of
1728-480: A response to their bids. These traffic lights depend on the position of the last bid in the distribution of all bids. A buyout auction is an auction with an additional set price (the 'buyout' price) that any bidder can accept at any time during the auction, thereby immediately ending the auction and winning the item. This means that if an item offers its buyout price at the beginning, one participant can stop all other potential participants from bidding at all, or stop
1824-402: A running race. 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 period expires, the highest bidder wins the item and must pay a final bid price. Unlike in a conventional auction, the final price
1920-417: A sealed bid. The higher bidder wins, paying either the first or second price. Both finalists receive a premium: a proportion of the excess of the second price over the third price (at which English auction ended). An Anglo-Dutch auction starts as an English or Japanese auction and then continues as a Dutch auction with a reduced number of bidders. A French auction is a preliminary sealed-bid auction before
2016-476: A sealed-bid auction, bidders only get to know if their bid was the best. Best/not best auctions are sealed-bid auctions with multiple bids, where the bidders submit their prices like in English auction and get responses about the leadership of their bid. Rank auction is an extension of best/not best auction, where the bidders also see the rank of their bids. Traffic-light auction shows traffic lights to bidders as
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#17330849037712112-475: A spear into the ground around which the spoils of war were left, to be auctioned off. 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 toward the war effort. The Romans also used auctions to liquidate the assets of debtors whose property had been confiscated. For example, Marcus Aurelius sold household furniture to pay off debts,
2208-537: A vehicle for hosting auctions themselves. As already mentioned in the history section, auctions have been used to trade commodified people from the very first. Auctions have been used in slave markets throughout history until modern times in the post-Gaddafi era Libya . The word for slave auction in the Atlantic slave trade was scramble . A child auction is a Swedish and Finnish historical practice of selling children into slavery-like conditions by authorities using
2304-465: A voluntary winding-up of a company has begun, a compulsory liquidation order is still possible, but the petitioning contributory would need to satisfy the court that a voluntary liquidation would prejudice the contributors. The liquidator will normally have a duty to ascertain whether any misconduct has been conducted by those in control of the company which has caused prejudice to the general body of creditors. In some legal systems, in appropriate cases,
2400-422: A winner partially based on randomness. The final price for the selected winner is not always conducted according to their final bid. In the case of the second-price ruling as in a Vickrey auction , the final price for the winner is based on the second bidder's price. A Proxy bid is a special case of second-price ruling used by eBay , where a predefined increment is added to the second highest bid in response to
2496-431: A yet higher bid. Auctions with more than one winner are called multi-winner auctions . Multiunit auction , Combinatorial auction , Generalized first-price auction and Generalized second-price auction are multi-winner auctions. Auctions can be cascaded, one after the other. For instance, an Amsterdam auction is a type of premium auction which begins as an English auction. Once only two bidders remain, each submits
2592-418: Is Richelieu - Drouot . Other locations used to exist: Drouot-Montaigne, Drouot-Montmartre, and Drouot-Véhicules. Details of forthcoming auctions are published in the weekly Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot , sold at newsstands and by subscription. In 2008 Hôtel Drouot was ranked fifth by sales amongst Paris auction houses, after Sotheby's , Christie's , Artcurial , and Ader-Picard-Tajan . The Hôtel Drouot
2688-421: Is a common method for the sale of real estate . Auctions were traditionally used as an alternative to the private sale/treaty method to sell property that, due to their unique characteristics, were difficult to determine a price for. The law does not require a vendor to disclose their reserve price prior to the auction. During the 1990s and 2000s, auctions became the primary method for the sale of real estate in
2784-407: Is a double auction in which the auctioneer takes bids from both buyers and sellers in a market of multiple goods. The auctioneer progressively either raises or drops the current proposed price depending on the bids of both buyers and sellers, the auction concluding when supply and demand exactly balance. As a high price tends to dampen demand while a low price tends to increase demand, in theory there
2880-455: Is a particular price somewhere in the middle where supply and demand will match. A Barter double auction is an auction where every participant has a demand and an offer consisting of multiple attributes and no money is involved. For the mathematical modelling of satisfaction level, Euclidean distance is used, where the offer and demand are treated as vectors. Auctions can be categorized into three types of procedures for auctions depending on
2976-407: Is a secret reserve price auction. However, potential bidders may be able to deduce an approximate reserve price, if one exists at all, from any estimate given in advance by the auction house. The reserve price may be fixed or discretionary . In the latter case, the decision to accept a bid is deferred to the auctioneer, who may accept a bid that is marginally below it. A reserve auction is safer for
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3072-408: Is a variant of the English auction in which bids are written on a sheet of paper. At the predetermined end of the auction, the highest listed bidder wins the item. This auction is often used in charity events, with many items auctioned simultaneously and "closed" at a common finish time. The auction is "silent" in that there is no auctioneer selling individual items; the bidders write their bids on
3168-522: Is derived from auctus , the past participle of the Latin verb augeō , ("I increase"). Auctions have been recorded as early as 500 BC. 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 beautiful. It was considered illegal to allow a daughter to be sold outside of
3264-461: Is derived from the Vickrey auction and means the final deal sealing for the number one bidder is based on the second bidder's price. A No-reserve auction (NR), also known as an absolute auction , is an auction in which the item for sale will be sold regardless of price. From the seller's perspective, advertising an auction as having no reserve price can be desirable because it potentially attracts
3360-453: Is estimated in billions of euros) and quota auctions. In 2019, Russia's crab quota was auctioned for €2 billion. Between 1999 and 2002, the British government auctioned off their gold reserves , raising approximately $ 3.5 billion. The most expensive item to ever be sold in an auction is Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi in 2017 ($ 450.3 million). In 2018, the yearly revenues of
3456-445: Is held by the company on trust for third parties will not form part of the company's assets available to pay creditors. Before the claims are met, secured creditors are entitled to enforce their claims against the assets of the company to the extent that they are subject to a valid security interest . In most legal systems, only fixed security takes precedence over all claims; security by way of floating charge may be postponed to
3552-408: Is made by a board resolution, but instigated by the director(s). 75 percent of the company's shareholders must agree to liquidate for liquidation proceedings to advance. If a limited company’s liabilities outweigh its assets, or the company cannot pay its bills when they fall due, the company becomes insolvent. If the company is solvent , and the members have made a statutory declaration of solvency,
3648-399: Is more beneficial to start again by creating a new company, often referred to as a phoenix company . In business terms this will mean liquidating a company as the only option and then resuming under a different name with the same customers, clients and suppliers. In some circumstances it may appear ideal for the directors; however, if they trade under a name which is the same or substantially
3744-445: Is reasonable cause to believe that the company is not carrying on business or has been wound-up and, after enquiry, no case is shown why the company should not be struck off. However, in such cases the company may be restored to the register if it is just and equitable so to do (for example, if the rights of any creditors or members have been prejudiced). In the event the company does not file an annual return or annual accounts, and
3840-478: Is the voluntary practice of individuals seeking to sell their own virginity to the highest bid. Cricket players are routinely put up for auction, whereby cricket teams can bid for their services. Indian Premier League (IPL) started annual public auctioning of cricket players in 2008 as an entertainment for mass consumption. Also, Bangladesh Premier League conducts cricket player auctions , starting in 2012. In some countries, such as Australia , auctioning
3936-414: Is to collect its assets, determine the outstanding claims against the company, and satisfy those claims in the manner and order prescribed by law. The liquidator must determine the company's title to property in its possession. Property which is in the possession of the company, but which was supplied under a valid retention of title clause will generally have to be returned to the supplier. Property which
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4032-404: Is traded in the international market. The wine auction business offers serious collectors an opportunity to gain access to rare bottles and mature vintages, which are not typically available through retail channels. In livestock auctions, sheep, cattle, pigs and other livestock are sold. Sometimes very large numbers of stock are auctioned, such as the regular sales of 50,000 or more sheep during
4128-424: 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. A senior auction is a variation on the all-pay auction, and has a defined loser in addition to
4224-423: Is usually sealed and the uniform price paid by the investors is typically the best non-winning bid. In most cases, investors can also place so-called non-competitive bids , which indicates interest to purchase the debt obligation at the resulting price, whatever it may be. Some states use courts to run such auctions . In spectrum auctions conducted by the government, companies purchase licenses to use portions of
4320-512: The Oxford English Dictionary , appeared in 1595. In some parts of England during the 17th and 18th centuries, auctions by candle began to be used for the sale of goods and leaseholds. In a candle auction, the end of the auction was signaled by the expiration of a candle flame, which was intended to ensure that no one could know exactly when the auction would end and make a last-second bid. Sometimes, other unpredictable events, such as
4416-429: The electromagnetic spectrum for communications (e.g., mobile phone networks). In certain jurisdictions, if a storage facility 's tenant fails to pay rent, the contents of their locker(s) may be sold at a public auction. Several television shows focus on such auctions, including Storage Wars and Auction Hunters . Auctions are used to trade commodities ; for example, fish wholesale auctions. In wool auctions, wool
4512-402: The preferential creditors . Claimants with non-monetary claims against the company may be able to enforce their rights against the company. For example, a party who had a valid contract for the purchase of land against the company may be able to obtain an order for specific performance , and compel the liquidator to transfer title to the land to them, upon tender of the purchase price. After
4608-438: The 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 , bidders make sealed bids in advance and their probability of winning grows with the relative size of their bids. In usual auctions like the English one, bids are prices. In Dutch and Japanese auctions,
4704-601: The 2014 sale of items cherished by the Navajo and Hopi people, the items were sold at auction. The Navajo Nation was only able to buy back seven of the possibly 270 items that were being sold. Alphonse Bellier 48°52′24″N 2°20′24.3″E / 48.87333°N 2.340083°E / 48.87333; 2.340083 Auction The open ascending price auction is arguably the most common form of auction and has been used throughout history. Participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid being higher than
4800-437: The U.S. carry the unofficial title of "colonel". 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. 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 larger variety of commodities than
4896-411: The actual auction, whose reserve price it determines. A sequential auction is an auction where the bidders can participate in a sequence of auctions. A Calcutta auction is a subtype of sequential auction, where the ordering in the sequence is determined by random. A simultaneous ascending auction is an opposite of a sequential auction, where the auctions are run in parallel. The silent auction
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#17330849037714992-462: The application, the court may either dismiss the petition or make the order for winding-up. The court may dismiss the application if the petitioner unreasonably refrains from an alternative course of action. The court may appoint an official receiver, and one or more liquidators , and has general powers to enable rights and liabilities of claimants and contributories to be settled. Separate meetings of creditors and contributories may decide to nominate
5088-614: The assets of individuals who have perhaps died intestate (those who have died without leaving a will), or in debt. In legal contexts where forced auctions occur, as when one's farm or house is sold at auction on the courthouse steps. Property seized for non-payment of property taxes , or under foreclosure , is sold in this manner. Police auctions are generally held at general auctions, although some forces use online sites including eBay, to dispose of lost and found and seized goods. Debt auctions, in which governments issue and sell debt obligations , such as bonds , to investors. The auction
5184-559: The auction method. Attractive maidens were offered in a forward auction to determine the price to be paid by a swain, while unattractive maidens required a reverse auction to determine the price to be paid to a swain. Auctions took place in Ancient Greece , other Hellenistic societies, and also in Rome . During the Roman Empire , after a military victory, Roman soldiers would often drive
5280-472: The auctioned good. A common value auction is opposite, where the valuation of the auctioned good is identical among the bidders. The range of auctions' contexts is extremely wide and one can buy almost anything, from a house to an endowment policy and everything in between. Some of the recent developments have been the use of the Internet both as a means of disseminating information about various auctions and as
5376-419: The best price among interested buyers, reverse auctions and buyer-determined auctions give buyers a chance to find the lowest-price supplier. During a reverse auction, suppliers may submit multiple offers, usually as a response to competing suppliers' offers, bidding down the price of a good or service to the lowest price they are willing to receive. A reverse price auction is not necessarily 'descending-price' —
5472-441: The bidding process before the bid price has reached the buyout price. If no bidder chooses to utilize the buyout option before the end of bidding, the highest bidder wins and pays their bid. Buyout options can be either temporary or permanent . In a temporary-buyout auction the option to buy out the auction is not available after the first bid is placed. In a permanent-buyout auction the buyout option remains available throughout
5568-456: The bids are confirmations. In a version of the 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 . A Yankee auction is a single-attribute multiunit auction running like a Dutch auction, where
5664-450: The bids are the portions of a total amount of identical units. The amount of auctioned items is firm in a Yankee auction unlike a Brazilian auction. The portions of the total amount, bidders can bid, are limited to lower numbers than the total amount. Therefore, only a portion of the total amount will be traded for the best price and the rest to the suboptimal prices. In an English auction, all current bids are visible to all bidders and in
5760-410: The business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved , although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation. The process of liquidation also arises when customs , an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties , determines the final computation or ascertainment of
5856-459: The company's affairs, the liquidator must call a final meeting of the members (if it is a members' voluntary winding-up), creditors (if it is a compulsory winding-up) or both (if it is a creditors' voluntary winding-up). The liquidator is then usually required to send final accounts to the Registrar and to notify the court. The company is then dissolved. However, in common jurisdictions, the court has
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#17330849037715952-440: The company's file remains inactive, in due course, the registrar will strike the company off the register. Under the corporate insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, where a company has been engaged in misconduct or where the assets of the company are thought to be in jeopardy, it is sometimes possible to put a company into provisional liquidation , whereby a liquidator is appointed on an interim basis to safeguard
6048-399: The court for an order of compulsory liquidation also vary between jurisdictions , but normally include: In practice, the vast majority of compulsory winding-up applications are made under one of the last two grounds. An order will not generally be made if the purpose of the application is to enforce payment of a debt which is bona fide disputed. A "just and equitable" winding-up enables
6144-470: The creditors). The term "liquidation" is also sometimes used informally to describe a company seeking to divest of some of its assets. For instance, a retail chain may wish to close some of its stores. For efficiency's sake, it will often sell these at a discount to a company specializing in real estate liquidation instead of becoming involved in an area it may lack sufficient expertise in to operate with maximum profitability. A company may also operate in
6240-544: The duties or drawback accruing on an entry. Liquidation may either be compulsory (sometimes referred to as a creditors' liquidation or receivership following bankruptcy , which may result in the court creating a "liquidation trust"; or sometimes a court can mandate the appointment of a liquidator e.g. wind-up order in Australia) or voluntary (sometimes referred to as a shareholders' liquidation or members' liquidation , although some voluntary liquidations are controlled by
6336-549: The emergence of the internet, online auctions have developed, with eBay being the most typical example. For example, if someone owns a rare item, they can display the item through an online auction platform. Interested parties may place bids, with the highest bidder winning the opportunity to purchase the item. Online auctions allow more people to participate and also make traditional auction theory more complex. By increasing visibility of an item and therefore demand , auctions can make an extremely rare item more likely to sell for
6432-449: 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 the time, Christie's established a reputation as a leading auction house, taking advantage of London's status as
6528-399: The entire auction until the close of bidding. The buyout price can either remain the same throughout the entire auction, or vary throughout according to rules or simply as decided by the seller. The winner selection in most auctions selects the best bid. Unique bid auctions offer a special winner selection: the winner is the bidder with the lowest unique bid. The Chinese auction selects
6624-402: The following list. Auctions can differ in the number and type of participants. There are two types of participants: a buyer and a seller . A buyer pays to acquire a certain good or service, while a seller offers goods or services for money or barter exchange. There can be single or multiple buyers and single or multiple sellers in an auction. If just one seller and one buyer are participating,
6720-407: The grounds to subject the strict legal rights of the shareholders to equitable considerations. It can take account of personal relationships of mutual trust and confidence in small parties, particularly, for example, where there is a breach of an understanding that all of the members may participate in the business, or of an implied obligation to participate in management. An order might be made where
6816-412: The highest bidder on the day, for example, if the seller withdraws the item from the auction or extends the auction period indefinitely, although these practices may be restricted by law in some jurisdictions or under the terms of sale available from the auctioneer. A reserve auction is an auction where the item for sale may not be sold if the final bid is not high enough to satisfy the seller; that is,
6912-446: The liquidation will proceed as a members' voluntary liquidation (MVL). In that case, the general meeting will appoint the liquidator(s). If not, the liquidation will proceed as a creditors' voluntary liquidation, and a meeting of creditors will be called, to which the directors must report on the company's affairs. Where a voluntary liquidation proceeds as a creditors' voluntary liquidation, a liquidation committee may be appointed. Where
7008-407: The liquidator may be able to bring an action against errant directors or shadow directors for either wrongful trading or fraudulent trading . The liquidator may also have to determine whether any payments made by the company or transactions entered into may be voidable as a transaction at an undervalue or an unfair preference . The main purpose of a liquidation where the company is insolvent
7104-574: 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 second largest single sale of enslaved people in U.S. history — with 436 men, women and children being sold. 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
7200-406: The majority shareholders deprive the minority of their right to appoint and remove their own director. Once liquidation commences (which depends upon applicable law, but will generally be when the petition was originally presented, and not when the court makes the order), dispositions of the company's generally void , and litigation involving the company is generally restrained. Upon hearing
7296-401: The members of a company resolve to voluntarily wind up its affairs and dissolve. Voluntary liquidation begins when the company passes the resolution, and the company will generally cease to carry on business at that time (if it has not done so already). A creditors’ voluntary liquidation (CVL) is a process designed to allow an insolvent company to close voluntarily. The decision to liquidate
7392-515: The monopolistic French auction laws, regulated through the system of commissaires-priseurs , opened Drouot up to international competition. It is now owned by a subsidiary of BNP Paribas . Hundreds of sacred relics were sold at the Hôtel Drouot auctions. Those being sold include Native American, Eskimo and pre-Columbian artefacts. Despite the pleas of the United States embassy, urging a stop to
7488-551: The occurrence of a price development during an auction run and its causes. Multiunit auctions sell more than one identical item at a time, rather than having separate auctions for each. This type can be further classified as either a uniform price auction or a discriminatory price auction . An example for them is spectrum auctions . A combinatorial auction is any auction for the simultaneous sale of more than one item where bidders can place bids on an "all-or-nothing" basis on "packages" rather than just individual items. That is,
7584-447: The position of the company pending the hearing of the full winding-up petition. The duty of the provisional liquidator is to safeguard the assets of the company and maintain the status quo pending the hearing of the petition; the provisional liquidator does not assess claims against the company or try to distribute the company's assets to creditors. In the UK, many companies in debt decide it
7680-426: The previous bid. An auctioneer may announce prices, while bidders submit bids vocally or electronically. Auctions are applied for trade in diverse contexts . These contexts include antiques , paintings , rare collectibles , expensive wines , commodities , livestock , radio spectrum , used cars , real estate , online advertising , vacation packages, emission trading , and many more. The word "auction"
7776-403: The process is not considered to be an auction. The forward auction is the most common type of auction — a seller offers item(s) for sale and expects the highest price. A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the roles of the buyer and the seller are reversed, with the primary objective to drive purchase prices downward. While ordinary auctions provide suppliers the opportunity to find
7872-409: The removal of all assets which are subject to retention of title arrangements, fixed security, or are otherwise subject to proprietary claims of others, the liquidator will pay the claims against the company's assets. Generally, the priority of claims on the company's assets will be determined in the following order: Unclaimed assets will usually vest in the state as bona vacantia . Having wound-up
7968-475: The reverse Dutch auction is an ascending-price auction because forward Dutch auctions are descending. By revealing the competing bids in real-time to every participating supplier, reverse auctions promote "information transparency". This, coupled with the dynamic bidding process, improves the chances of reaching the fair market value of the item. A double auction is a combination of both forward and reverse auctions. A Walrasian auction or Walrasian tâtonnement
8064-489: The rising prices, with a subsequantial sealed bid auction, in which bidders submit sealed package bids. The auctioneer uses the final bids to compute the best value allocation and the Vickrey payments. Generalized first-price auctions and Generalized second-price auctions offer slots for multiple bidders instead of making a single deal. The bidders get the slots according to the ranking of their bids. The second-price ruling
8160-517: The sales lasting for months. One of the most significant historical auctions was in 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 won the auction at the price of 6,250 drachmas per guard, an act that initiated
8256-407: The seller reserves the right to accept or reject the highest bid. In these cases, a set 'reserve' price known to the auctioneer, but not necessarily to the bidders, may have been set, below which the item may not be sold. If the seller announces to the bidders the reserve price, it is a public reserve price auction. In contrast, if the seller does not announce the reserve price before the sale, it
8352-472: The seller than a no-reserve auction as they are not required to accept a low bid, but this could result in a lower final price if less interest is generated in the sale. An 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
8448-518: The twenty-first century as house prices sky-rocketed . The rapidly rising housing market saw many homes, especially in Victoria and New South Wales, selling for significantly more than both the vendors' reserve price and the advertised price range. Subsequently, the auction systems' lack of transparency about the value of the property was brought into question, with estate agents and their vendor clients being accused of "under-quoting". Significant attention
8544-469: The two biggest auction houses were $ 5 billion ( Christie's ) and $ 4 billion ( Sotheby's ). Auctions come in a variety of types and categories, which are sometimes not mutually exclusive. Typification of auctions is considered to be a part of Auction theory . The economists Paul Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for the introduction of new auction types (or formats). Auction types share features, which can be summarized into
8640-430: The two largest cities, Melbourne and Sydney . This was largely due to the fact that in a private sale the vendor has disclosed the price that they want, and potential purchasers would attempt to low-ball the price, whereas in an auction purchasers do not know what the vendor wants, and thus need to keep lifting the price until the reserve price is reached. The method has been the subject of increased controversy during
8736-444: 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,
8832-431: The winners will be Bidders B & D while Bidder A misses out because the combined bids of Bidders B & D is higher ($ 60) than for Bidders A and C ($ 55). Deferred-acceptance auction is a special case of a combinatorial auction. Another special case of a combinatorial auction is the combinatorial clock auction (CCA), which combines a clock auction, during which bidders may provide their confirmations in response to
8928-841: The world's second-largest auction house, was founded in London on 11 March 1744, when Samuel Baker presided over the disposal of "several hundred scarce and valuable" books from the library of an acquaintance. Christie's , now the world's largest auction house, was founded by James Christie in 1766 in London and published its first auction catalog that year, although newspaper advertisements of Christie's sales dating from 1759 have been found. 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). By
9024-493: Was given to the matter by the Australian media, with the government in Victoria eventually bowing to pressure and implementing changes to legislation in an effort to increase transparency. In the UK, historically, auction houses were perceived to sell properties which may have been repossessed — where a home owner fails to make regular mortgage payments — or were probate sales ( i.e. ,
9120-540: Was inaugurated on 1 June 1852. During World War II and the German occupation of France, a large number of artworks from collections that had been owned by Jews passed through Drouot, which was as a result included on the Art Looting Investigation Unit list of Red Flag names. From 1976 to 1980, while its present building was being constructed, sales took place in the former Gare d'Orsay . In 2000, reform of
9216-516: Was previously practical. In the 1990s, the multi-attribute auction was invented to negotiate extensive conditions of construction and electricity contracts via auction. Also during this time, OnSale.com developed the Yankee auction as its trademark. In the early 2000s, the Brazilian auction was invented as a new type of auction to trade gas through electronic auctions for Linde plc in Brazil . With
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