English auction: mostly referred to as “open ascending price auction’’ is a type of auction that is the most common system of auction used today. In this type of auction, contestants bid openly against one another, with each ensuing bid required to be greater than the previous bid. The process is done either by an auctioneer announcing prices or bidders call out bids by themselves or even submitted electronically with the highest current bid publically displayed. The auction ends when there is no bidder willing to pay a higher price. The most significant difference about this type of auction is that the present highest bid is at all times available to anybody that is willing to make a counter bid. The English auction is commonly used for selling goods, real estate, antiques and artwork.

• Dutch auction: mostly referred to as the ‘’ open descending price auction’’. In the traditional Dutch auction the auctioneer starts by asking a high price for some quantity of identical products; the price is dropped until a bidder is ready to accept the auctioneer’s price for the goods in the lot or until the seller’s reserve price is met. If the first bidder does not obtain the whole lot, the auctioneer continues lowering the price until all of the items have been bid for or the reserve price is reached. Items are distributed based on bid order; where the highest bidder will choose their item(s) first followed by the second highest bidder, etc… Eventually, all of the winning participants pay only the last announced price for the items that they bid on. The Dutch auction was named after, the Dutch tulip auctions. (“Dutch auction” is also sometimes used for online auctions where a number of identical merchandises are sold instantaneously to an equal number of high bidders. Dutch auctions are used for perishable commodities such as fish and tobacco. This type of auction is not widely practiced today.