The flourishing of auctions began in the thirteenth century in Europe. Today, online auctions are gaining popularity. What traditions are preserved and what has become fashionable at modern auctions?

Most Popular European Auctions

oldest auction

It is generally accepted that the most popular auctions in Europe are Sotheby's and Christie's, but this is not so. It is impossible not to recall the French Drouot auction, which is not only very famous, but also one of the oldest. It sells paintings, furniture, various household items from different eras.

Drouot occupies four auction rooms in Paris. Thanks to free admission, visitors can walk from room to room, get acquainted with the lots in order to purchase the item they like. Auvergne is a region of France that is engaged in the arrangement of this very old auction.

Auction Christie

Christie's auction is perhaps the most famous of the well-known auctions. It was founded at the end of 1766.

Today, auctions are held in such European cities as Rome, Paris, Zurich, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, etc. The founder of the auction was James Christie, who initially conducted the auction himself. It is known that he personally negotiated with Catherine the Second on the sale of some of the exhibits that were subsequently exhibited in the Hermitage. Christie by RPM this moment ranks first in the world.

Auction Sotheby's

Only respectable buyers can afford to make purchases at the popular Sotheby's auction. The annual turnover of the famous auction company exceeds one billion dollars. Sotheby's was founded in London in 1744, starting to sell books that were highly valued by collectors in those years. Today, Sotheby's accounts for at least ninety percent of auction sales of art and antiques in the world. It is safe to say that Sotheby's has a leading role in the global market. Although auction house at present, it is more focused on the trade in art objects, and it does not leave the second-hand book business, from which it began its existence more than two hundred years ago.

The most famous online auctions

IN recent decades e-commerce is growing at an incredible pace. There are many Internet auctions from small to huge. The leader among them is, of course, the e-Bay auction, where you can buy almost everything.

The Internet auction has become popular due to the fact that prices there are much lower than in any real store, and the range is amazing - from antiques to books and household items.

The lots put up for auction are always described in great detail, several photos are attached to the description, there are customer reviews and a rating. Anyone can make a purchase on e-Bay or sell something through this auction, regardless of the country in which they are located. To participate, you only need to go through the registration process. No membership fees or subscription fees are required to participate in the auction.

The most expensive purchase made on this popular online auction was a used jet. He left the auction for five million dollars. An expensive purchase is the island of Thatch Cay, located in the Caribbean. It was sold piecemeal, each piece went for a million dollars.

The Internet auction of the European level is Aukro.ua. With 24/7 support and high level service, to make purchases and sales there conveniently and safely.

The sale of cars, including used ones, is increasingly taking place through online car auctions. Such trade was especially widespread in Germany, Belgium, France and other European cities. One of the most popular auction companies is Manheim.

Internet auction of jewelry and jewelry is Bidz.com. The range of this auction - mostly new items, although you can also find used jewelry. The most attractive thing there is the prices for lots, which rarely exceed fifteen percent of the declared retail prices of manufacturers.

We have already written about the rules of the electronic auction, its intricacies and the preparation of the first part of the application. In this article, we recall the work on electronic trading floors(ETP):

Participants, whose first parts of applications are allowed to participate, enter the ETP auction room on the appointed day and hour. Bidding takes place in real time: for example, if the ETP has scheduled auctions for 15:30 Moscow time, then suppliers from Novosibirsk will sit down to participate at 19:30.

The auction step is from 0.5% to 5% of the NMTs. For example, if the NMC is 1,000,000 rubles, you can set a price in the range from 5,000 to 50,000 rubles. The interface of all ETPs is different, but understandable. Everywhere there are buttons for submitting the minimum and maximum prices. By pressing one button, you can walk in a standard step of 0.5%. On the most popular Sberbank-AST site, there is a scroll to select a price.

You can make any step from the range from 0.5% to 5% (for example, 13,929 rubles), if the following conditions are met:

• The first price reduction is possible only within the “auction step”
• The second and subsequent offers either reduce the current minimum price within the “step”, or they are within the range from the current price to the initial maximum.
• A participant cannot submit an offer that is greater than or equal to his previous offer.
• You can not submit an offer equal to zero.
• The participant cannot "play with himself", that is, reduce the current price if it was offered by this participant.
1. You have 10 minutes per step. Auction duration is automatically extended by 10 minutes when any bidder bids best price. Therefore, the rest of the participants always have time to think about their next step.

If a competitor shifts gears

Reduces price quickly and aggressively

The participant makes his step instantly (5-10 seconds) after the step of his competitor with and the maximum step size is 5%. Thus, he makes it clear that there is nothing to think about, he is aimed at winning. An inexperienced competitor may stop the decline, as he considers that there is no point in fighting, and will leave the auction room. It can work extremely rarely and only with the most inexperienced participants.

Wearing down competitors

The participant takes a step each time in the last seconds (10-30 seconds before the end of the step time). Thus, the auction may be delayed for for a long time. Steps in such tactics are always made with minimum size step 0.5%.

Uses combined tactics

For example, on initial stage the participant can choose a slow tactic, and then apply an aggressive one, then switch back to a slow one. This will confuse competitors, inexperienced participants, seeing a sharp drop in price, may refuse to participate in the auction.

What to do?

If you notice that a competitor is using one of these schemes, don't worry. The counter-strategy here is as simple as possible - calmly go to your minimum price, regardless of the actions of your opponents.

If you feel that participation in the auction may be delayed (for example, earlier in similar auctions you sat for 5 hours) and you cannot afford to sit at the computer for a long time, put the robot to participate with a predetermined minimum price - this can be done a day before the start auction. So far, only Sberbank-AST and RTS-Tender have such an opportunity.

You can also turn to bidding support specialists who will participate in the bidding for you and drop to the price you indicated.

If a competitor offered a round price

Perhaps one of the most frequently used scenarios. Imagine, there is a struggle, a decrease by 30-40% from the NMC, and we understand that we and our competitor are close to the threshold for submitting the latter price offers and the outcome can be decided by one downgrade. And then the competitor puts an even figure, it looks like this:

For some participants, the price is calculated approximately and rounded up to a certain figure, below which the competitor is no longer ready to decline. In our work during auctions, we often come across the fact that the head / commercial director of the company says: “in this auction we go down to eight hundred thousand rubles”, as many simply do not want to waste time calculating the even price of the reduction and say “by eye” .

What to do?

After such the best option will make another standard 0.5% reduction from the competitor's "flat" price. Of course, this does not mean that you will win the next step, however, sometimes it really works. Also try to calculate your minimum price to the ruble, so that your rounded figure does not give the competitor a reason to think that you have reached the minimum.

How to behave in the "Taran" scheme?

This is a well-known scheme for playing a dishonest game. Two participants deliberately aggressively reduce the price, while attaching documents that do not comply with the law in the second part of the application so that they are rejected. The third participant in the last seconds of the auction offers a price 0.5% lower than the last price offer of a conscientious participant, thereby taking 3rd place after participants who sharply reduce the price. As a result, the first two are rejected for the second parts, and the third wins the bidding with a favorable price for itself.

What to do?

First, before the auction, determine in advance the price to which you can go down. Then calmly wait until the first stage of the auction passes. At the second stage of the auction, when you have another 10 minutes to submit bids, at the last minute (it depends on the speed of your Internet, but we do not recommend delaying it right until the last seconds), submit your price with which it is profitable for you to fulfill the contract.

In the event that the “ramming” scheme was really used and the first two / three participants are rejected, and your application is the first corresponding one, a contract will be concluded with you at the proposed price. The second and easiest way to fight is to simply put the robot up for auction with its minimum price in advance.

conclusions

1. In an electronic auction, there is no secret way that is guaranteed to lead you to victory. Nevertheless, one must always be attentive, be able to correctly interpret the actions of other participants, notice the time of submission of price offers and the size of competitors' steps.

   Determine in advance your price to which you are willing to drop during the auction.

   During the auction, do not get carried away trying to win the purchase at any cost. In our practice, we have seen cases when a client gets excited and it doesn’t matter to him at what price to win from a competitor. The consequences can be negative: work to zero or a minus, or avoiding signing a contract, since the contract cannot be executed for the proposed amount.

   Do not be afraid to use the robot to participate in electronic auctions.

   The recipe for victory is to be able to offer a lower price in the auction than competitors.

Types of auctions and their features

Table 1. Main types of auctions

Auction type	Description
English auction ( open auction second price)	Trading mechanism: open. Buyers consistently increase the price, the winner is the one who names such a rate at which all other participants refuse to continue the auction. Another interpretation ("Japanese auction"): the seller consistently raises the bid, the buyers leave if the price exceeds the amount they are willing to pay. The promotion continues until there is only one member left. He is declared the winner.
Dutch auction (open first price auction)	Trading mechanism: open. The seller lowers the price until one of the buyers expresses a desire to buy the lot. The buyer pays the amount to which the price has fallen.
Closed first price auction	Trading mechanism: closed. Participants in the auction behind closed doors indicate the amount they are willing to pay for the object of the auction. The winner is the participant who offered the highest price. The winner pays the amount indicated in the application.
Closed second price auction	It differs from the closed auction of the first price in that the winner pays not the amount indicated in his application, but the amount of the second largest application.

The main disadvantage of the English auction is that with such
organization of bidding, it is convenient for participants to collude and implement a “predatory” strategy. At the same time, the English auction has an undeniable advantage: the agent with the highest valuation of the lot becomes the winner. In addition, during the bidding process, participants receive information about each other's assessments, which makes bidding more
justified.

IN closed auction each participant makes a single bet, so
there are far fewer opportunities for collusion.

Depending on the technology of carrying out, there are:

an auction with a price increase (consensual auction);

auction with a price reduction;

blind auction.

On up auction starting price set in agreement with the seller. After it is announced by the auctioneer (leader of the auction), buyers offer their price, increasing the previous one by the amount determined by the auction rules. The item is considered sold to the highest bidder. If the item put up for auction is not in demand (there are no proposals to increase the price for it), it can be withdrawn from the auction.

On discount auctions the initial price is always too high. In the process of bidding, it is reduced until one of the buyers announces their intention to purchase the goods. This method is called "dutch auction" (Dutchauction), as it is widely used in Holland, where auctions of flowers and ornamental plants, vegetables are held in this way. They are sold using auction watches. The essence of auctions with a decrease in price is that at first the auctioneer sets the maximum starting price, which lights up on the dial installed in the auction room, after which the clock indicator moves in the direction of decreasing it. If none of the buyers expresses a desire to purchase a lot at this price, then the auctioneer begins to reduce the price. Each of the buyers present in the hall has a special remote control with a button that allows you to stop the pointer. The buyer of the goods is the one who first presses the button in front of him, which stops the price change on the dial. After that, the number under which this buyer is registered with the organizers of the auction lights up on the dial. He is considered the buyer of this lot. He gets the right to choose and purchase the required quantity of goods at a price fixed on the watch. From the same price, bidding resumes and continues until the minimum price set for each product is reached. This method of conducting an auction significantly speeds up the pace of the auction.

Condition auction "blindly" - simultaneous provision by buyers of their rates (for example, in writing). The item is sold to the highest bidder.

Depending on the significance of auctions, two types of auctions are used:

· oral auction(the so-called "English auction");

· joint bidding(combination of oral bidding and written bids).

First, there is an oral auction. At the end of this auction, but before the opening of the received written applications, the auctioneer invites buyers who won the auction for one or another auction unit to make further allowances. After that, the auction commission opens written statements in full view of all buyers. Each application is read aloud and the bids made therein are recorded in the auction results report for the relevant auction units, indicating the price offered and registration number sealed in an envelope. The winner of the "second stage" wins the auction.

Figure 1 - Mechanism joint bidding

Depending on the method of price increase, two types of auctions are distinguished. Exist the following ways price increases - public and private.

With a vowel the auctioneer announces the number of the lot for sale, names the initial price and asks: "Who is more?" A buyer wishing to purchase a lot for more than high price, names a new price, which is higher than the previous one by an amount not lower than the minimum markup specified in the auction rules. The auctioneer calls the number of the buyer under which he is registered at the auction, the new price of the lot and again asks the question: "Who is more?" If, after repeating the question three times, no new offer follows, the auctioneer strikes with the gavel, confirming the sale of the lot to the buyer who last called the highest price.

One of the forms of trading activity under the Civil Code of the Russian Federation is the participation of enterprises in bidding, which are held in the form of auctions or.

Commodity auctions(Latin - sale at a public auction) is a way of selling goods that have individual properties and values.

Exist permanent auctions that take place one or more times a year, usually certain time, but can be organized one-time auction for the sale of a specific or batch of goods. Unlike commodity exchanges, auctions are not permanent, but periodically operating centers for intermediary real goods.

These are specially organized operating markets in which a sale is made through public auction at a predetermined time and in a specially designated place.

Often this large companies concentrated trade in a certain type of product. They usually buy goods from manufacturers at their own expense, dictating purchase prices, and resell them, receiving from the difference in prices. The same auctions accept goods from independent manufacturers for resale. Large auctions have own production but the refinement of commodities (for example, furs).

Other auctions are specialized brokerage firms that resell goods on a commission basis, receiving remuneration from sellers. Sellers and buyers themselves do not participate in such auctions.

Auction organizers can also be enterprises for which auction sales are not the main activity: museums, art salons, exchanges, permanent exhibitions, the charter of which provides for this type of activity.

Companies, organizations or individuals (owners of goods or property) can act as sellers at the auction. They can also act as buyers.

The main parties of the auction are: the owner of the goods, the seller, the organizer of the auction, the buyer.

An auction in which only one participant participates is considered invalid.

Trade objects at the auction can be both personal items with individual features(paintings, antiques), and furs, cattle, horses, tobacco, tea, coffee, unwashed wool, flowers, fruits, etc. In our country, the auction trade in furs is carried out in St. Petersburg, pedigree horses - in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Pyatigorsk.

Both large lots of goods and individual items can be offered for auction. When selling by auction, unlike a regular sale, neither the seller nor the organizers of the auction are responsible for.

commercial sense auction is that maximum price on the goods sold is established by direct buyer competition simultaneously present at the point of sale. The winner of the auction is the person who offered the highest price.

• How are auctions conducted?

It's no secret that the Russian economy is going through a crisis in one way or another. This affects not only the ruble exchange rate, but also directly on daily life and trends in different markets. The decrease in indicators is felt in the construction market and in other areas, while the bankruptcy of companies is no longer such a rarity.

How are auctions arranged? However, if bankruptcy means the end of work for the company itself, then for individuals this could be a good deal. Property auctions sometimes offer really incredible discounts, thanks to which apartments, cars and entire buildings go under the hammer literally for a penny - the main thing is to learn how to win such auctions.

Many individuals and private firms have long focused on unusual form activities - buying property at auction. The scheme for acquiring property at a price that sometimes turns out to be several times lower than the market price is quite simple - after a company or individual is declared bankrupt, electronic auctions in which you can participate online. The property is sold and due to this, the existing debts are covered, but the fact is that it is often not possible to sell the property at cost, so in the end it goes under the hammer for mere pennies.

Of course, you should not believe in stories about how many ordinary individuals chose trading platforms and bought apartments in Moscow for 100,000 rubles or cars for 10,000 rubles without any problems, this area in which many professionals of physical and legal entities and not a single specialist will allow you to miss a profitable deal. However, this type of income is still quite real, because after the auctions where the property was purchased at a bargain price, you can choose sites for selling it already at market value, earning good money.

Auctions for the sale of private property

Not so long ago, the sale of property was carried out only in relation to private firms, however, on October 1, 2015, a law came into force that regulates the procedure for the sale of property of individuals. That is, the owners of apartments, cars, land plots can lose their property due to debts. This means that through auctions it is possible to purchase objects on the cheap at a significant discount - often the objects being sold represent the center of Moscow and housing at a cost several times lower than the market value.

Today, bankrupts among individuals are more common - these are citizens who have taken a loan for an apartment, car, house or have other debts. Under the new law, all the debtor's property can be sold through an auction.

Trades and auctions for bankruptcy. harsh truth

Visit the nearest master class by Oleg Selifanov:

How to find and buy gold objects according to the Sherlock Holmes method

How are auctions conducted?

The sale of the debtors' property takes place almost immediately after the declaration of their bankruptcy. Bidding is held in three stages: during the first auction site, it is allowed to place bets only on price increases, that is, the initial cost of the lots is announced and it can only be increased during the auction. The second stage is organized according to a similar scheme, only the initial price of the lots is reduced. Bets from individuals and legal entities are accepted only for an increase.

Most interesting stage, which allows you to purchase property literally for a penny, this is the third stage. It is called a public offer and lots can be sold for any offered price, that is, the price can be significantly reduced. At this stage, the apartment can be sold at a price 2-3 times lower than the market value.

The problem is that usually auctions do not reach the third stage, so buying a property at an extremely low price is a very rare case. As a rule, the property is sold during the first stage of the auction, less often - during the second stage, when you can save up to 30% of its value on the purchase.

And do not think that they will forget to pay attention to some auction and the apartment, which represents the very center of Moscow, after two stages will quietly move to the third and you can easily buy it for a ridiculous amount. Bankruptcy auctions are monitored by professional companies and many individuals, whose task is precisely to make money on such auctions.

How to participate in the bankruptcy auction?

Previously, all that had to be done to win the auction was to enter the site on time and apply first. This allowed the use of bots, as the robot can monitor the auction site and leave bids automatically. Now everything has become a little more complicated, but the scheme for buying property of individuals or legal entities has become more transparent.

First of all, you need to get your own electronic signature, which will be required for processing electronic documents when participating in auctions - an EDS for bankruptcy auctions will cost you 5-6 thousand rubles.

Then you should find the lot you are interested in and start studying it - look at the list of documents for the object, if we are talking about expensive real estate, it is advised to go to the object and conduct a personal inspection.

Then it remains only to wait for the launch of a new stage of trading and submit an application. Please note that a deposit of 10-20% of the value of the lot is required to participate in the auction. If you have won electronic trading, then the purchase of property is possible through the payment of the remaining amount minus the deposit.

Bankruptcy bidding - Pitfalls and scammers

Where to find money to participate in bankruptcy auctions

In fact, there are many options for how to find money and acquire bankrupt property for 10% of the real value and even lower. Let's consider several options:

Where to find bankruptcy auctions?

There are three types of venues where bankruptcy auctions are held or announced with the sale of property at a reduced cost:

1. Official portals, who publish all information about the auction in accordance with existing laws - Fedresurs and the Saturday issue of the Kommersant newspaper
2. Marketplaces- sites specializing in the organization of online trading
3. Bankruptcy bidding aggregators- resources that collect information about all current auctions from many sites

Among the official portals, one of the largest is the "Unified Federal Register of Bankruptcy Information" - the center of the main auction, among the unofficial ones it is worth highlighting the "Russian Auction House", reviews of which are most often only positive. There are actually many portals on the Internet today through which you can buy property at bankruptcy auctions and where the sale takes place at tempting discounts.

Well, as you can see, it is quite realistic to buy the debtor's property at a discount through bankruptcy auctions, and sometimes the price of the lots is several times lower than the market value. However, keep in mind that professionals always participate in the auction, for whom this type of income is the main one.