English auction

An English auction is an open-outcry ascending dynamic auction. It proceeds as follows.

The auctioneer opens the auction by announcing a suggested opening bid, a starting price, or a reserve for the item on sale.

Then the auctioneer accepts increasingly higher bids from the floor and sometimes from other sources, for example online or telephone bids. The auctioneer usually determines the minimum increment of bids, often making them larger as bidding reaches higher levels.

The highest bidder at any given moment is considered to have the standing bid, which can only be displaced by a higher bid from a competing buyer.

If no competing bidder challenges the standing bid within the time allowed by the auctioneer, the standing bid becomes the winner, and the item is sold to the highest bidder at a price equal to their bid.

If no bidder accepts the starting price, the auctioneer either begins to lower the starting price in increments, or bidders are allowed to bid prices lower than the starting price, or the item is not sold at all, according to the wishes of the seller or protocols of the auction house.

The English auction is different from other auction systems in its most essential feature: the public bidding process can transmit information to bidders in real-time because it can potentially realize the sharing of private information. By introducing the common value factor, the English auction has a revenue advantage: each bidder's private information about the common value is valuable information to the other bidders, and this information is disclosed during the public bidding process.