student asking question

What does "silent auction" mean? Is there any other type of auction?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

A silent auction is where people give written bids at the beginning and they are compared with each other. In these types of auction like in all auctions the highest written bid would get the item. There are a few kinds of auctions. Absolute auctions are auctions where there is no set minimum bid and the highest bid will get the item regardless of the final number. Minimum-bid auctions are auctions where there is a set minimum acceptable price and if the highest bid does not go over that then the item is not sold. Reserve auctions are auctions in which the seller can reject the highest bid if they want to. Ex: I went to a silent auction on the weekend. Ex: I think we should use a minimum-bid auction so we are guaranteed to make some money.

Popular Q&As

03/23

Complete the expression with a quiz!