Auction Procedures and Conduct of Sale
Core mechanics
A candidate must understand the anatomy of an auction: advertising and notice, terms announcement, bid calling, the fall of the hammer, and the record of sale. Distinguish the major formats - absolute (no reserve, must sell to the highest bidder) versus reserve (seller may reject bids below a stated minimum), and with-reserve versus without-reserve disclosure. Know the difference between an auction "with reserve" (default in many settings) and "without reserve," and understand that terms must be announced before bidding so bidders can rely on them.
Conduct and ethics
Expect questions on bid calling integrity: no shill bidding, no phantom bids, no bidding on your own account to drive price, and clear handling of tie bids and jump bids. Understand the auctioneer's discretion to reopen bidding, the meaning of "fair warning" before closing, and how to handle a disputed bid. The auctioneer controls the conduct of the sale but must exercise that control consistently and transparently.
Traps
A classic trap is the auctioneer bidding on behalf of an absentee bidder without disclosure, or the seller bidding back through the auctioneer. Another is changing terms mid-sale. The safest reading: announced terms bind the auctioneer, and any change must be clearly disclosed before affected bids are taken.
Rule of thumb
"Announce it, then honor it." Every material term - reserve status, buyer's premium, payment timing, removal deadlines - should be stated up front and applied uniformly.
Worked example
An auctioneer announces "absolute sale" but then rejects the high bid as too low. That is improper: in an absolute sale the item must sell to the highest bidder regardless of price, and rejecting the bid breaches the announced terms.