Auction is the process of selling goods such that buyers and sellers communicate to each other so as to get the best deal. In auction, there is no fixed price for anything. Prices are decided at the time of selling. Auction can be simply defined as bidding.

Online auction can be defined as the type of auction which takes place over the internet. Online auction is of different types-

·         English auctions

·         Dutch auctions

·         First-price sealed bid

·         Vickrey auctions

·         Reverse auction

·         Bid fee auction

English auctions uses the ascending mode for auction i.e. auctioneers or bidders announce the bid and the buyer who won the bid pay what they have bid for the particular object.

Dutch auctions uses descending mode. In first-price sealed bid, single bid is made by each buyer, and buyer who makes highest bid wins.

Vickrey auctions are very much similar to first-price sealed bid; the difference is that winner has to pay the amount which second highest bidder had bid. 

Reverse auctions are the auctions in which role of buyer and seller is reversed. Bid fee auction is a type of auction in which bidder needs to pay some amount as fee.

Lowest bid auction is also a type in which the lowest bidder is considered as winner. At present it is the most popular type of bidding.

Online auction site has removed the physical limitations such as geographic limitations, time, space, and small target audience. As these auctions take place over internet, people throughout the world can participate in it and there is no requirement to be at the actual place of auction as was necessary in traditional auction. You can bid for phone, house, car, simply anything and everything using these sites.

Online bidding has given rise to some unlawful activities like shill bidding- seller place fake bids which raise the final price of object; fraud- popularity of online auctions lead to many fraudulent activities after receiving payment object is not delivered to the bidder or lower grade object is delivered.

 Online auction site are also used by thieves to sell the stolen good as online auction has very large target audience which makes their work easier. So care should be taken while using online auction site. Only participate in auction of authorized sites so that u does not get suffer of fraudulent activities.

Online bidding has enhanced online e-commerce. Many bidding sites are there which are risk free and only let authorized users to participate in the auction and hence minimize the chance of fraud and shill bidding. These sites provide a secure way for making payments also