Many people believe auction means bargain. Auctioneers understand this psychology and use it to draw large crowds of people which helps to ensure that the price is good for the seller. While there are indeed many good buying opportunities at an auction, the best articles in the world are sold at auction when pricing becomes difficult. The reason why people with very expensive items, and very modest items choose auction, is control. Through auction, the seller controls the time and terms of the sale, and virtually guarantees a marketplace by creating one if necessary. In strong real estate markets around the country you may have seen properties "listed for one price" and "sold above listing price". What happens in these situations is an auction, except that rather than being opened by announcements as such to the entire marketplace, they are usually conducted between the two or three buyers that have found the listing at that time, and they make offers not knowing what the other offers are and how much they have to give to beat the others. In these cases, we think of them as listings, but really a limited auction is taking place, and it is acceptable to the seller or they would not be selling.