Line #90 Main/Auction


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5
6	->'''''Auctioneer''': The man who proclaims with a hammer that he has picked a pocket with his tongue.''
7	-->-- ''Literature/TheDevilsDictionary''
8
9	Next up, Ladies and Gentlemen, is this lovely trope about putting items up for sale. Not at a fixed price, but allowing people to put their own price on the item, as long as it's higher than the last price named. These are called bids.
10
11	It can be used for your basic comedies, dramas, thrillers and all situations with a need for tension (and a MotorMouth), ladies and gentlemen. You can get your {{MacGuffin}}s being fought over with good guys and bad guys trying to out bid each other. For a limited time only, get this with the random civilian who starts bidding unaware of what they've got before them thus [[SpannerInTheWorks messing up everyone's plans]]. Perhaps you just need a straight forward plot device to get you item from A to B? Well this is what you need. It makes a great laundering system for spy secrets and mafia money. You might think this bidding system is just for getting the item, it can be used as a sting wherein the heroes drive up the bargain to find out who the villain (who desperately needs it) really is.
12
13	As with all models in this range, you'll be getting the opportunity to signify [[RichPeople wealth]] and [[ConspicuousConsumption opulence]] like you'll rarely find elsewhere. Somedays you'll just find yourself taking a character to the auction just to spend exorbitant amounts of money on random pieces to signify how wealthy they are. Expect the audience to gasp as mister moneybags raises the bids to an unprecedented level.
14
15	Oh no, this isn't just an ordinary trope, everyone. It's a SuperTrope, encompassing:
16	[[index]]
17	* AccidentalBid
18	* AuctionOfEvil
19	* BachelorAuction
20	* WhammyBid
21	[[/index]]
22
23	Shall I start the bidding at 20? Thank you.
24
25	Do I hear 25? Yes, good sir.
26
27	30? 30 going once--30 from the man in the brown hat.
28
29	Do I hear 35? 35, it is. Now 40 from the woman with the blue hair ribbon.
30
31	40 going once, twice, SOLD!
32	----
33	!!Examples:
34	[[foldercontrol]]
35
36	[[folder:Advertising]]
37	* One of Advertising/{{GEICO}}'s TV "Did You Know" TV ads has the punchline of "Well, did you know auctioneers make really bad cashiers?" Cut to a supermarket clerk give a customer her total, then suddenly breakout the rapid-fire auction-speak and sell that customer's entire order to the one behind her in line. (Note that this is also a culture-specific gag - while in the US and many other Western countries only really expensive items like cars and houses are haggled over, in other countries such as those around the Mediterranean it is the custom to haggle over things like produce.)
38	* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85fDoJX2XNs this ad]] for California Almonds, a man's garage sale is going slowly until he eats an almond. At that point, he immediately peps up into an auctioneer and the shoppers start shoving money at him.
39	* Back in the 50s, when you still could advertise cigarettes on TV, Lucky Strike had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8wyqIKYqxc a series of commercials]] that featured tobacco auctioneers that claimed that Lucky Strike bought the best tobacco available at auction.
40	* In the Advertising/JayBushAndDuke ads for Bush's Baked Beans, one of Duke's schemes to sell off the secret family recipe was an auction in a barn with Duke himself as the auctioneer.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
44	* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': Auctions are held in Yorknew City, especially the Underground Auction where [[TheMafia Mafia]] representatives and even Mafia bosses are sent there to attend.
45	* ''Anime/LastExile'': while Claus and Lavie are participating in an air race, Captain Alex Rowe attends an auction and causes a stir--he opens with a 10,000,000 Claudia bid for an artifact, where the reserve price was only 5,000,000. [[spoiler: The bidding goes up to 50 ''billion'', and only stops because Alex' opponent puts a gun to his head to keep him from running the price up further.]]
46	* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has a slave auction.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Board Games]]
50	* The 2000 edition of ''Pay Day'' (which is in the Game Boy Advance version that also comes with Yahtzee and the TabletopGame/GameOfLife) has "Deal" cards that are "Auction Deals": instead of the Auction Deal only for the player who drew it, ''all the players'' can bid on it, highest bidder winning it. The catch is, only the player who drew it (or only the human players in the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance version as they must use the GB Advance or UsefulNotes/NintendoDS that the game is played on) knows the true value of the Deal. Getting other players (especially the AI players) to bid where they either lose money on the Deal or don't make enough in proportion to the bid and how much time is left to redeem the Deal (which can only be done on a "Found A Buyer" space or a mail card that lets you move to the next "Found a Buyer" space) for can be game-changing (any Deal, especially an Auction Deal, drawn late in the game might get no buyers if a player doesn't think he can get a roll that would let him land on "Found a Buyer" in time; games can be as long as six 31-day months to as few as just '''one''') as a Deal still held at the end of the game is worth '''NOTHING.'''
51	* The premise of ''Masterpiece'', where players bid on paintings (or, on certain spaces, just buy them for set prices, or even get them for ''nothing''). The object is to have the most in assets as well as cash, as the paintings come with value cards that range from a million (in earlier editions) to the canvas they're painted on. The "character" cards have a distribution guide to the value cards to help gauge odds.
52	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}'', this is what is ''supposed'' to be done to properties that players do not outright purchase when they land on an unowned space -- the PopularGameVariant of leaving it unpurchased is a major contributor to the marathon sessions the game can be notorious for. Many have taken up that house rule because auctions have a tendency to degenerate into +$1 pissing contests, which can be easily fixed with another house rule that bids have to be at least, say, $5 or $10 above the previous one. Another less common house rule has the unowned property immediately go to auction when landed on with no possibility to purchase it at face value. Auctions are also supposed to happen if several players want to build more houses or hotels at once than there are left in the bank (most players just go by "first come, first served" basis when that happens) or when a player goes bankrupt against the bank to redistribute their properties (since this can get tedious fast, they are often simply put back up for sale). Many of the game's video game adaptations retain this house rule.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Fan Works]]
56	* ''Website/FamilyGuyFanon'': In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyFanonS1E4DoAndDie Do and Die]]", after his job cancels the planned Adam West figures they made to coincide with him becoming mayor due to Adam West's decline in popularity due to Lois, Peter mentions how he could maybe pawn his figure he was able to take home on eBay, before Brian destroys it.
57	* ''Fanfic/TheEventideVerse:'' In the story ''A Moonlit Storm,'' the Crown agent, Night Light, and member of the villainous Thunderstrikes organization, Needles, seek to outbid each other on the [[ArtifactOfDoom Alicorn Amulet]] when it ends up on the auction block after the duke who'd had it in his collection for years passes away. As Night Light essentially has a blank check from the palace to acquire it, he and Needles's back-and-forth bidding drives up the price to one hundred million bits before Needles finally folds, roaring in fury.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
61	* ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'': Ralph and Vanellope go to eBay to get a new steering wheel for ''Sugar Rush''. In the Internet, eBay is depicted like an actual auction house.
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
65	* An auction for land parcels in Florida is a key plot element in ''Film/TheCocoanuts''.
66	* ''Film/TheFirstWivesClub'': In order to help further their revenge against their ex-husbands, Elise, the former movie star, sold all assets she and her ex-husband acquired during their marriage as a result of her work and sold them at a reasonable price to her friend Annie at the price of [[spoiler: '''$1.00''' ]] and Annie set up the auction at Christie's. Then they had the girlfriend of the third ex-husband, come with some friends, who were allies of the titular first wives, and got her to buy most everything, especially if it was overpriced, and charge it to the third ex's bank accounts.
67	* ''Film/HudsonHawk''. While Eddie and Anna Baragli are at an auction for the statue of a horse, the Mayflowers kill the auctioneer with an bomb placed in his gavel to disrupt the auction.
68	* ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'' had one. One that ended with everyone eaten by tooth fairies.
69	* The protagonists of ''Film/MouseHunt'' try to sell their mansion in one. It would have worked too, if the mansion hadn't fallen down.
70	* The protagonist of ''Film/MickeyBlueEyes'' was an auctioneer.
71	* ''Franchise/JamesBond''
72	** In the film ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', James Bond attended an auction at Sotheby's for a Faberge egg, and gives the [=MI6=] art expert a heart attack by bidding on it as well to see how badly the bad guy wanted it (Bond goes up to half a million pounds before folding). Bond also manages to palm the Faberge egg in the guise of examining it and substitute a fake. This section of the film is based on the short story "[[Literature/OctopussyAndTheLivingDaylights The Property of a Lady]]", which has a somewhat different outcome--there Bond only wants to detect the anonymous seller, a KGB agent who's driving up the price as a covert means of paying a DoubleAgent.
73	** PlayedForLaughs in Bond parody ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967'', where a PornStash of compromising photographs is being auctioned and the bidding gets increasingly ridiculous.
74	--->'''Russian officer:''' A wagonload of vodka!
75	--->'''Chinese officer:''' SEVENTY MILLION TONS OF RICE!
76	* The Oscar-winning French film ''Film/{{Indochine}}'' has one of these at the beginning; the main character and her LoveInterest meet at one, where he begs her not to bet any higher because he loves the painting but cannot afford any more. She bids higher.
77	* In ''Film/HappyGilmore'', Happy raised enough money to pay off his grandma's house on the deadline when she never paid her taxes. But the IRS are auctioning the house and sold for more than the amount of money Happy has, and his {{Jerkass}} rival buys it.
78	* A classic moment from ''Film/NorthByNorthwest'': Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) made a public nuisance of himself at an art auction (claiming that the paintings were fake, bidding 12 dollars when the highest preceding bid was 1000, etc.) so that the police would arrest him, thus keeping Vandamm (James Mason) from getting his hands on him. It was later revealed that Vandamm used the auction house as a cover to smuggle microfilm out of the country.
79	* The frame story of ''Film/TheRedViolin'' is an auction of instruments including the title object; each party bidding on it has some connection to the violin's past, explained in the side stories.
80	* In ''Film/SinbadTheSailor'', a Caliph orders that a ship Sinbad had discovered and hoped to salvage, believing it would lead him to the treasure of Alexander, be auctioned out from under Sinbad's nose. As the auctioneer asks for bids, Sinbad begins expounding the ship's features, while pointing out that its previous crew had died under mysterious circumstances and that the ship may be cursed, in an effort to discourage any bidders so he could keep the ship for himself. It doesn't quite work, but Sinbad is good at [[IndyPloy thinking on his feet]].
81	* The protagonist couple of ''Film/TheWarOfTheRoses'' meet during an auction.
82	* The 1990s film ''Film/TheAddamsFamily ''has the family donate an antique finger trap for sale at a charity auction. Gomez and Morticia proceed to bid against each other, driving the price (and their attraction for each other) up.
83	* The plot of ''Film/DressedToKill1946'' is kicked into action when Colonel Cavanagh misses the auction where the three music boxes are being sold, and the gang is forced to track down the other buyers and acquire the boxes by other means.
84	* The climax of ''Film/SherlockHolmesAndTheDeadlyNecklace'' takes place at an auction of Egyptian antiquities. Moriarty, who had expected his gang to steal Cleopatra's necklace as it was being transported to the auction, is astounded when Holmes assures its arrival and subsequent sale.
85	* ''Film/AgainstAllFlags'': When Roc auctions off Princess Patma's handmaidens as brides for the pirates, Hawke and Spitfire get into a bidding war for the disguised princess.
86	* In ''Film/TheRaid1954'', St. Albans holds an auction of captured Confederate items to raise money for the local company of troops. Capt. Foster and Benton both bid for a Confederate flag: Foster because he never had the opportunity to collect any battle souvenirs of his own, and Benton because he is an undercover Confederate operative and does not want the flag in Yankee hands. Benton eventually raises the bidding to a point where Foster cannot follow .However, at this point, Katy Price steps in and trumps Benton's bid. Not wanting to bid against her, Benton withdraws.Katy buys the flag and makes it a gift to Foster.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Literature]]
90	* There is a novel (not ''Chasing Shakespeares'') in which the protagonists find a locked trunk about to be auctioned which they think contains some evidence regarding the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_authorship_question Shakespeare Authorship Question]]; unfortunately while they were examining it a random couple saw them do it and decided that the trunk must be valuable, so they began a bidding war over it.
91	* In ''Bloodfever'' by Karen Marie Moning. Jericho and Mac attend an auction for a MacGuffin. Malluce planned to have an online auction for another MacGuffin, peripherally related to the other one.
92	* ''The Ersatz Elevator'', the sixth book of ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', featured an auction led by [[spoiler:Count Olaf in disguise]] - and one of the items on sale was the Baudelaire siblings' [[spoiler:kidnapped friends]].
93	* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] found himself being put on e-Bay after being captured by a mid level baddie.
94	* In [[Literature/TalesOfKolmar Song in the Silence]], Lanen is daughter of a horse-breeder and early on goes to take the horses to sell at auction, at which point she'll take some of the profits and go on an adventure.
95	* In the Creator/JulesVerne novel ''Literature/ThePurchaseOfTheNorthPole'', a mysterious club offers the North Pole in auction to several nations.
96	* In ''Literature/TheSecretsOfTheImmortalNicholasFlamel'', book 2, ''The Magician'' actually starts at an exclusive art auction, introducing the new villain, WickedCultured [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Machiavelli]]. The items he's bidding on are actually fairly insignificant to the plot, making the scene useful mostly to establish his character. He receives a phone call from John Dee (another EvilSorcerer who was introduced in the first book) while in the middle of bidding and things get more interesting from there.
97	* Robert Heinlein's ''Literature/CitizenOfTheGalaxy'' opens with the titular protagonist being put up for auction at a slave market. He is purchased by the beggar Baslim the Cripple (who is not what he seems). Baslim is heavily subsidized by a Syndonian dandy, who the auctioneer had inadvertantly insulted earlier.
98	* Near the end of ''Literature/TheWidowOfDesire'' there is a [[PrettyInMink fur auction]] held in the USSR. [[spoiler:Protagonist Natalie Stuart takes the opportunity to hide evidence of a conspiracy within one of the pelts.]]
99	* ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'': The BatmanColdOpen for ''Hex and the City'' opens with John at an auction for various supernatural-based items, where he's been hired to stand guard over a particular item. One of the other items up for bid is a yeti's-foot umbrella stand; shortly before the auction is to start, a pissed-off yeti stomps into the hall, marches up to the displays, scoops up the aforementioned umbrella stand, shoots a really nasty look at the auctioneers and everyone else, and stomps back out with his prize. There's no attempt to stop him.
100	* In ''Literature/HittyHerFirstHundredYears'', the doll Hitty is acquired by an elderly antiques collector. She dies a few years later, and her collection is auctioned off. A woman and an elderly man compete to buy Hitty, with the woman making higher and higher bids, and the man adding just one dollar to her bids. In the end, the man buys her for $51.
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
104	* ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'': Several episodes:
105	** "The Inheritance": During the Great Depression of the 1930s (and again, to a lesser extent during the 1980s farm crisis), when farms were foreclosed and sold to the highest bidder, some auctions became ''penny auctions'', wherein participants collectively discourage competitive bidding in order to force the sale a foreclosed property at a low price, and then “sold” back to the original owner. This comes into play in this episode (although more than 50 years before the Depression), where the Ingalls think they have inherited a fortune from a recently deceased relative and Charles – before getting the funds – purchases new machinery and land; the family then learns they have received worthless Confederate currency, and now are deep in debt. Mrs. Olesen, wanting to rid Walnut Grove of the Ingalls' family for so long, sees this as her opportunity to get back at them and force them off their land, but the others – Jonathan Garvey, Dr. Baker, Rev. Alden and even and especially ''her own husband'' – stage one of these penny auctions to foil Mrs. Olesen. In the end, Jonathan reveals the plan and that Charles owes no interest and has forever to pay ... securing their friendships and relationships.
106	** "The Legacy," which begins with a flash-forward to the present day (1981) and the auctioning off of a special drop-leaf table Charles had designed and mass-produced with his initials on it, some 100 years earlier. The meat of the story is set, of course, in 1881 (when episodes during the 1981-1982 season were set), before the episode ends again in 1981, when a couple of antique furniture shoppers, who was hoping to buy the table, win the auction and the item and happily drives away with their find.
107	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "The Auction", [[SoundToScreenAdaptation a radio episode remade for television]], Madison High School holds an auction to raise funds for children's playground equipment. A local philanthropist even donates an entire house full of furniture. Hilarity ensues when DumbJock Stretch Snodgrass mixes up addresses, and Miss Brooks inadvertently auctions off Mr. Conklin's furniture instead:
108	-->'''Miss Brooks''': [[OhCrap Mr. Conklin . . . it was your house!]] . . . Well, there's only one way to settle this. Gather round, folks, gather round. What am I bid for me and Stretch Snodgrass?
109	* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
110	** Quark holds an auction for items Vash brought over from the Gamma Quadrant. Q has a little fun with it.
111	** "In The Cards" also has an auction where Jake and Nog try to buy a 1951 Willie Mays baseball card for Captain Sisko. Unfortunately the card is part of a lot that another bidder wins, which sets off the ChainOfDeals plot to get it.
112	* Auctions are used several times in ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', typically as a MacGuffin that gets the murder plot rolling
113	* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': there's an auction at which a famous movie prop sword is sold, but that sale is a fake (the rest of the auction is real) - they're trying to lure the person who killed the girl who owned it.
114	* ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'': Drew's house is seized and sold at auction.
115	* ''Series/NYPDBlue'': Andy and Andy Jr. go to an auto auction to buy Jr. a car, along with a friend of Andy's who is in the car dealership buisness and has asked all the other dealers there to not bid as a personal favor; but there is one other person there who isn't a dealer, and who wants the car for himself.
116	* ''Series/KenanAndKel'' had a regular auction episode.
117	* An episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' features a demon killing other supernatural creatures and stealing the body parts that hold their powers, and then holding an auction to sell the body parts. One of the items at the auction is The Eyes of Seer -- Angel's colleague Cordelia (fortunately, she's judged a small enough threat that the demon decides to leave them in her head until the auction's concluded).
118	* In ''The Onedin Line'' there apparently an episode with a really cool form of auction where a candle was lit and the bidding went on until the candle burnt itself out. Coffee is still traditionally sold this way in some places in RealLife.
119	* ''Series/The10thKingdom'' had one with the MagicMirror at stake.
120	* The ''Series/GossipGirl'' episode "The Lost Boy" centers around an auction which becomes more than just another social gathering when Blair and Chuck find themselves needing to bid on the same item - she to get into an elite social group, he to assist in a business deal. [[spoiler: Both were actually set up by Georgina to drive a wedge between them.]] The frantic bidding war concludes with [[spoiler: both losing out to Serena, who bought the item to get back at them for interfering with her relationship with Carter]].
121	* ''Series/TopGearUK'' had one in their 13th series, where the mission was to buy a pre-1982 classic car for under 3000 pounds. Hammond got the first one on the block (wanting to just get it out of the way), Clarkson ended up spending his own money on top of the 3000 pounds, and May got the last one on the block (after the one he had wanted went for too much money).
122	* Quite a few game shows have had auctions in some form:
123	** ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' is a whole game show built around this trope, with a twist: many games require the players to guess as close as possible to a prize's correct price without going over. The original show (1956-65) was piloted as "Auction-Aire" as it took the form of a modified auction. Creator Bob Stewart developed it after seeing an auction house moderator conduct a contest using this format, only the closest bidder to the price without going over got to buy the item at the winning bid price.
124	** ''Series/{{Debt}}'' had the "Gambling Debt" head-to-head round: a category with five unasked questions was shown, with a dollar amount. Players bid against each other to see how many questions they could answer. Bidding ended with a player bidding five, or being told "Prove It!" before then by the opponent. The winning bidder had to answer the number of questions he bid to get that dollar amount. If the bid wasn't fulfilled, the opponent won that dollar amount.
125	** The Peter Tomarken version of ''[[Wipeout1988 Wipeout]]'' had the Challenge Round, where players bid against each other to see how many of eight correct answers out of twelve shown they could get right before hitting a [[{{Whammy}} Wipeout]].
126	** The reverse auction was used in the Kennedy and Lange versions of ''Series/NameThatTune'', where in "Bid A Note," you had to bid to see how few if any notes you needed (bids usually started at six or seven and normally worked down to one, only a very rare few bid "I can name that tune in NO NOTES") to guess a mystery tune after being given a clue about it. Guess right, you win the tune. Guess wrong and your opponent does. Three tunes wins the round. The 2021 Jane Krakowski version, however, is played for cash prizes, which means if you guess wrong, your opponent hears TEN notes to name that tune and win the cash that goes with it (no giving money for nothing).
127	** ''Series/TheJokersWild'' used both normal and reverse auctions:
128	*** "Just One More" was a category where there was a question with multiple correct answers, and the contestants bid on how many answers they could get right in a row. If the winning bidder couldn't get all the answers to fulfill the bid, his opponent needed ''just one more'' right answer to win the question and it's value.
129	*** "How Low Will You Go?" was a reverse auction where a question was given, with a list of eight clues to the right answer. Players were given one clue to start, then bid on how few of the extra seven clues were needed to answer it. The winning bidder got to hear the clues, if any, that were needed, but a wrong answer meant the opponent got to hear ''all'' of the clues before answering.
130	** Sister series ''Series/TicTacDough'' also had an "Auction" category during the Martindale / Caldwell years, again with a question that had multiple correct answers. Bidding went until a bid to either get ALL the correct answers was given, or a player challenged their opponent to complete their bid. That winning bidder then had to give as many correct answers as was bid to win the box, but one wrong answer would let their opponent win the box if they could only give ''just one more'' of the remaining correct answers to win the box. This category once led to one of the series' [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Moments Of Awesome]], when – after hearing a question asking to name as many states as they could bordering the Atlantic Ocean – contestant Kit Salisbury requested to name all 14 states ... and then did just that, and easily.
131	** ''Series/SaleOfTheCentury'' did a Dutch Auction when for an Instant Bargain there was a tie for first place.
132	* In the early days of the [[{{Infomercial}} Paid Program]] there were several set up to look like live auctions, where once the auction was over they'd halve the price and then let the TV audience call in to buy the item in question.
133	* In the first season of ''Series/TheSimpleLife,'' Paris and Nicole went to work for a cattle auctioneer and briefly witnessed one such auction (complete with MotorMouth patter).
134	* ''Series/StorageWars'' is a reality show showcasing the auctioning of storage rooms.
135	* ''Series/AuctionHunters'' is another show about the auctioning of storage rooms. It debuted around the same time as ''Storage Wars'' above. This show focuses specifically on a team of two buyers and their "greatest hits", so to speak. It airs on Creator/SpikeTV.
136	* ''Series/AuctionKings'' is a show on the Creator/DiscoveryChannel based around an auction house. It's a FollowTheLeader of ''Series/PawnStars'' (as the two previous examples may also be).
137	* Used on the A&E series ''Shipping Wars''. Independent shippers put in bids for jobs listed on uShip; the client can award a job to the lowest bidder, or to a higher one based on customer feedback.
138	* The season of "The Next Iron Chef" that crowned Chopped judge Geoffrey Zakarian as the latest "Series/IronChef" had one challenge where a reverse auction happened with ingredients: each chef bid on how little time they needed to cook one of four ingredients revealed before each auction; the chef who didn't win a bid on any of the four had to cook the fifth mystery ingredient ''five minutes sooner'' than the lowest bid (if the lowest bid was 25 minutes, that chef had only 20 minutes to cook something that might normally take longer).
139	* ''Series/CutthroatKitchen'' had contestants start with $25,000, and use that cash to buy ways to sabotage their opponents (and sometimes help themselves) as they tried to cook a certain dish each of three rounds. The contestant eliminated each round lost all the money he or she had at that time, and the winner of the show kept whatever wasn't spent.
140	* ''Series/{{Castle\|2009}}''; in "The Last Call", the victim of the week discovered a stash of Mayor Beau James Walker's legendary (and highly expensive) whisky and tried to cut a deal with an auction house; the head of the auction house ends up killing him to claim the whiskey for himself. Castle, Beckett, Esposito and Ryan crash one of his auctions to quietly make him aware that he's busted.
141	* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': In "The Odd Triple", Pete deliberately drives up the bidding at a wine auction in an attempt to stall for time.
142	* On ''Series/TheBlacklist'', the episode "T. Earl King VI" dealt with a family who ran underground, black market auctions. They kidnapped Reddington to be auctioned off and one of his former enemies shows up to bid on him.
143	* ''Series/CityGuys'': In "Get to Preppin'," Al and El-Train sell a 1975 basketball trophy on an online auction site. When they find out that Manny High's 1975 basketball team is coming to take a photo with the trophy to be featured in the local newspaper after they had already sold it, El-Train has a decoy made. The problem? He used a gold balloon as a makeshift basketball, which ends up floating away when uncovered. Ms. Noble lowers the boom and reveals that she bought it back online, knowing that Al and El-Train sold the trophy anyway after she told them not to use the homeroom computer for personal (i.e., non-research) use.
144	* On ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' sports memorabilia auctions were used as part of a money laundering scheme. A relative of a DirtyCop would put up a worthless item up for auction and the crooked auctioneer would authenticate it as valuable memorabilia. An antique dealer would then bid on the auction and win the item. The antique dealer was funded by the mob and the setup was used to funnel pay off money to the DirtyCop who would then distributed it to his partners. A con man discovers the setup and tricks the antique dealer into bidding on a real item. The antique dealer later discards the item thinking that it is a worthless fake and the con man walks away with a rare autographed baseball worth a fortune.
145	* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': In "In the Blood," Karen goes to an auction where assets from Union Allied are being auctioned off, and sketches a few of the bidders. At Ben Urich's urging, she bids on one of the small lots to make it seem like she's there for legitimate reasons, winning some antiquated office equipment for Nelson & Murdock.
146	* The 2019 Food Network game show "Series/SupermarketStakeout" has four cooks competing for $10,000. They have $500 to start the show, but that must last three rounds (as in the "Budget Battle"-themed episodes of "Guy's Grocery Games" where they only have a beginning amount which must last the whole show). To get the groceries from which they must get what they need to cook, the cooks must buy them off of shoppers who had already paid for them, offering to pay above what was spent. If two or more see a shopper and want what they have, they go into an auction to see who can make a better offer for the groceries.
147	** Round One is a "blind buy" where the cooks CAN'T see what the shopper bought, AND must buy the WHOLE cart of groceries the shopper has: they have to judge the shopper and hope food they could use for cooking was what they have (although they could buy from more than one shopper). Some things might be in the purchase that are inedible by human standards, so they have to hope to get lucky.
148	** Round Two is where you can only get their cooking items from ONLY ONE SHOPPER, but they CAN look at what that shopper bought to avoid buying what they can't cook with. This could lead to an Auction if at least two like what the shopper had.
149	** Round Three is where they're limited to FIVE ITEMS ONLY, but they can look through a shopper's groceries, and buy the items (and bid on them if needed).
150	* Schemer holds one in the climax of the ''Series/ShiningTimeStation'' episode, "Do I Hear?" to raise the money to pay the bill for the repairs to his jukebox. However, instead of raising the bids for the things he auctions, he lowers them. At one point, Schemer tries to auction Billy's flute and Mr. Conductor's whistle, but the Jukebox Repairman helps Dan, Becky, and Kara by giving them the money to buy them. When Stacy and Billy find out about the auction, they shut it down.
151	* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': "[[Recap/CSINYS05E22 Yahrzeit]]" opens with a murder during an auction. As the case evolves, one of the pieces being offered is discovered to have been stolen from a Jewish family during the Holocaust.
152	* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': "I.Q." begins with the characters attending a silent auction for charity. Frasier and Niles end up competing over a lunch with Nobel Laureates and drive the total up to a ridiculous amount. Niles wins by $50 but then the auctioneer announces that if Frasier agrees to match the donation they'll add another seat. The brothers are aghast when they realise they've donated $8,050 to a shelter for homeless cats.
153	* ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'': In "Time On Our Hands", the Trotter brothers discover that a pocket watch among the junk in their garage is actually incredibly rare and valuable. They let it go to auction and it eventually sells for ''£6 million''. Both brothers FaintInShock as the total climbs higher and higher.
154	* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Rachel brings Joey and Phoebe to a silent auction run by her office. Rachel places a single, absurdly low bid on a trip to Paris so her boss will think she's made an effort. Phoebe doesn't make any bids, but attempts to introduce herself to the man who won the Paris trip. Meanwhile [[TheDitz Joey]], who doesn't understand silent auctions, accidentally bids $20,000 he doesn't have on a sailboat and is horrified when he realises he's going to have to pay for it.
155	-->'''Joey:''' I didn't know it was an auction! I figured: take a guess, help a charity, free boat!\
156	'''Rachel:''' Why would a charity give away a free boat?!\
157	'''Joey:''' I don't know! Charity?
158	* ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances'': Hyacinth attends an auction of the contents of a country mansion. Worrying about how much she might spend, Richard firmly vetoes many of the things she wants to bid on, ordering Hyacinth to sit on her hands. The only thing he allows her to bid on is a case of home-made gooseberry wine, on which Hyacinth gets very drunk.
159	* ''Series/BargainHunt'': The series is a {{Reality\|TV}} GameShow where two teams of two, plus an antiques expert assigned to help them, look around an antiques fair for an hour to buy three items each on a small budget to try to sell them at auction for a profit. Both teams keep whatever profits they make (ignoring auction costs) at the end.
160	* ''Series/AntiquesRoadTrip'': This series is similar to ''Bargain Hunt'', but it's instead two antiques experts driving around the UK in a classic car buying items from antiques shops to sell them at auctions over the course of five legs (just one leg for the CelebrityEdition). The budget they're given at the beginning of the trip grows or shrinks depending on the profits and losses they earn at each auction (and auction costs ''do'' apply here).
161	[[/folder]]
162
163	[[folder:Music]]
164	* Leroy Van Dyke's song, "[[https://youtu.be/WaVTxiPBJgM The Auctioneer]]".
165	* Music/JohnMichaelMontgomery's song, "Sold" is structured around a couple meeting at an auction and falling in love with the chorus done in the style of an auctioneer's patter.
166	* "Touch of the Master's Hand" in both [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMrz6UjQ8Cg song]] (sung by Wayne Watson here) and spoken gospel form. It involved a violin that wasn't fetching a good price, until a Violin Master played it--then it fetched in the thousands.
167	* {{Music/BIGMAMA}}'s "Auctiomania," [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin predictably]], is about one; the narrator bids fervently on every item, only to discover that the big final item to be auctioned off is himself. To add insult to injury, nobody really seems to go for him.
168	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwF9MfW-xMU Auctioneer Beats]], or adding beats to cattle auctioneers to make them rappers.
169	[[/folder]]
170
171	[[folder:Radio]]
172	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "The Auction", [[SoundToScreenAdaptation a radio episode remade for television]], Madison High School holds an auction to raise funds for children's playground equipment. A local philanthropist even donates an entire house full of furniture. Hilarity ensues when DumbJock Stretch Snodgrass mixes up addresses, and Miss Brooks inadvertently auctions off Mr. Conklin's furniture instead:
173	--->'''Miss Brooks''': [[OhCrap Mr. Conklin . . . it was your house!]] . . . Well, there's only one way to settle this. Gather round, folks, gather round. What am I bid for me and Stretch Snodgrass?
174	* Played for laughs in various episodes of ''Radio/TheGoonShow''
175	-->Sold to the gentleman who keeps changing his voice!
176	* PlayedForLaughs on an episode of ''Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain''; Tim Brooke-Taylor auctions off a telescope, with Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie bidding for it, and Oddie gets it for five pounds. Next item to be auctioned off is a five-pound note...
177	[[/folder]]
178
179	[[folder:Theater]]
180	* ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'': The prologue of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is set at a 1911 auction of the opera house's odds and ends. An older Raoul buys an old music box with a figure of a monkey playing the cymbals, while the last item shown for bid is "a chandelier in pieces", which is the same one dropped on the stage during the main events of the play, some years before.
181	* In Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical ''Theatre/TheLikesOfUs'', Thomas Bernardo buys a gin-palace in an auction in order to transform it into a tea and coffee establishment.
182	[[/folder]]
183
184	[[folder:Video Games]]
185	* ''VideoGame/BarnFinders'': Auctions are held down at the Bridge Storage garage. You can go there to collect stuff to fix up at sell at your pawn shop.
186	* Early ''Tycoon'' style game ''VideoGame/DinoParkTycoon'' has auctions enabled--you could get a 'slightly used' dinosaur for relatively cheap, or put up one of your own dinos for sale. Most notably, the auction was a GameBreaker in the DOS release--there was a way to force the MadScientist in the audience to constantly increase the bid on the current dinosaur up for sale, [[ArtificialStupidity even if he was bidding over himself]]. If you used this glitch when ''your'' dinosaur came up on the block, you could eventually force the computer-controlled scientist to overpay for a dinosaur by tens of thousands of dollars and pass most of that money on to you...provided you had both the patience to wait through the very slow early bidding process as well as the restraint to not get greedy with the glitch and trigger an underflow that would roll the price back down to the lowest possible starting bid. Subsequent ''Tycoon'' games from other developers excluded auctions after this.
187	* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Drakensang}} Drakensang 2: River of Time]]'' there is a mini-quest where a river sprite is auctioned off. The player can trry to outbid the others, scare the original seller before the auction into giving the sprite up or scare the buyer.
188	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
189	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has an auction house in Jidoor. There are some items that you can't win, such as a talking chocobo, but the items you can get include two espers (Golem and Zona Seeker) and some rare relics.
190	** Hanging around the Treno auction house in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' is the only way to find the Dark Matter, which can be equipped to allow casting one of the most powerful summon spells in the game (or tossed at an enemy to be used as a one-shot).
191	* Chances are good that you are going to participate in one of these in ''VideoGame/FortuneStreet''. If a player is forced to sell their property back to the bank, the bank will go into an auction with the three non-sellers, which usually ends up being a cheaper way to acquire the property than trying to buy out that property directly...that is, if you win.
192	* ''[[VideoGame/{{Forza}} Forza Motorsport]]'' has the Auction House, where players can put their cars up for sale on auctions. The Auction House is a great place to get neat painted cars or specially tuned, limited-edition cars made by well-known tuners. Players putting a car up for auction set how much the initial price is, the "Buyout" price (like the "Buy Now" option on eBay), and the time of the auction. Players bidding will bid in pre-set increments, and in the final 2 minutes of an auction, every bid will reset the clock to 2 minutes remaining, preventing bid sniping.
193	* ''VideoGame/LateShift'' features one in the first stage of the heist for a Ming dynasty porcelain rice bowl.
194	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' has an auction minigame in Windfall Island. The prizes put for sale are two Treasure Charts, a Piece of Heart, Joy Pendants and (only in the HD remake) a Swift Sail.
195	* ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey's'' way of averting PermanentlyMissableContent.
196	* The conclusion to ''[[VideoGame/OddWorld Munch's Oddyssey]]'' has the pair blow a rich glukkons fortune (a fortune which they had been explicitly building up for the purpose) on a can of eggs belonging to Munch's species.
197	* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' features an illicit auction for a MacGuffin essential to the plot.
198	* In ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'', Hidden V lets you auction off any item with Archaeological or National Historical Value, or is signed by a celebrity. You need a collector's recommendation in order to do an auction.
199	* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}''-based video game ''VideoGame/{{Richman}}'', this happens in most titles when someone use a special card called Auction to a property (with the user unable to bid,) one player bankrupts (with their lands auctioned afterwards,) or involved in a News event.
200	* {{MMORPG}}s like ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' even have interactive player-versus-player auction houses.
201	[[/folder]]
202
203	[[folder:Western Animation]]
204	* Auctions were popular plot devices in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.
205	** In [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE37TheStrangeSecretOfBruceWayne "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne"]], Professor Hugo Strange used a device that could video-tape people's thoughts on Bruce Wayne, producing videotaped evidence that he was Batman. He attempted to auction the information to Joker, Penguin and Two-Face, who then tried to have him killed when they thought he was conning them (Batman had switched the tapes to protect his secret and discredit Strange).
206	** [[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE7Harlequinade "Harliquinade"]] has an underworld auction of a nuke. The Joker bids zero. And no-one dares bid against him.
207	** In [[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE8TimeOutOfJoint "Time Out of Joint"]], Bruce Wayne places a winning bid on an antique timepiece, only for it to disappear at the last minute. Turns out the Clock King was testing a device that slows down local time, allowing him to move much faster than the eye can see, and stole the clock at the last minute. He then tosses it in a dumpster, remarking, "Already got one".
208	** In [[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE18TheDemonWithin "The Demon Within"]], an ArtifactOfDoom was up for auction, and kicks off the plot.
209	* In ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'', Alvin got caught in one to maintain a lie to a girl that he was rich.
210	* A magic potion was sold in one in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987''.
211	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has multiple examples:
212	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]", Bart Simpson buys an empty warehouse for one dollar in an auction.
213	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E15BartTheFink Bart the Fink]]", Krusty gets caught for tax evasion and the IRS auctions his house and the stuff inside it.
214	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E9RealtyBites Realty Bites]]", Homer buys Snake's cutom car in another seized property auction.
215	** Homer pranks Ned by writing his name on the bid sheet for a silent auction item. "Ned Flanders, $50." Ned wins - a $100 bill. [[BigNo Which he then donates to the church.]]
216	** Homer and Bart attend a rare coin auction in hope of buying a 1917 "Kissing Lincoln" one cent piece, but Mr. Burns wins it (and has won all the other auctions that day). Homer scams it out of Mr. Burns by asking for change for a nickel.
217	** Bart once attended an auction where he runs away after his bid is declared the highest one. The auctioneer then offered the item to the second-highest bidder, who also runs away. The auctioneer then asks if there are any ''real'' bids for that item. There aren't.
218	** Homer once forced Bart and Lisa to keep their place in a line and they retaliated by offering it to the highest bidder. Fat Tony offers a lollipop and everyone is afraid of making a higher bid.
219	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
220	** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E6AFishfulOfDollars A Fishful of Dollars]]", Fry became a billionaire and one of the things he did with his money was to go to an auction and buy every item.
221	** In another episode, they visit the futuristic eBay where the Milky Way Galaxy is auctioned off:
222	--->'''Auctioneer:''' Sold! To the being of inconceivable horror!\
223	'''Being:''' Mwah ha ha ha! Will a money order be okay?\
224	'''Auctioneer:''' Yes.\
225	'''Being:''' ''BWAH HA HA HA HA HA!''
226	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
227	** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS3E10AFishOutOfWater A Fish Out of Water]]", Peter attends a seized property auction to buy a boat with which to become a professional fisherman.
228	** Also in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS219TheStoryOnPageOne The Story on Page One]]", Stewie complains about his small stature, and a cutscene shows him attempting to bid on a Mind control device which is practically being given away, but Stewie's hand can barely be seen by the auctioneer as he yells in desperation.
229	** There is also the episode which shows how Cleveland lost his job as an auctioneer. A cutscene shows him speaking at a hilariously unnatural (for him) high speed and he gets hit on the head resulting in the speed he speaks at now.
230	* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' and his friend Spud, as well as TheRival, all participate in a charity auction.
231	* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Hank, Dale, and Boomhauer are trying to get Bill's army barber chair from the army auction.
232	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
233	** In the short "My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean", a Scotsman challenged Bugs to a game of golf. When Bugs claimed two strokes in one hole, and the Scotsman insisted 55, Bugs held what turned into a reverse auction for his score, conning his adversary into lowering the bid to one!
234	** The cartoon "Porky And Teabiscuit" (1938) has Porky at a market delivering some products and collecting $12 for it. He happens upon an auction where the auctioneer is taking bids for a piece of rope. When Porky tells another patron that the time is 12:00, the auctioneer mistakes it for a $12 bid, and awards Porky the rope for the $12. At the other end of the rope is a broken down nag that Porky winds up entering in a horse race.
235	** As a joke, in ''Porky & Daffy'' (1938), Daffy (as a prize fighter) tweaks the beak of the pelican referee so it sounds like the pelican is talking like an auctioneer. After the pelican says "All done?", Daffy quips, "Sold to the American tabasco company!"
236	** A similar gag in "WesternAnimation/PorkyPigsFeat"(1943): the hotel manager reads off Porky and Daffy's huge bill like an auctioneer. Daffy responds with "Sold to America!" and whomps him on the head.
237	* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'', Comicbook/{{Darkseid}} bid $1 on a chunk of gold kryptonite. Everyone is too scared to bid against him, except for the Super Friends, much to his chagrin.
238	* An AuctionOfEvil is the centrepiece of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' episode "In Like Blunt"; he has to recover a list of SHUSH agents. [[spoiler:Which is a BatmanGambit on the villain's part to trap the titular Blunt.]]
239	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hurricanes}}'': Stavros Garkos sent a representative to an auction to buy an ancient ball he believes could be used as evidence that soccer was invented in Greece. Hispanola Hurricanes player stats was at the auction to buy a blazer worn by his Coach Jock Stone back when Stone worked for the Inverfinnan Celtics. Napper tagged along and [[AccidentalBid accidentally outbid Garkos for the ball]]. Napper eventually sold the ball to Garkos in another auction.
240	* ''Franchise/{{Rugrats}}'':
241	** In the [[WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991 1991 series]] episode "[[Recap/RugratsS6E22OfficerChuckieAuctioningGrandpa Auctioning Grandpa]]", Grandpa Lou falls asleep in a rocking chair that is set for auction. This leads to the babies thinking that he's going to be sold. Dil picks up an auction paddle and keeps waving it while Stu is carrying him through the back of the auction crowd, causing the auctioneer to mistake Stu for a bidder and driving the price of the rocking chair to $150. Didi earns that money from selling her bird homes to a pair of hippies, but the auctioneer takes it all to pay for the rocking chair he insists Stu has to pay for.
242	** The [[WesternAnimation/Rugrats2021 2021 series]] episode "The Heist" combines this with HeistEpisode; a charity auction is being held at Angelica's preschool, and Stu and Didi donate Dil's mobile to it, as its tune drives them crazy. Tommy, knowing that the mobile helps Dil fall asleep at night, wants to get the mobile back before it gets sold, so Angelica helps him and the other babies do just that.
243	[[/folder]]
244
245	[[folder:Real Life]]
246	* eBay is now synonymous with online auctions, although it's not the only one.
247	* Creator/{{PBS}} Pledge Drives used to be auctions, where you'd call in your bid for an item they showed on screen.
248	[[/folder]]

Context Main / Auction