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This paper addresses the subject of the relation between the predictions of economic theory and bidder behavior in the Dutch auction, the English auction, the first-price sealed-bid auction, and the second-price sealedbid auction of a single item. The four types of auction market are defined as follows.

1. Dutch: In this auction the offer price starts at an amount believed to be higher than any bidder is willing to pay and is lowered by an auctioneer or a clock device until one of the bidders accepts the last price offer (Cassady, 1967, p. 67). The first and only bid is the sales price in the Dutch auction.