Spectrum Enterprises Support and FAQ

(Information below derived from Wikipedia)

Standard Auction
Also known as an open ascending price auction. This type of auction is the most common form of auction in use today. Participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid higher than the previous bid. Bidders may submit bids themselves (or have a proxy enter a bid on their behalf), electronically with the highest current bid publicly displayed. The auction ends when no participant is willing to bid further, at which point the highest bidder pays their bid. Alternatively, if the seller has set a minimum sale price in advance (the 'reserve' price) and the final bid does not reach that price the item remains unsold. The current highest bid is always available to potential bidders. Commonly used for selling goods, most prominently antiques and artwork, but also secondhand goods and real estate. Also see Reserve Auction.

Dutch Auction
Also known as an open descending price auction. In the traditional Dutch auction the auctioneer begins with a high asking price which is lowered until some participant is willing to accept the auctioneer's price. The winning participant pays the last announced price. The Dutch auction is named for its best known example, the Dutch tulip auctions. ("Dutch auction" is also sometimes used to describe online auctions where several identical goods are sold simultaneously to an equal number of high bidders.) In addition to cut flower sales in the Netherlands, Dutch auctions have also been used for perishable commodities such as fish and tobacco. In practice, however, the Dutch auction is not widely used.

Reverse Auction
A type of auction in which the role of the buyer and seller are reversed, with the primary objective to drive purchase prices downward. In a standard auction, buyers compete to obtain a good or service. In a reverse auction, sellers compete to provide a good or service by offering progressively lower quotes until no supplier is willing to make a lower bid.

Reserve Auction
An auction where the item for sale may not be sold if the final bid is not high enough to satisfy the seller - that is, the seller reserves the right to accept or reject the highest bid. In these cases a set 'reserve' price known to the auctioneer, but not necessarily to the bidders, may have been set in advance below which the item may not be sold. A reserve auction is safer for the seller than a no-reserve auction as they are not required to accept a low bid, but this could potentially result in a lower final price than might otherwise be the case if this means that less interest is generated in the sale.