Is It A Sale Or An Auction?

I was always under the impression that a sale meant that a seller listed a price and if you agree with that price you exchange payment for product, no? So what is the difference between a sale and an auction?

I was in my SAN account going through auctions and found something I liked and the price was fair. My SAN showed the "sale" ending in 3 hours. I placed my bid? An option for max bid? That now makes it an auction.

I figured I'd take a rip at it and if I get outbid then so be it. I submit my "bid" and all is fine until I see that the "sale" doesn't end in 3 hours, it's 3 weeks.

So, is it a sale or an auction?

*Edit* For clarity the dealer has it listed as a "Sale".

Hi,
A sale is a product offered for a listed price, or an offer.
If the price is met, then "an offer and acceptance" is met with vendors conditions.

An auction the price generally stated is a "reserve", a price, under which the vendor will not accept.
Prices above that remain until the hammer falls, and the highest (and earliest) bid has the lot knocked down to him / her

That's how I understand it.

Semantics aside if you cannot purchase the item at a fixed price, it is not a net price sale but rather an auction type sale. It can be called a sale or an auction or a banana. How it operates is the key. No competition with others involved = net price sale. The terminology can be interchangeable. Most auction firms in their auction catalogs have "Conditions of Sale". Paradise uses the term "Sale" but you compete with others and so it is an auction "sale". Same with Sandafayre and others. Siegel auctions back in the day were "sales". Sale is where things are sold. Sale does not define the type of transaction.

So far no one has mentioned this wonderful term, "Mail Bid Sale." Nor described a sale where folks compete for the item with the person willing to pay the most "winning" but wins only at their price offered without reference to another who may have offered the second highest amount. There is no reduction from the high winning price offered.

For me eBay is not a true auction as a true auction stops when there are no higher bids and not based upon what time it is.

I really don't use eBay anymore, this was SAN. I know it's semantics on what they label their offerings, I find it amusing. The sale I mentioned above just ticked me off but it's more of a SAN issue, not the seller. I clearly saw 3 hours left on the sale and that didn't update until my bid was submitted. Usually I treat these like an eBay auction and try and place a snipe in the closing seconds.

Stallzer - That IS very strange indeed.