A no-reserve auction (synonymous with absolute auction) sells the lot to whoever places the highest bid, regardless of how low that bid is. There is no minimum acceptable price. The seller is committed to selling, full stop.
No-reserve auctions are powerful marketing because they signal commitment and create urgency. They’re common in dealer dispersal sales, foreclosure auctions, government surplus, and estate liquidations where the goal is to clear inventory rather than maximize price. Auctioneers must clearly disclose “absolute” or “no reserve” status in advertising under most state regulations.
The strategic case for no-reserve is counterintuitive: by giving up the floor protection a reserve provides, you draw a much larger bidder pool, and the resulting competition often pushes prices well above what a reserve would have set. This logic only works at scale — on a single low-traffic lot, no-reserve can result in a giveaway. Bring A Trailer (the classic-car auction platform) built its reputation partly on no-reserve sales of enthusiast vehicles, where the format reliably produces vigorous bidding from a large global community of collectors.