vendor bid

A type of bid at an auction which is made by the auctioneer on behalf of the vendor, without any desire to buy the article. This is used as a tactic to keep the bids moving, or to persuade buyers to pay more, or merely to have a higher price to report if the property is passed in. Such a bid is in essence a fiction; if not clearly announced as such, it approaches the deliberate deception of a dummy bid.