Auction

An auction is an event at which goods, divided into lots, are offered for sale and sold to the highest bidder. Several races were known to practice auctions, including the Orions and the Ferengi.

The Orions maintained a slave labor market in the 22nd and 23rd centuries, in which people &mdash; rather than goods &mdash; were sold as commodities. Nine crew members from the Enterprise (NX-01) were abducted by the Orions in 2154 and auctioned off as slaves on Verex III. .

When Quark broke Ferengi law in 2372, the punishment enacted by the FCA involved revoking his Ferengi business license and seizing all of his belongings to be auctioned off to the lowest bidder. 

After death, the bodies of many Ferengi were subjected to vaccuum dessication and then auctioned on the Ferengi Futures Exchange. According to Ferengi religious beliefs, the spirit of the deceased would enter the Divine Treasury if they had led a profitable life, after which they would be able to bid for a new life from the Celestial Auctioneers. 

In 2376, Quark was approached by an unnamed Cardassian male who had traveled to Deep Space 9 with an assortment of antique items and artifacts that he wished Quark to put up for auction, in return a 40% percentage of the profit and the standard finder's fee. One of the items that was put up for auction was the Scrolls of Lisoran and was purchased by Gronta, a Ferengi privateer. (: "The Highest Bidder")