How Auction Bidding Works

A timed online auction is a straightforward mechanism, but its details decide outcomes. Understanding them will not make you win more lots; it will stop you losing lots you meant to buy.

Increments

Bidding advances in fixed steps. The step is determined by the current level: modest at the lower end, larger as the figure rises. Increments keep bidding orderly and prevent a lot from being advanced by trivial amounts.

You may always bid the next increment. You may not bid an arbitrary sum between increments; the system will round your bid to the next acceptable step.

Bidding live, or leaving a maximum

There are two ways to bid.

You may bid the current increment each time, which requires you to be present as the lot closes. Or you may leave a maximum: the highest total hammer price you are willing to pay for that lot.

A maximum is executed automatically on your behalf. The system bids only as much as is needed to keep you in the lead, one increment above the nearest competing interest, and never more than your stated figure. If nobody else is interested, you may secure the lot well below your maximum. If two clients leave the same maximum, the earlier of the two takes precedence, and the later one must raise to advance.

A maximum is confidential. It is visible to you and, for the proper conduct of the sale, to staff; it is never disclosed to other bidders.

Reserves

Many lots carry a reserve: the confidential minimum hammer price below which the consignor has instructed that the property may not be sold. A reserve is agreed in advance, may not exceed the low estimate, and is never published.

If bidding does not reach the reserve, the lot is unsold. The catalogue indicates where a lot is offered without reserve.

The extended close

Each lot has a stated closing time. Where a bid is placed in the final minutes, that lot's closing time is extended by a short, published interval, and it will continue to extend for as long as bidding continues, up to a stated maximum.

The purpose is fairness. A last-second bid should not deny an interested underbidder the chance to respond, and the outcome of a sale should reflect interest rather than the speed of a connection. Practically, this means there is no advantage in waiting, and no penalty for bidding early with a considered maximum.

Being outbid

You are notified when a competing bid exceeds your maximum. You are free to raise it, or to let the lot go. Neither is a failure: a maximum set calmly before a sale is almost always a better judgement than a figure chosen in the last two minutes.

Withdrawals and errors

A bid, once placed, may not be withdrawn. In the rare event of an obvious error, write to us immediately; whether a bid can be set aside is at the auctioneer's discretion and is decided against the interests of the sale as a whole, not the convenience of one party.

Lots may be withdrawn before closing where a question of title, authenticity or condition arises. If a lot on which you have bid is withdrawn, you will be told, and any bid falls away with it.

When the lot closes

At the close, the highest bid above the reserve is successful, and the sale becomes binding. An invoice follows shortly afterwards. The total payable is the hammer price plus buyer's premium, any tax on the premium, and shipping where applicable.