How to buy at an Auction

Part 1

Why buy at an auction?

1. It’s eco-friendly.

In the main, but not always, goods sold at auction are new to you.  They are, to put it bluntly, 'second hand’.  I have to say though, that if you spend several thousand pounds on an object, you probably don’t think of it as ‘second hand’.

The fact remains, that if you bought a Victorian item, because it’s useful, beautiful, and you will use it every day, the energy expended on producing that item was used in the past. It may have contributed to the pollution of the planet over 100 years ago, but is not adding to environmental decay today, because you have bought an old item and not a new one.

2. It’s fun

Finding an Item you love at auction and setting out to buy it, is Fun!  If you are a collector like myself, perhaps you collect one particular thing.  You don’t need particularly deep pockets to collect.  Let's say you want to collect something very popular like coins or medals.  You can probably start an interesting collection for very little outlay.  Of course there are very rare and historic examples out there that may cost quite a bit, but everyone needs something to aim for.

3. It’s cheaper?

I add the question mark here because it’s not always cheaper.  I’ve seen people pay way too much at auction for items that they could get retail for a lot less, so never get carried away, never see the auction as a competition.  The only prize you get is you have to pay for it.

Having given that warning, I would advise anybody, say, who wants to furnish their first flat, or home, to look at an auction.  You can find stylish, old and modern furniture selling at auction for very little.  Some auctions deal in new remaindered stock, still in its wrapping that will sell for very reasonable cost.

4. It’s not on the high street

You will find items at auction that are quirky, novel, and things you don’t see anywhere else.  Do you want a real painting, well framed, good wall art, and actually oil on canvas.  Well executed oil paintings, water colours, wall art, decorative pictures, sell for very reasonable amounts, and there are quantities in every auction.  I can’t possibly buy them all!

5. It’s not all for the wealthy

So I hope I’ve convinced you that auctions are not all for the well healed, or for deep pockets.  Neither are they for a certain type.  You don’t have to wear tweed, you don’t have to be knowledgeable or expert.  The experts all started with their first buy.  That item you love, that you tell people you got for a hammer price of ‘you won’t believe it’, will be a treasure you will dine out for quite a while.  Have a go.

Finding an Auction

Where to find an auction?  Well, if you're not familiar with your local Auctioneers then an online search is probably the easiest way to start, good old Google will produce a map with the locations of auctions near you.

Get to know them, look them up, if they have an auction catalogue on line, then have a look.  You may be surprised at what you find.  Usual scenario:  you look at your first local auction, you immediately see something you love, the estimate is reasonable, and the auction was yesterday!  Never mind.  It happens to us all.

If you can, you may see what it sold for, you think it’s worth £100, it sold for £30!  Blimey! That was bad luck.  Not to worry, there will be another one, keep looking.

This has happened to myself more times than I want to recall, but here’s a thing: always look to see if the hammer price appears.  If the Auction publishes the hammer price, and you notice the item you like doesn't have the hammer price, then it may have been ‘passed’, that is not sold. Either because it did not get a bid on the day, or the bidding didn’t reach the reserve price, which is the price below which it would not be sold.

You may be in luck, and I have done this many times. Call the auction house, and ask them if the item has sold and if it is still available.  “What’s that? It didn’t sell, and it is available”.

Ask the auctioneer what they will take for the item, usually this will be the reserve price, or the lowest end of the estimate.  If there is no reserve, then here’s a tip.  Be polite, but ask if they will accept an amount that equals a bid under the bottom estimate.  So if the estimate was £50 - £80, they may accept £40 for it.  You have to ask, and they will understand a ‘cheeky bid’ as long as you are reasonable and polite.  No one likes a smarty-pants.

Most Auctioneers today are online, and their website will give you all of the details of upcoming sales.  It takes a lot to organise an online catalogue with descriptions and photographs, so some auctions sometimes only release their catalogue a few days before the auction.  Be sure to keep a look out.  You can receive an email alert, look out and sign up for these, you may need to open an account, more on this later.

Most auctions whether online or not will usually have printed catalogues available before the sale.  These may be a printed list of lot numbers and descriptions that you will pick up from the Auction house, there may be a small charge for this.  If you are at the auction house and a printed catalogue is available it is probably a viewing day, so if you want to inspect the items you can wander around the sale room freely and look at what you want.

By the way, the anecdotes here are about antiques auctions, but I have been to them all, and comments here are also relevant to specialist auctions, car auctions, property auctions.  The same principles apply.

Types of Auction 

1. ‘Standard’ Auction

This is the majority of auctions you may come across.  These are held at a location with an auctioneer present, who will also, probably, take bids online.  You can bid in the room, or online, and the auction will be ‘live’ at an appointed date and time.  There will be an opportunity to visit the items on viewing days and inspect them.

2. Online Only Auction

As the name suggests this will be similar to a ‘standard’ auction, but there will be no bidders in the saleroom.  Instead, bidders must register and bid online using an account and login.  The auction will be live, on an appointed date, and will be conducted by an auctioneer.  If you only ever bid online, you probably won’t notice the difference.

3. Timed Auction

This auction will be ‘online only’, but will not be conducted by an auctioneer.  Instead the bidder will be invited to leave bids online after an appointed and advertised auction Start time.  There will also be an End date and time listed, the highest bid logged at the end time will buy the item.

The quirk of these auctions is that at the end time, say 12.00, bidding on the first lot will close, lot 2 a minute later at 12.01, and so on until all the lots are closed.

The one minute rule 

For timed auctions, there is usually a rule in place called the one minute rule or the five minute rule, which states that if a bid is recorded in the last minute of the bidding then, the bidding will be extended for a further five minutes, until there are no bids.  This is to prevent what is called ‘sniping’.  There are apps that can be used to place bids in the last seconds of a timed auction, up to a set amount, and can do this unattended.  The minute rule gives you a chance to respond to a sniping bid.

4. Sealed Bid Auction

This type of auction asks for bids up to a closing date, and is usually online.  The bids are not advertised, The bids are opened when the auction ends, and the highest bid takes the item. Bids are timed, so in the case of duplicate high bids, the earliest gets the item.

The difficulty with this auction is, you have no idea what you are bidding against.  You have to imagine what a winning bid might be and place a bid, not knowing until the end of the auction if you have been successful. 

You also never know if your bid was excessively high, or even if it was the only bid.  There is usually an estimate against each item.  Let's say the estimate for an item is

80 - 120.  There will probably be a reserve on the item at the low estimate so it is likely that a bid under this amount will not secure the item.

Some timed auctions will tell you if the reserve has not been met, which is helpful. However there may be someone who will bid many times the top estimate to secure it, you don’t know.

Advice here is to be realistic, and to assess your own estimate of the item.  If you have seen similar items of this type achieve hammer prices at auction of over 200, then you are unlikely to get it for less.  I say unlikely, but you never know with auctions!   

Styles of Auction

A glance at the auction calendar will show you a list of auctions coming up at the auction house with dates and times, and a lot of other details.

You can see that there are different types of auction, such as General Auction, Antiques and interiors, Fine Art and Antiques Sale.  

A bit of experience will tell you that each of these actions will have on offer, not only different types of objects, but also different quality of objects.

Let’s explain.  A General Auction may offer antiques and modern or contemporary items. It may have different sorts of items, televisions, lawn mowers, ceramics, furniture.  Most item estimates in this type of auction will be relatively low, with mostly low value items.

A fine Art and Antiques sale however, and Fine is the clue here, a fine sale has items that are considered too valuable to include in a general sale so expect commensurate (big word for me) prices.  Estimates may be in the hundreds for most items and thousands for some, however, don’t let that put you off, there may still be bargains to be had.  Plus, and this is a big plus, If you need to know what expensive and quality looks like.  Study these sales.

In part two, I will discuss, descriptions, viewing days, and estimates, how important they are and how to interpret them.