Book Bids

Did you know you can buy items in our auction without bidding live… If you are busy, working or unable to participate in the live sale, you can submit a ‘Book Bid’ with us, or record online, and enjoy the auction experience and hopefully win some bargains!

Book bids are also commonly known in the industry as ‘Absentee Bids’ or ‘Commission Bids’.

When you have identified interesting Lots from our auction catalogue (and hopefully checked them in person on our viewing day), you are ready to place your bids! Working similar to eBay’s Maximum Bid, you set a limit, the highest amount you would be willing to bid for a Lot and our auctioneer will bid on your behalf, from the advertised starting price, raising in pre-set increments, against other bids, until the bidding naturally stops, or passes the limit you set, hopefully winning the Lot(s)!

Example: If bidding starts at €25 and you place a book bid of €40. You might still win the Lot for €25 if nobody else bids… you would pay the next increment of €32, if the last other bid was €30…

We appreciate your business and will always endeavor to buy the item for the lowest price we can, within your pre-set limit.

The best way to record your bids and avoid human error is register on our website, then once logged in from every Lot page on the catalogue you can enter your bids. You will receive email confirmation of each submission and be sent the results after the sale (even if you didn’t win, to see how much they were sold for). There are 2 types of Book Bids you can chose;

Absentee Bids

Enter the maximum amount you would be willing to bid and our auctioneer will bid on your behalf, up to this amount.

You will pay the standard buyer commission for your won Lots.

Auto-Bids

Using the Auto-Bid facility, you enter the maximum amount you would be willing to bid as above, however in this case the figure is completely private and hidden from the auctioneer – we can’t see how much you have bid. The system will automatically enter your bids in the live auction process, winning correctly and fairly whenever possible.

When recording your Auto-Bid, you will see a ‘+1’ tick box option, this allows the system to place one more bid (another one increment, not one Euro) above your limit in the event the order of bidding, or another auto-bid of the same amount exists, therefore increasing your chances of winning!

An additional 3% is applied to the buyer commission for customer using the dynamic Auto-Bid facility.

Paper Book Bids

You can leave traditional Book Bids in paper form with us, either in person at the saleroom, or sent by email from a registered email address.

When completing our Book Bid form, we will ask your full name, address, home and mobile telephone number, email address, ID or passport number. Then you’ll list the Lot numbers with brief description and your maximum bid (subject to buyers premium), and sign the form to confirm you have read and accept our terms & conditions.

Notes on Book Bids;

If you make a Book Bid in the auction, you have entered into a binding contract to purchase the items and are legally required to pay and collect the items on the same day, or within a maximum of 2 working days. No bids are retractable after Lot passes in the auction.

The results of the auction is dictated by the ORDER OF BIDDING, please bear in mind we have hundreds of registered bidders in every auction, therefore very often we will get multiple bids on the same Lot (not only yours!). The auctioneer will ‘open’ the bidding at the advertised starting price (lower estimate figure), then they will announce any Book Bids (also called ‘Room Bids) they have recorded, and the system will dynamically enter the Auto-Bids, the bidding will raise by pre-set increments until everyone stops and it’s sold to the highest bidder.

Hint: Avoid obvious round numbers… if a starting price is €30 Euros, it’s likely we will get numerous bids of €40, maybe if you had entered €42 you might have won (or used the +1 option)!

Telephone Bidding

Many auction houses offer live telephone bidding, however in reality, we have experienced issues with telephone reception, customer’s engaged on other phone calls and busy staff, which have either caused delays in the auction or buyers missing the opportunity to bid.

With live internet bidding available and our dynamic Auto-Bid facility, they are much safer solutions for buyers.

• About Us
• How an Auction Works
• Liquidation Sales
• House Clearances
• Delivery Services
• Book Bids
• Location
• Fees & Costs
• Why Sell at Auction