For collectors
Online auctions: how a sale works
Timed and live sales, your account, bidding and the end of a sale: what to know before you bid.
Two sale formats
A timed sale has an opening time and a closing time. While it is open, you bid whenever you like; at the close, the highest valid bid wins, under the conditions of the sale.
A live sale is run on video by the auction house: lots come up one after another and bids arrive in real time. A bid placed in the very last seconds extends the time, so that everyone can answer it.
Before you bid
Create an account and confirm your email address: that is what lets you bid.
Read the lot page (description, estimate, photographs, condition report when there is one) and the conditions of sale published with the catalogue: they state the fees, payment and how the object is handed over.
Bidding
The lot page shows the bid to beat and the increment, that is, how much the next bid must at least add. The prices shown come straight from the sale and change live.
A bid commits you: only bid on an object you are ready to pay that price for.
After the sale
If you win the lot, you receive instructions from the auction house or the seller. Payment and handover follow the conditions of the sale.
These guides give general pointers; the conditions of each sale, published with its catalogue, are what apply.