Every lot has a published legal pack, a disclosed reservation fee and a fixed end date. What you see before bidding is what you get after it, which is the point.
Why buyers use auction
The date is real. A lot ends when it says it ends. There is no drifting completion date and no waiting on someone else’s decision.
No gazumping. A higher bid after the close does not displace you. The sale is not reopened because someone turned up late.
The price is visible. You can see what the competition is willing to pay, rather than guessing against an agent’s account of a rival offer.
The process, in three parts
Find it
Browse the catalogue, book viewings and read the legal pack. The guide price indicates the seller’s minimum expectation; it is not a valuation and not a ceiling.
Bid on it
Register for the specific lot, pass an identity check, then bid up to your limit. Bidding extends if a bid lands in the final moments, so a last-second bid cannot win by timing alone.
Secure it
If you are the highest bidder and the reserve is met, you pay the reservation fee and the exclusivity period starts. The lot comes off the market and the legal work begins.
Decide your limit before you bid
Your limit is the hammer price plus the reservation fee plus your own legal costs, stamp duty and any work the survey implies. Bidding to the top of your budget on the hammer price alone is the most common way buyers end up short.
Read the pack, and have a solicitor read it
At auction you buy on the information available. A short lease, a restrictive covenant or an unadopted access road is your problem once you have won, not grounds to renegotiate. The pack is published early precisely so this can be done properly.