Hire an auctioneer to sell your goods
Sell your goods at auction
You must follow the following rules to sell most types of goods (not real estate) by auction. Separate rules apply for auctions of livestock. Separate rules may apply for hiring an auctioneer to sell livestock.
Appointing the auctioneer
To hold an auction of goods, you may either:
- sell the goods to the auctioneer
- appoint an auctioneer to act as your agent.
Either way, the auctioneer must record details of the appointment. These details include:
- your name and address
- a description of the goods
- any identifying marks or number (such as a serial number)
- the date of the appointment.
The auctioneer must ask you to set a reserve price. The reserve price is the minimum amount that you will sell the goods for. They will record this with their details.
You will need to decide on a value based on how much you think the goods are worth.
The bidder's record
For each auction, the auctioneer needs to keep a Bidders Record or everyone registered to bid. Each bidder must be given a bidder's number to display when they are bidding.
A person who intends to bid on behalf of someone else will need to show the auctioneer a letter of authority to bid for that person (unless they have power of attorney).
Auctioneers can pre-register bidders in advance of the auction to save time on the day.
An auctioneer must not accept a bid from a person unless they are registered in the Bidders Record for the auction and have been given a bidder number.
Bidding on your own goods
You can bid on your own goods, but only up to the reserve price. These kinds of bids are called vendor bids.
Before the bid reaches the reserve price, the auctioneer can:
- accept bids from you to raise the price
- accept bids from a representative
- bid on your behalf.
The auctioneer must announce if a bid is a vendor bid.
Once bidding reaches the reserve price, any more vendor bids will become ‘false bids’. False bids are illegal.
Finalising a sale
At the end of the auction, you will need to finalise the sale.
You must accept the highest bid if it was more than your reserve price. If the highest bid was under the reserve price, you may negotiate with the bidder or reject the sale.
The auctioneer will record the details of the auction.