Are auctions really this unreliable

surelynot26 · 2026-02-11T20:32:55+00:00

My sister put an otherwise unsaleable flat on an auction. The agency set the start price and the reserve. The auction started slowly but escalated in the last few minutes with 3 bidders pushing the price up until it just reached the reserve. Very happy sister until she rang the agent/auctioneer to complete the process, and was told that the buyer had not paid the deposit as required, or been in touch, and they were afraid the sale would not go ahead. So could one of the other two bidders be accepted at their maximum price?, she asked. No, they said, because those two bidders were actually the agents pushing the price up. What?? Has anyone else heard of this happening? I'm wondering if she will end up having to pay for this 'service'. I know nothing about auctions and she is too upset to think straight at the moment.

justtheotheronemrswembley · 11/02/2026 20:59

I did read something about this sort of thing in the past, but it was ordinary auction, not a property one. I don't know whether the practice still continues. When something has yet to reach its reserve but the auctioneer believes that the bidder will continue, the auction house will sometimes pluck a bid out of thin air to encourage the bidder upwards. It is the auctioneer's duty to obtain the best price for the seller, and if that means that the 'house' bids against the bidder when the reserve has not been met, then it could poentially result in a sale at the reserve price. If the auctioneer didn't do that, then the item/property/whatever wouldn't reach its reserve and wouldn't be sold anyway. Maybe it was the estate agent trying to push the price up to the reserve, who knows?

In any case, the real issue is that it appears the successful bidder hasn't paid, and that was not caused by the bidding process.

socialdilemmawhattodo · 11/02/2026 21:01

Sounds like a con to me. She needs to read her seller contract T&Cs VERY CAREFULLY.

Original poster

surelynot26 · 11/02/2026 22:12

socialdilemmawhattodo · 11/02/2026 21:01

Sounds like a con to me. She needs to read her seller contract T&Cs VERY CAREFULLY.

She does yes. I am thinking that without the agent pushing the price up this 'buyer' might not have reached the reserve. So not fair for her to have to pay the agent. But that must be covered in the contract.

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housethatbuiltme · 12/02/2026 13:21

So could one of the other two bidders be accepted at their maximum price?, she asked.

No, they said, because those two bidders were actually the agents pushing the price up.

Erm... thats illegal, its called Shill bidding and is a form of Fraud. Agents are only allowed to bid if they are actually bidding to buy and must complete on their bids.

Does she have proof they said that, I would right them back demanding they sell it to the next highest bidders and get it in writing exactly why they can't.

LibertyLily · 12/02/2026 14:01

Something similar happened to us back in 2017. We were selling a unique but potentially problematic house we'd bought almost three years previously. The original intention was to renovate and stay forever, but our circs changed and we decided to sell it partly renovated.

Stupidly, rather than attempt to sell on the open market, we entered the house into a traditional auction (with Auction House Midlands working with a partner EA) and had loads of interest with viewings/legal pack downloads.

On the night there were several bids, but it didn't quite hit the reserve. We spoke with the auctioneer immediately after our lot had ended, asking them to approach the highest bidder to say we'd accept their bid...only to be informed that all the bids on our house had been placed by the auctioneers! We were devastated, however didn't consider whether it was legal or not, but assumed it was the way these things worked.

In the end Auction House did sell our property to a couple who'd previously viewed it, but this happened several weeks after the actual auction had occurred. This couple hadn't attended on the night as they didn't have the funds available. The sale went through on an auction contract, so at the point of the hammer falling (and yes, our buyers told us the EA acting as auctioneer whipped a gavel out and banged it on his desk!), they paid the deposit and had 28 days to complete.

Original poster

surelynot26 · 12/02/2026 14:50

housethatbuiltme · 12/02/2026 13:21

So could one of the other two bidders be accepted at their maximum price?, she asked.

No, they said, because those two bidders were actually the agents pushing the price up.

Erm... thats illegal, its called Shill bidding and is a form of Fraud. Agents are only allowed to bid if they are actually bidding to buy and must complete on their bids.

Does she have proof they said that, I would right them back demanding they sell it to the next highest bidders and get it in writing exactly why they can't.

She asked if it was legal and they said it was so long as they only bid under the reserve price. Sounds very dodgy to me. I wish the auction house could be forced to buy it themselves, since they were bidding.

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Original poster

surelynot26 · 12/02/2026 14:52

LibertyLily · 12/02/2026 14:01

Something similar happened to us back in 2017. We were selling a unique but potentially problematic house we'd bought almost three years previously. The original intention was to renovate and stay forever, but our circs changed and we decided to sell it partly renovated.

Stupidly, rather than attempt to sell on the open market, we entered the house into a traditional auction (with Auction House Midlands working with a partner EA) and had loads of interest with viewings/legal pack downloads.

On the night there were several bids, but it didn't quite hit the reserve. We spoke with the auctioneer immediately after our lot had ended, asking them to approach the highest bidder to say we'd accept their bid...only to be informed that all the bids on our house had been placed by the auctioneers! We were devastated, however didn't consider whether it was legal or not, but assumed it was the way these things worked.

In the end Auction House did sell our property to a couple who'd previously viewed it, but this happened several weeks after the actual auction had occurred. This couple hadn't attended on the night as they didn't have the funds available. The sale went through on an auction contract, so at the point of the hammer falling (and yes, our buyers told us the EA acting as auctioneer whipped a gavel out and banged it on his desk!), they paid the deposit and had 28 days to complete.

Edited

I'm glad that ended with a sale for you. But honestly, what a way to do business. They should at least warn the sellers in advance that this will happen.

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JoyOfSpecs · 12/02/2026 15:30

Shill bidding is where interested parties bid in order to push up the price of something after it has already reached the reserve. This is illegal in the UK.

'Taking a bid off the wall' isn't illegal in the UK. Auctioneers do this to encourage a lot to reach its reserve. Once it's reached the reserve the 'off the wall' bids stop. If the auctioneer doesn't drive the price up then the house wouldn't have met its reserve anyway and would not have sold.

@surelynot26 Normal practice if a house doesn't sell at auction is that the auctioneer will put it through again at the next auction at a reduced rate.

Original poster

surelynot26 · 12/02/2026 16:24

JoyOfSpecs · 12/02/2026 15:30

Shill bidding is where interested parties bid in order to push up the price of something after it has already reached the reserve. This is illegal in the UK.

'Taking a bid off the wall' isn't illegal in the UK. Auctioneers do this to encourage a lot to reach its reserve. Once it's reached the reserve the 'off the wall' bids stop. If the auctioneer doesn't drive the price up then the house wouldn't have met its reserve anyway and would not have sold.

@surelynot26 Normal practice if a house doesn't sell at auction is that the auctioneer will put it through again at the next auction at a reduced rate.

Thank you, that is useful to know.
I wish my sister had known in advance that they would do this, because she really got her hopes up thinking there were 3 interested bidders rather one. But perhaps it was in the contract and she didn't read it properly.

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Alexalee · 12/02/2026 17:44

What the auctioneers dod was fine bidding up to reserve.
They will have had a deposit on file from the bidder so they should force that through and then they will forfeit that deposit to your sister if they fail to complete
The course of action is her to get the auctioneer to take the deposit payment from the bidder and then enforce the sale

Original poster

surelynot26 · 12/02/2026 22:53

Alexalee · 12/02/2026 17:44

What the auctioneers dod was fine bidding up to reserve.
They will have had a deposit on file from the bidder so they should force that through and then they will forfeit that deposit to your sister if they fail to complete
The course of action is her to get the auctioneer to take the deposit payment from the bidder and then enforce the sale

Thanks. The auctioneer has now got the deposit from the bidder and completion is fixed for next week. Phew.

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