We’re pleased to announce that Timed Auctions will now be available on the C&T website! These Timed Auctions will use the-saleroom.com bidding technology, but will be hosted on our site, making the bidding process, and the buyer’s fees, better for our clients! For more information about this new set up, watch the video below or read the Questions & Answers section further down the page.

Timed Auctions with C&T - Questions & Answers

What does this mean for you, the buyer? If you already have an account with the-saleroom.com, you will be able to login for our Timed Auctions via our website using this login information. If you do not already have an account with the-saleroom.com, it is easy to set one up! The above video provided will walk you through the signing up process, should you need assistance.

What about the extra fee that the-saleroom.com charge for bidding on their platform? Good news! If you REGISTER to bid in a timed auction on the C&T website, then we take on the extra Saleroom charge for you (Please note, if you have registered to bid on the Saleroom website in a timed auction but then subsequently bid in the same auction on the C&T website, you will be charged the extra Saleroom charges). As with our Live Format auctions, the only charge when registering to bid / bidding on the C&T website is our Buyer’s Premium of 22% + VAT (26.4% inclusive) and any postage charges required to post the item to you following the auction.

Can you use your C&T login details for Timed Auctions? Unfortunately, this is not yet a possibility. Our Live and Timed Auctions are currently controlled by two separate platforms, which are unable to cross over and work together at present.

What is the difference between a Live Auction and a Timed Auction? Quite simply, a ‘Live Auction’ is a traditional style of auction with an auctioneer on the rostrum, selling each lot consecutively until the last lot has been sold. A ‘Timed Auction’ is a computer generated auction with a clock that counts down until a selected end time, when the auction will close.

When I bid within the last 10 minutes of a Timed Auction closing, why does the clock go back 10 minutes? This is to stop 'sniping' - where bidders rush to place bids in the last few seconds, preventing other bidders from being able to respond before the auction closes. Why 10 minutes? This is an industry approved time period - we all live busy lives and it is not always possible to be on your computer when an auction is taking place. If you are outbid, you will be notified of this by email, and then if you wish to increase your bid, you are given the opportunity to do so; 10 minutes is deemed a fair time frame for people to see an outbid email and then act on it, should they so wish.

Why are C&T holding Timed Auctions? Timed auctions enable us to produce more sales, allowing us to offer more lots for our vendors and provide a greater selection for our buyers! With timed auctions, as we are not limited to a time restraint, they also enable us to offer a higher quantity of smaller sized lots; as a collector, we know that there is nothing worse than seeing an item you want lotted up with a load of other items you’re not interested in! This happens a lot in Live Auctions, due to larger lots working better for the time restrictions of the day. Our Timed Auctions are much more focused on you, the collector, smaller, more particular lots, and also occasionally lower value items. The bidding increments are also set lower on Timed Auctions.

What if I don’t like Timed Auctions? As always, we will continue to produce a large amount of auctions in the traditional Live Auction format, so you will still have ample opportunity to add an item to your collection!

Click here for our Timed Auctions page.