Frequently Asked Questions

General

Nearly all auctioneers charge buyers a small percentage of the "fall of the hammer" price. In the case of Evans Clarke National, this charge covers the cost of running the auction. Currently most of our auctions are 15% e.g. if your final bid is $100 you’ll end up paying $115, but this can vary depending on the item.

 

  • Starting Bid: The starting bid is the absolute minimum price a vendor will consider selling an item for. Note that if an item has a reserve price then the starting bid does not guarantee a sale, please see our section on Referred Bids
  • Reserve Price: The reserve price takes the starting bid a step further and is the minimum price at which a vendor will guarantee the sale of an item and will always remain hidden from users.
  • Current Price: The current price for an item is the price of the lowest winning bid any bidder has placed on an item.

 

Example
Let's say a vendor wants to sell a car with us. They are happy to sell the car for anything above $10,000 and will consider anything as low as $7,000. In this case the starting bid becomes $7,000 and the reserve price becomes $10,000 with anything above $10,000 being a guaranteed sale and anything between $7,000 and $10,000 being referred to the vendor.

In cases where an item has a Reserve Price which has not been met by the time the auction closes, we may refer your bid to the vendor who has the option to accept the lower bid or ask that the item goes back up online.

 

  • Bid: When you select the very next available price in the bid dropdown (selected by default), this is the bid that will be placed and will be immediately outbid by the next bidder.
  • AutoBid: Selecting an amount from the bid dropdown that is higher than the lowest available bid option is called an AutoBid. The price you select is the maximum price that you are willing to pay for an item. Your maximum bid is never given out to other bidders during the bidding process and setting an AutoBid maximum allows Evans Clarke National to bid on your behalf up to your maximum amount. This saves you time in front of a screen and can help you win the item you want if you are unavailable at any time and someone outbids you. An AutoBid jumps in our set increments for each pricing tier but will never go above the maximum amount you have set.
  • Jump! Bid: A Jump! bid will not increase in increments like an AutoBid. When you place a Jump! bid it is the actual bid that will be placed and invoiced at the close of sale unless you are outbid. You can Jump! bid as high as you like, provided you are willing to pay that amount.

 

When selecting your next bid amount, we provide a dropdown selection of acceptable bids. These available amounts are calculated to ensure bidding is fair and is not needlessly drawn out. Imagine bidding on a $1,000 bicycle and someone comes along for $1,000.01, it would be frustrating and the auction may end up drawn out for another hour or more due to our time extensions. Having the next bid amount set at $1,025 helps you as the bidder know what price other bidders need to place to beat your bid and ensure only serious bidders remain.

Increments are calculated as follows:

  • Current price < $50 = $2.50 bid increment
  • $50 to $249 = $5
  • $250 to $499 = $10
  • $500 to $2,499 = $25
  • $2,500 to $4,999 = $50
  • $5,000 to $9,999 = $100
  • $10,000 to $99,999 = $200
  • $100,000 to $999,999 = $1,000
  • > $1,000,000 = $10,000

 

When you are bidding on an item you may see a message or receive an email stating that you have been outbid. This will occur when someone places a bid that is higher than your bid (and may occur immediately after you place your bid if another bidder has placed an AutoBid that matches or beats your bid).

Single Quantity Lots
A single quantity Lot means you are bidding on the entire item. In this instance when you place a bid, you are trying to place a bid that is higher than the previous bidder.

Winning a single quantity Lot is based on the price you have bid and the time in which you placed your bid. With price taking priority. In the event of a 'draw' between two bidders' maximum bid amounts then the winner is the bidder who placed their bid first.

Multi Quantity Lots
A multi-quantity Lot has more than one of the same item available for bidding. A typical scenario for this is wine, where we could receive a delivery of 20 cases which are all the same.

The key difference with a multi-quantity Lot is that you get to choose the quantity that you would like to win. Please note that this is different from when we specify a quantity in the item description. If a quantity is specified in the item description then you will be bidding on one Lot of that quantity multiplied by whatever quantity you bid on. For example if you bid for a quantity of 3 on an item with “quantity of 6” in the description, then you are actually bidding on a total of 18 (3 x 6) items. When you do this your bid amount is for each lot and you then multiply your bid amount by the quantity you bid on to calculate the final price you will be paying.

Example
If you bid $25 on a quantity of 3, 3x25 = $75. So, in this case you would have placed a total bid of $75 (not including any potential fees/charges like Buyer’s Premium).

When you are bidding in a multi-quantity Lot your bid will win based on a combination of price, quantity and time, in that order.
 

  • If you bid a higher price then you will win, regardless of the quantity.
  • If you bid for the same price but a higher quantity, you will win, regardless of who bid first.
  • If you bid for the same price and quantity, the bidder who places their bid first will win.

For a multi-quantity Lot, any Auto Bidding is performed as soon as you lose any of your desired quantity.

Example
If you are winning your desired quantity of 4 and someone bids for 1 at a higher price, this leaves you winning 3 out of 4 and this is when your AutoBid will move up to the next bid increment in an attempt to ensure you win your desired quantity

 

No, Unfortunately ALL bids placed are final and we are unable to retract bids. However if you have an AutoBid higher than the current bid, you can select a lower MaxBid amount without increasing your current bid amount. Please see our Terms and Conditions or Contact Us if you need help.

No, currently inspections are unavailable due to the current COVID-19 situation. Please check each Auction of specific details, as these are usually updated daily. If you are unsure, please Contact Us for clarification.

Account

We only allow one registration per email address. If you have forgotten your password, please click here and follow the steps to reset your password. If you believe you don't have an account with us already please Contact Us so we can investigate.

Account verification helps to maintain the integrity of our auctions by ensuring that a user has a means of being contacted and is not using someone else’s email address. This extra step ensures that all bids received on items are valid and traceable within our system.

To help prevent against fraudulent bidding we have started requiring credit card details during registration.

You may remove or update these credit card details from your account at any time using the My Account section of our website.

Don't worry, we haven't actually debited your account!

As several banks do not yet support a $0 preauthorisation check the only alternative is to place a $1 hold on your card temporarily to verify it.

We do not debit this money from your credit card and the hold will automatically be released to you within 5-30 days depending on your card issuer.

Other companies have similar verification methods with varying amounts and is considered common practice.

If you are having trouble logging in, staying logged in or placing bids it may be that your web browser is blocking cookies. Please ensure that www.evansclarke.com.au and www.biddingonline.com.au are listed in your web browser’s trusted sites and that your web browser has cookies enabled.

As per our terms and conditions please ensure your invoice is paid in full within 48 hours from the time of the sale and that your goods are collected within 2 business days.

You can pay for your invoice using either of the following methods:

  • By Credit Card Online: For online auctions you can log into My Account and make payment for your items by using the checkout available. Note, this will incur a 1.1% Credit Card Surcharge.

No Cash Payments Accepted

Auctions

 

  • Online Auction: All bidding for Online Auctions are done online through our website. These are auctions where items are listed on our website with specified opening and closing times. You place your bids anytime up until the closing time. Selected items within the online auctions also have a Buy Now Price, meaning you can buy it at that price without having to wait for the auction to close.

    These auctions can include assets that are being sold from our premises at 616 Torrens Rd Woodville North, SA or onsite at the vendor's premises. If an asset is being sold onsite it will have the location specified on the item’s Auction page and if (for example) it varies from item to item within an Auction we will include it in the item description.
     
  • Traditional Auction: This is where you attend in person at the location and bid. These can be either Traditional Onsite Auctions which are held at the premises of the business disposing of their assets or Traditional In-Rooms Auctions, which are held at our auction complex.

    Traditional auctions also have a website absentee bidding facility for most auctions. These usually open 24 hours prior to the sale and close 1 hour prior to the sale. So you may inspect, go home and think about it and then place a bid on the internet if you cannot attend the auction. Please be aware that it is not live, it is simply an easy way to communicate to the auctioneer the amount you are willing to go up to. You will not see these items under my account as it is not live.
     
  • Tender Auction: These auctions do not allow bidding online and instead require a written offer to be emailed or submitted to us for acceptance.

 

If you wish to place a bid you will need to register with us here.

Once you have registered and verified your account with us you will need to log in and then find the item you wish to bid on. After finding and navigating to an item, the page will present you with a dropdown box where you can select your bid amount and a button to "Place Bid".

After selecting a bid amount and pressing the "Place Bid" button you will be taken to a confirmation page where you can review your bid and then place your bid by pressing the "Accept & Place Bid" button.

All of our online auctions utilize a 5 minute bidding extension feature.

Normally, an auction closes at the scheduled time as displayed within the listing. However, if there are successful bids entered on an item within the last 5 minutes of the closing time, then bidding on the auction item will be extended.

The auction is extended until there are no further bids for a continuous 5-minute period This is similar to an auctioneer in a traditional auction continuing to take bids until there is no further interest.

Extended bidding helps dissuade "snipers", or last second bidders. For example, you may have spent considerable time achieving your high bid status at an auction. Without extended bidding, someone could time their bid entry to within a few seconds of the closing, leaving you without enough time to notice the bid and enter another bid in response. This is a common practice at some online auctions, and unfair because you would not know that this person is waiting to pounce on you. At a live physical auction, at least you can see your competition, and the auctioneer will continue with the auction to give you a chance to respond. This is precisely why we employ an extended bidding system for our online auctions. We have found that 5 minutes is enough time to receive an outbid email from our system, log in to our site, and place a bid.

Yes, we understand that it is not always possible to attend a traditional or onsite auction, therefore we have several easy options for you to leave your bids with us. We call this "absentee bidding" and can be done either online or in person at the auction location. The auctioneer will include you in the bidding up to your maximum bid. We do not take bids over the phone but can provide an absentee bidder form by fax if needed or you can register on our website and go to the item, then place the bid online up to 1 hour before sale.

Important: It is up to the Auctioneer's discretion to accept any absentee bids placed. It is recommended you place absentee bids as early as possible, so that there is sufficient time to process bids to the auctioneer

Absentee Bids need to be placed at least one hour prior to the auction start time. We do our best to accommodate all absentee bid requests but no responsibility is taken for errors and/or omissions.

For Traditional Absentee bidding, please contact our office a few hours after the auction has started to check if you were successful, due to the volume of absentee bids we receive, only successful bidders will be contacted within 24 hours. You will not be able to view absentee bids for traditional auctions under My Account or the watching or won items as the information is with the auctioneer and it is not live like online auctions. It is simply an easy way for you to communicate the amount you are willing to go up to instead of having to attend or fax bids and fill in forms each time. It is essential that you undertake prior inspection of the item/s of interest, or get someone you trust to do so on your behalf.

Other

Yes! Not only is your data physically secure in on-shore datacentres approved by the ASD (Australian Signals Directorate) for unclassified information, we take every measure to ensure your data is as digitally secure as it can be.

All data both in and out of our website is encrypted so you don't have to worry about anyone intercepting your interaction with the site. Passwords are stored securely, in such a way that we can never see or recover your password. All data is also encrypted at rest and our systems are constantly monitored for attacks with full auditing and real-time alerts.

Secure storage of any credit card information is managed by our payment gateway provider and transmission of any data between them and our website is done using industry standard encryption.

No, we do not provide warranties for any goods sold at auction. However, some vendors may offer limited warranties on their products sold at our auctions in which case any claims will have to be made direct to the vendor concerned.

All items sold at auction are strictly sold "as-is-where-is" and it is your responsibility to inspect the goods beforehand to ensure they are as desired.

For more information please refer to our Terms and Conditions or Contact Us for clarification.

No, we do not provide refunds for any goods sold at auction.

All items sold at auction are strictly sold "as-is-where-is" and it is your responsibility to inspect the goods beforehand to ensure they are fit for purpose.

For more information please refer to our Terms and Conditions or Contact Us for clarification.

NOT TESTED: The item has been placed in a sale as delivered to us by a Vendor, is has not been checked or tested, and it may or may not work. It may work fine or may have faults or be incomplete.

APPEARS TO FUNCTION: Power has been applied to the item, and it appears that the unit could basically function at the time when this was done, however the item has not been technically or functionally assessed as serviceable, or as capable of being fit or reinstated into normal use. It does not indicate that the lot is working fully or completely or free of faults, and it could be missing components. It does not necessarily follow that this item will show the same function in the future when next powered on. The "appears to function" description is intended to assist the buyer in knowing that the item could potentially work or be made to work, but is not a guarantee that it will work or is capable of being reinstated to its fully functional condition. A typical example is a computer where the hard disk has been removed by the Vendor for security purposes. When switched on, the unit generally appears to work, but as the hard disk is missing, there is no further information available to indicate if the computer otherwise works.

SALVAGE: Untested complete and incomplete equipment that may have visible faults, require repairs or is otherwise only suited for parts/scrap. That is, these lots could be newer equipment that is "Dead or dying", missing parts, or not so new equipment that is being sold in bulk and "as-is" even though some of it could be serviceable.

IF NOTHING STATED: Assume Not Tested.

ITEM DESCRIPTIONS: We endeavour to provide accurate item descriptions and photos but we do not warrant the accuracy of the information provided nor that the description is free of errors or omissions.

While this is something we are working towards, unfortunately we cannot arrange delivery at this point in time.

It will be up to you to organise collection of goods and inform Evans Clarke National of who will be collecting the goods and when. We can offer suggestions for couriers we have used in the past if you are unable to collect your goods in person.

To ensure a speedy collection please ensure that an invoice number or customer number (also found on your invoice) is available for admin staff.

Terms and Conditions of sale apply to all sale activities of the Company. Click here to read or download the Terms and Conditions of Sale. In most auctions a Buyer’s Premium applies on top of your final bid and you own the item if you are the highest bidder, unless it is passed in for referral by the auctioneer (which they will state).

To Summarise

Remember, at auction, the item is yours from the fall of the hammer. Your "maximum bid" is confidential to us - and represents your authorisation for the auctioneer to bid on your behalf up to, but not exceeding your nominated maximum offer. Any relevant Buyers Premium and GST will be added to your final bid amount.