How do online auctions work?
Online auctions work in three stages: you register, you bid on a timed sale, and the highest bidder at the close wins if any reserve is met. On this site, the Bid button takes you to the online bidding platform, where the bidding happens. Online auctions may extend the close when bids land near the end so others can respond, which is called a soft close.
How to register to bid
Common Hour pre-qualifies bidders, so registration comes first. Leave yourself time to finish it before the sale closes.
Open the sale
Find the sale on this site. Read the catalog, look at the photos and read the sale's Special Terms.
Press the Bid button
The Bid button takes you to the online bidding platform. It is a separate site, and that is where you sign up and place your bids.
Verify your phone
A verified phone is required to bid. Have that phone with you when you sign up.
Add a card if the sale asks for one
Some sales also require a card on file or a card pre-authorization. This is part of registration. Payment for what you win goes to the escrow agent, as covered below.
Show what the sale requires
Registration can also require government ID, proof of funds or lender pre-approval. Bidders must be 18 or older.
How bidding works
Inspect before you bid
All property is sold as is, where is, with all faults. Descriptions are not warranties, so inspect and verify on your own.
Check the reserve
A property will not sell unless bidding meets the reserve. Each sale's Special Terms disclose whether the reserve is published or confidential.
Place your bid
Bids are irrevocable. Once you place one, you cannot take it back, so check the amount before you confirm. The seller, agent, auctioneer and related parties do not bid unless the Special Terms disclose it.
Watch the close
If bids land near the end, the close may extend so others can respond. Keep watching until the platform shows the lot has closed.
Win at the hammer
The highest bid at the close wins if it meets any reserve. The fall of the hammer, or its online equivalent, forms a binding contract.
What a soft close is
A soft close means the end of an online auction can move. Common Hour's auction terms allow an online auction to extend the close when bids land near the end, so other bidders can respond.
The other way to end an online sale is a hard close, where bidding stops at a fixed time no matter what. A bid in the last second can then win with no chance of an answer. A soft close works more like a live sale, where the auctioneer does not drop the hammer while bidders are still going.
What this means for you: the time on the screen is not final. The length of an extension can differ from sale to sale. If you still want the lot, do not plan to step away in the final minutes.
How closing works after you win
Commissions and fees are not set by law and are fully negotiable.
Add up what you owe
You owe the hammer price plus the buyer's premium. Common Hour's auction terms set the standard premium at twelve percent of the hammer price, except as modified in writing for a particular auction.
Pay the escrow agent, not the firm
Payments go to Title Escrow of Robertson County, or another escrow agent designated in writing. Common Hour does not take direct payment.
If you bought real estate
The premium also serves as the non-refundable earnest money, due to the escrow agent within 24 hours of the close. The balance is due at closing, which is within 30 days of the auction unless the sale's Special Terms say otherwise.
If you bought personal property
The hammer price plus premium is due in full within 24 hours of the close. Items are released after payment clears. Pick up in the published window and arrange your own transport and labor.
In-person sales
Common Hour runs auctions online, in person or both, and most are online now. The listing for a sale tells you how that sale will run.
The terms do not change because you are standing in the room. Registration comes first, bids are irrevocable and payment goes to the escrow agent. The difference is how the sale ends. At an in-person sale the auctioneer calls for bids and the fall of the hammer ends the bidding, so there is no clock to extend.
Read the Special Terms first
This page gives the general steps. A sale's Special Terms can change them, and where they do, the Special Terms control. Read them before you register. This page is not legal advice, so take any question about a contract to your attorney.
Ready to bid?
Bidding happens on the online bidding platform. Register there, then come back to the lot you want.