About Auctions

• Buyers bid for your item online. Highest bidder wins.
• Sale takes place completely online.
• Buyers can ask you questions online
• You can publish a buyer’s question and your answer for the benefit of other buyers.
• The successful buyer provides feedback and rating on their transaction with you, and you on them.
• Limited to select categories.
• List your item for 1, 3, 5, 7 or 14 days.
• Auctions are only available as “standard” ads.
• Auctions where the starting price is less that $500 are free (except for live animals, and our Fair Use policy applies).

Why use Auctions?

• Let buyers determine the value of your item
  You set a start price and buyers compete to provide the winning bid for your item.
• Sell safely online
  Secure payment with PayPal, Paymate or bank deposit.
• Sell privately
  No need to meet or talk to the buyer.
• Include a Buy Now price with your listing
  Gives buyers the opportunity to buy your item immediately.
• Set a reserve price
  To ensure your item sells at a price you’re happy with.
• Sell to buyers throughout Australia.

What items are good to Auction?

• Items that a buyer may not necessarily need to inspect before deciding to purchase.
• Rare items that are difficult to value and for which you’d like to invite offers.
• Items that can be posted.

How do I create an Auction?

Creating an Auction is easy.

1. Click Sell on the homepage and follow the steps to create your ad.
   
   
2. Choose the category that best suits the item you’re selling.
   If you’re not sure, look to see what categories other sellers have chosen for similar items.
3. Select the Auction under How do you want to deal with buyers?
   
   
   
   This automatically sets your sale as an Auction. If Auction does not appear on the screen, the item category you selected does not allow auctions (e.g. cars, pets).
4. Type in a starting price for your auction. This will determine the starting bid.  If your starting price is under $500, your ad is free (except for live animals and our Fair Use Policy applies).
5. Specify the duration of your ad - 1, 3, 5, 7 or 14 days.
   The longer your auctions runs, the more time buyers have to find your ad
6. You can also:
   • choose a Reserve price to set a minimum selling price for your item. The Reserve price is not visible to buyers.
   • set a Buy Now price to allow buyers to buy your item immediately for a fixed price. Buyers will be able to see the Buy Now price and choose whether to purchase or place a bid. Once a buyer places a bid, the auction has begun and the Buy Now option is no longer visible or available.
7. Follow the remaining steps to complete your ad, including your preferred payment and delivery method.
8. You will be notified by email and Ad Tools when a buyer agrees to buy your item.

The pricing fields provided are used to display item prices. You should not type additional prices or prices for extra items in the item description. Auctions ads that contain contact details or information on prices in their item description will be removed from the site by our Trust and Safety team.

See rules for ad details for other ad content guidelines.

Related topics

Pricing your item
Bidding rules
Ad cost & fees
Reserve price