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A reserve price is the minimum amount a seller is willing to accept for their car during the auction.

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Most cars listed on Trade Classics will have a reserve in place. This ensures that the car won’t be sold for less than what the seller considers acceptable.  The value is set in the listing, but the actual amount is not disclosed to bidders - unless, in some cases, it has been met or removed.

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You’ll know when a car has ‘No Reserve’ – or when the ‘Reserve is Met’ – because it will be clearly shown in the car’s title on the auction listing. It's up to the seller whether they want to disclose this labelling; however, in most cases, they choose to do so.

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At Trade Classics, we work closely with sellers to agree on realistic reserve prices - these are typically set below our guide price to help ensure a successful sale. Our goal is always to balance the seller’s expectations with the buyer’s opportunity to secure a great car at fair value.

No - however, we may announce when the reserve price has been met by adding a comment on the auction, or there may be a Bidding Gauge shown in the Live Bidding area that will state this, i.e. 'Reserve Met'. Bidders usually find out if they’ve won only when the auction ends.

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This disclosure process is just like a traditional auction house with the following differences related to online bidding:

• If you're able to place a second bid, then the reserve hasn't been met.
• If you attempt to outbid yourself and the system blocks it, then the reserve has been met.

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Remember, direct sales outside of Trade Classics are strictly prohibited and steps are taken to monitor this.  See Section 8 of our Terms and Conditions for more information.

Yes, we charge a Buyer's Premium, and our fees are among the lowest in the industry.

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We offer two different Buyer’s Premiums based on the type of auction:

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Curated Auctions

In these auctions, we take a hands-on approach. We visit the seller, take hundreds of photos, and even produce videos showing the car starting from cold and being driven. We then write up the listing, and the seller approves it to ensure it accurately reflects the car's condition.

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• Buyer's Premium: 6% + VAT (7.2% total) on the bid value.

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Market Auctions

These auctions are created by our verified sellers. They provide the images and write the descriptions. Since our involvement is less, the Buyer’s Premium is lower.

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• Buyer's Premium: 6% + VAT (7.2% total) on the bid value.

A Buyers Premium is an extra fee added to the winning bid (the hammer price) in an auction and is paid by the buyer.

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A Minimum/Maximum Buyers Premium is the range of fees that apply to this premium. The minimum fee is the lowest amount a buyer will pay, and the maximum fee is the highest amount, regardless of how much the hammer price is.

• If the calculated premium (based on the winning bid percentage) is lower than the minimum fee, the buyer pays the minimum.
• If the calculated premium exceeds the maximum fee, the buyer pays the maximum amount.

This system gives you a clear idea of the costs and ensures the fee is fair, whether you're bidding on a higher or lower-priced vehicle.

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Our minimum fee is £600 (inc VAT) and our maximum is £5,000 (inc VAT). These fees are among the lowest in the industry. For comparison, Pistonheads Auctions and Bonhams Cars Online have no max cap, and Collecting Cars has a cap at £7,200, which makes higher-value cars more expensive for buyers and leaves less for the seller.

After you win an auction the Trade Classics Fee (Buyer Premium) is automatically charged to your stored card on completion.  The balance, i.e. the final bid value shown on the listing and in your confirmation email is due to the seller within 7 days.

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Simply click on the seller's name in the listing to send them a direct message to organise payment, e.g. bank transfer or cash on collection.

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For more information please see our Terms and Conditions.

Within 7 Days - our terms state you must complete the transaction, i.e. pay the balance and collect the car from the seller within 7 days.  However, after the auction you may speak to the seller and agree a mutually agreeable time, outside of the seven days.

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Transportation - if you need a quote for transportation then please contact us and we'll put you in touch with our trusted transporter company.

There are two key reasons:

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1. Security - we operate higher levels of security, so if your debit or credit card is enrolled in 3-D Secure schemes like Verified by Visa, MasterCard SecureCode or American Express SafeKey then you may need to enter further authorisations against your stored card after you select 'Place Bid'. These authorisations may include passwords for these schemes on their site.  All this takes time and may mean you miss the end of the auction by the time the authorisation passes.  To guarantee your bid, we recommend at least a minute is active on the auction when you place your bid. If you have not registered a card on your account yet, we recommend you do this in good time before the expected auction end time (at least 2-3 hours).

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2. Auto-Extending Bidding - we’ve developed auto-extending auctions that mimic traditional auction house bidding; it’s a key feature to make sure classic vehicles achieve their true worth.  Bids placed in the last one minute automatically extend the auction by two further minutes.  So there is no need to leave bidding to the last second.

Delivery is not included for cars bought at auction - you'll see a delivery calculator at the bottom of auction listing page that will give you a good idea of the delivery costs - this is calculated 'as the crow flies', so please contact us for a more accurate quote. We have two trusted transporter companies that we have agreed a preferential rate with, and we'll pass you the details of these people once you win a car at auction.

Firstly, it's important to know the difference between 'authorisation' and a 'charge'.

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'Authorisation' - we place a request against your stored card to a certain value to make sure the card is legitimate and there is enough credit limit on the card.  This will use up a proportion of your credit limit until the authorisation is removed (see below).

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'Charge' - this turns a pre-approved authorisation into an actual charge, i.e. it will deduct the money from your stored card and you will see it on your statement as a 'Trade Classics' label.

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There are three processes we operate against your stored credit card:

1. Authorisation - Storing a Card - As an additional security measure, we require a authorisation against the debit or credit card before a bid can be placed.  This is to make sure the validated card can be used if required in the future.

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2. Authorisation - Placing a Bid - when you place a bid we require the authorisation of the Trade Classics Fee (Buyer's Premium) only against the stored card before the bid can be confirmed.  This is to make sure you can cover the cost of the fee if you were to win the auction.  This fee will use up your credit limit until you get outbid, in which case it will be released, or will turn into a charge (see below) if you win the auction.

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3. Charge - Winning an Auction - if you successfully win an auction then we will make a request to your stored card to turn the authorisation (number 2 above) into an actual charge. i.e. it will deduct the money from your stored card and you will see it on your statement as a 'Trade Classics' label.  Remember this is just the Buyer's Premium and you pay the final bid value directly to the seller within 7 days.

The security and safety of our community is our top priority. That's why we use a trusted payment provider called Stripe (to read more on their security click here) to manage the authorisations and charges we request on our bidder's debit and credit cards.

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As an additional security measure, we also require an authorisation against the stored card before a bid can be placed.  This is to make sure the validated card can be used if a bidder wins an auction, i.e. to charge the Trade Classics Fee (Buyer Premium) to.

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This security process is above our direct competitors, however it ensures we attract serious buyers and have confidence in the bids they make.

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Importantly, we do not store card information on our site / servers.  When you enter your debit or credit card details they are securely encrypted and sent directly to the Stripe vault for safe storage.  We don't have access to your details and can't charge the card without your authorisation.  The only time we can place a charge against your stored card is if you win an auction - the Trade Classics Fee will be automatically requested.

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For more information please see our Terms and Conditions.

Yes, simply click on the 'Contact Seller' in the listing and received a notification that you have commented on the listing.

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Remember, direct sales outside of Trade Classics are strictly prohibited and steps are taken to monitor this.  See Section 8 of our Terms and Conditions for more information.

No - Market Auctions are listings created and managed by our sellers, so we don't visit those cars.  However, in most cases we do visit and photograph vehicles in the Curated Auctions service. 

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You can see if we have visited the vehicle in the ‘VEHICLE DETAILS’ section on the auction listing under the entry ‘Vehicle Visited’ - please click here to view on our example listing.

Yes, we only accept vehicles from sellers that are prepared to show prospective buyers.

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Simply click on the seller's name in the listing to send them a direct message and ask to organise a viewing.

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Remember, direct sales outside of Trade Classics are strictly prohibited and steps are taken to monitor this.  See Section 8 of our Terms and Conditions for more information.

Absolutely not - we have invested a lot of time and resources into the sale to bring the car to market and consider this a serious breach of our Terms and Conditions in Section 8.0.

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During Auction Period (by this we refer to the time from when a listing becomes live until the auction subsequently closes - generally a 7 day period) - under no circumstances should private sales be requested or offered by any party during the auction period.  We take reasonable steps to monitor this process including but not limited to the communications sent between buyers and sellers via our auction service.

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Post Auction Close (by this we refer to the period after the item sale is finalised) - under no circumstances should private sales be requested by registered Users of our service (Accounts active at anytime during the auction period) or their immediate families, networks and affiliates to any Seller against a vehicle that was not sold due to not making the reserve price set.   This clause is effective for 8 weeks after the auction end date.  We take reasonable steps to monitor this process including but not limited to the communications sent between Buyers and Sellers via our service.

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Breach of Agreement; if we ascertain reasonable evidence that a breach to these terms above then the SELLER  will be charged 3% of the agreed reserve price or of the final bid, whichever is the greater sum. This is to cover our costs of consigning the vehicle during the auction preparation process, which includes but is not limited to our time invested to appraise the vehicle, consider its market position, cover any travel and subsistence costs to view the vehicle and incurred marketing costs.  If we believe there has been a breach of this agreement, and liability from the Seller has not been disclosed, then we will investigate and produce evidence for legal proceedings, for example to supply directly to the small claims court; more details on this process can be found on the UK Government website.

We have a simple £200 bidding increment, i.e. a new bid posted needs to be greater than £200.

No - the auction will run for the full 7 days and no part exchanges or any other type of deals are allowed.

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Remember, direct sales outside of Trade Classics are strictly prohibited and steps are taken to monitor this.  See Section 8 of our Terms and Conditions for more information.