BUYING AT AUCTION IS EASY WITH SECURITY AT THE HEART OF EVERYTHING WE DO

BUYING AT

AUCTION

IS EASY

SAFE AND

SECURE

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Bidding & Buying

1 Register Online

  • It only takes a minute to create your own account – click here.
  • Once you submit the simple form then you’ll receive an email with login details.

2 Validation

  • Log into your account and enter your credit or debit card – see why.
  • This is to make sure your card is valid (no money is taken).

3 Bid and Buy

  • On the auction page enter your chosen bid then click ‘PLACE BID’.
  • The 5% +VAT buyer’s premium is authorised against your stored card on bidding.

Register Online

    • It only takes a minute to create your own account – click here.
    • Once you submit the simple form then you’ll receive an email with login details.

 

Validation

    • Log into your account and enter your credit or debit card – see why.
    • This is to make sure your card is valid (no money is taken).

 

Bid and Buy

    • On the auction page enter your chosen bid then click ‘PLACE BID’.
    • The 5% +VAT buyer’s premium is authorised against your stored card on bidding.

 

REGISTER TO BID

 
 

Buyer Review on Google

“As a Buyer their advert gave great confidence to purchase without seeing the car. I’ve been looking for a 911 for some time & I came across a listing on Trade Classics. I normal wouldn’t dream of spending this amount of money on a car without seeing or driving it but after seeing their advert & speaking with them on the phone I had enough confidence to place the winning bid. I would certainly recommend Trade Classics for anyone thinking of selling or buying a car with them.” Andrew Elstonsee review.

 

SEE ALL REVIEWS

 

Bid With Confidence

We do everything we can to give you confidence to make a buying decision right from your sofa.
We do everything we can to give you confidence to make a buying decision right from your sofa.

Cars Visited

We visit all auctions and take the pictures, videos and write the description. This means in most cases you won’t feel the need to visit the car.

Honesty

We write an accurate and fully transparent listing – see example. We tell it like it is, good and bad, so you can make a fully informed decision.

Transparent Pricing

We simply charge 5% + VAT buyer’s premium on the final winning bid. Our fees are amongst the lowest in the industry – compare here.


 

 

Trusted by hundreds of buyers

  No other auction goes to more lengths than we do to fully represent a car.

 

Traditional Auction

Our auction automatically extends by 2 minutes if a bid is made near the end. This means you’ll never miss out on the car if someone bids later than you.

Credit Card Security

We just need to validate your credit / debit card as a security measure. We don’t store or have access to your credit / debit card – it’s securely stored with our payment provider.

Community Discussions

Seller, buyers and enthusiasts are active on the discussion thread. This is good as you can see what other people think of the vehicle.


 

Latest Cars

 


 

Buyer FAQs

 

Why should I not leave my bidding to the last minute like eBay?

There are two key reasons:

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).

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.

What's the deal with delivery for cars bought at auction?

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. 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.

Our fixed price modern cars within the Modern Performance section of our website does include delivery in the price quoted.

What do you mean by 'authorising' my stored debit or credit card when bidding?

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

'Authorisation' - we place a request against your stored card to a certain value to make sure the card is ligitimate 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).

'Charge' - this turns a pre-approved authorisaton 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.

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.

2. Authorisation - Placing a Bid - when you place a bid we require the authorisation of the 5% +VAT Trade Classics Fee only against the stored card before the bid can be confirmed.  This is to make sure you can cover the cost of the 5% + VAT fee if you were to win the auction.  This 5% + VAT 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.

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 5% + VAT Trade Classics Fee and you pay the final bid value directly to the seller within 7 days.

Why do you authorise credit cards before bidding?

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.

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. for the 5% +VAT Trade Classics Fee (Buyer Premium) to be charged to.

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

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 5% +VAT Trade Classics Fee will be automatically requested.

For more information please see our Terms and Conditions.

Can I get in contact with the seller?

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

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.

Do you visit all the vehicles you auction?

We do visit all higher value vehicles valued over £20k.  This is to protect the integrity of our auctions and keep our community safe.

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.

Can I view the cars?

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

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

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.

How to I pay the balance to the seller?

After you win an auction the 5% +VAT 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.

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.

For more information please see our Terms and Conditions.

Can I make the seller an offer directly during or after the auction?

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.

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.

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.

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.

What is the bidding increment?

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

Can I find out what the reserve price is?

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'.

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.

Can I offer to part exchange my vehicle against the auction?

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

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.

How does the 'Bidding Status' gauge work?

The Bidding Status gauge is a visual representation of the status of the current bid.

The needle will move as bidding progresses - 'L' for low and 'H' for high and has the following status types: 'At Starting Bid'; 'Reserve Not Met' and 'Reserve Met'.

This range is based on typical / similar examples that we have seen recently sell (auction results) for classic cars.  For newer performance cars it may be based on other similar examples that are currently available for sale privately, or by dealers.

This is just our view of the market and we encourage bidders to do their own research.  We may publish a 'Market View' section that links to examples that we have found that may help position the car on auction in the current market.

 
 

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