An online land auction sells land through timed bidding on a website instead of in a saleroom. Bidders register and pass identity checks first, the auctioneer sets the starting bid and reserve, and bidding runs for a fixed window, with extra time added whenever someone bids at the death. In an unconditional sale the highest bid at or above the reserve becomes a binding contract when the clock stops, and the buyer pays a deposit, usually 10% of the price.
For a seller, the decisions sit around the bidding: which contract type, how bidders are checked, how the deposit is collected, and whether an online-only sale suits a particular field, block or farm.
What formats of land auction are there?
The RICS consumer guide to property auctions sets out three ways an auctioneer can offer a lot: a room auction, a live-streamed auction, and an online-only auction. Laid over the format is the contract type, either unconditional (binding when bidding ends) or conditional (a reservation, with exchange later).
| Format | How bidding happens | Who's on the rostrum | Typical contract | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-room | Bidders in a saleroom, plus phone, proxy and online bids | Auctioneer, live | Usually unconditional | Lots with a strong local following |
| Live-streamed (hybrid) | Auctioneer runs the sale live; bids come online, by phone and by proxy | Auctioneer, live, broadcast | Usually unconditional | Local lots that want a wider pool |
| Timed online | Web platform over a fixed window, with automatic extensions | None; the platform runs the bidding | Unconditional or conditional | Lots that suit remote, flexible bidding |
Room and live-streamed sales work to the pace of the auctioneer. A lot can be sold in a few minutes. A timed online sale is spread over days, which gives a busy buyer time to get round to it, and a nervous one time to lose interest.
For the full sequence from instruction to completion, see how a land auction works. This guide covers what's different when the sale runs online.
How does a timed online auction run, from listing to close?
The order of events is the same as a room sale. The difference is that the bidding happens on a platform over days, not in one session.
| Stage | What happens | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| Instruction | You sign the auctioneer's terms of appointment, set a provisional reserve, and pass the auctioneer's ID checks | You and the auctioneer |
| Legal pack | Your solicitor orders official copies and searches and drafts the special conditions of sale | Your solicitor |
| Listing | The lot goes live with particulars, plans, guide price, legal pack and the bidding window dates | Auctioneer |
| Viewings | Open days or appointments; the auctioneer tracks who downloads the legal pack | Auctioneer, sometimes you |
| Registration | Bidders register, pass ID and funds checks, and agree the online bidding conditions | Bidders and auctioneer |
| Bidding window | Bids go in live or as a maximum (proxy); late bids trigger extensions | Platform |
| Close | Highest bid at or above the reserve wins; if the reserve isn't met, the lot doesn't sell | Platform and auctioneer |
| Contract and deposit | Sale memorandum completed; deposit or reservation fee collected | Auctioneer |
| Completion | Balance paid and land transferred on the agreed date | Both solicitors |
Under the RICS professional standard for auctioneers, all relevant documents and plans should be available to inspect online or at the auctioneer's or seller's solicitor's office for as long as possible before the sale. For an online lot, that means the legal pack should be downloadable when the listing goes live, not a week before bidding opens. The auction legal pack guide covers what goes in it.
Who can bid, and how are bidders checked?
Anyone can bid online once they've registered and been approved. Bidders are anonymous to each other, but not to the auctioneer.
Auctioneers who sell land on a client's instructions carry out estate agency work under section 1 of the Estate Agents Act 1979. They must register with HMRC for supervision under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. HMRC's guidance for estate agency businesses treats both the buyer and the seller as customers, and names auctions as higher risk because they move quickly.
In practice, before a bidder can place a bid online:
- they provide photo ID and proof of address, often through an electronic ID check
- they give details of the buyer if it isn't them, such as a company, a trust or a partner
- they show where the deposit and the balance will come from
- they agree how the deposit will be paid, which on some platforms means registering a payment card
- they accept the auctioneer's online bidding conditions
The RICS consumer guide tells bidders to leave time for this, because it's a legal requirement. It also notes that online-only auctions may carry auctioneer's charges to secure the right to bid.
You go through the same checks as the seller. RICS expects the auctioneer to check your identity and your right to sell, and to get written confirmation from your solicitor. If the land is held by executors, trustees, a company or a partnership, expect to show who has authority to sign.
How do proxy bids and automatic bidding work?
Most platforms let a registered bidder set a maximum. The platform then bids for them, one increment at a time, only as far as it needs to stay ahead. The bidder doesn't have to watch the screen, and nobody else sees the maximum.
Two rules matter to you as the seller.
You won't be told the maximum. RICS guidance says that, unless the auctioneer's terms for bidders provide for it, the auctioneer should not disclose to the seller the amount of any pre-auction registered proxy bid. You'll hear how many bidders have registered and how many legal packs have gone out, but not the figure a bidder has set.
Bids can be made on your behalf, below the reserve. The Sale of Land by Auction Act 1867 allows the seller, or one person for them, to bid when the conditions declare that right. The Common Auction Conditions (5th edition, July 2024) let the seller or the auctioneer bid up to the reserve, but never at or above it. Online, that usually means the auctioneer places bids to move the price towards the reserve. Once bidding passes the reserve, only genuine buyers are bidding.
What happens in the final minutes: extensions and soft close
A timed auction has a scheduled end time, but it rarely ends exactly then. The RICS consumer guide explains that the closing time is set at the outset but can be extended if bids are made at the last moment.
The usual mechanism is an extension window, sometimes called a soft close. If a valid bid lands in the last part of the window, the platform adds time. Some online auctioneers' conditions reset the clock to 60 seconds after every late bid, with no limit on how many times it can happen. The lot closes only when a full extension passes with no new bid.
That stops a bidder winning by bidding in the final second, which matters for a seller. The price keeps rising for as long as two bidders keep going, the way it would in a room. The extension rule, the bid increments and what happens if the platform fails are all set out in the auctioneer's online conditions, so read them before you sign.
When does an online sale become legally binding?
That depends on whether the sale is unconditional or conditional.
Unconditional (traditional) online auction. The RICS consumer guide says contracts are exchanged "on the fall of a hammer", whether that's a physical hammer or "an online hammer in the case of online auctions". The winning bidder is bound to buy and you're bound to sell. Most auctioneers in England and Wales use the RICS Common Auction Conditions, and under the 5th edition:
- the deposit is the greater of the auctioneer's stated minimum and 10% of the price, excluding VAT
- the auctioneer can sign the sale memorandum for the buyer if the buyer doesn't sign
- completion is 20 business days after the contract date unless your special conditions set a different date
- if a buyer misses completion, either side can serve a notice to complete within 10 business days, and a seller whose buyer still fails can end the contract, keep the deposit, resell, and claim damages
- from the contract date the buyer carries the risk of loss or damage, unless a tenancy or your special conditions keep insurance with you
Conditional (modern method) online auction. The winning bidder pays a non-refundable reservation fee and gets a set period to exchange, then a further period to complete. RICS describes the option-to-exchange period as "usually four weeks". Nothing is binding on the land until contracts exchange. RICS expects the conditions, and what the buyer loses if the sale doesn't go ahead, to be stated clearly in the marketing. The traditional vs modern method guide compares the two.
The contract date also matters for tax. Under section 28 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, a disposal happens when the contract is made. For an unconditional online auction that's the day bidding closes, not completion day. For a modern method sale it's the later date when contracts exchange. Your accountant will want both dates.
How are deposits and fees taken online?
Nobody hands over a banker's draft at the rostrum, so the auctioneer's own conditions set how and when the deposit is paid. RICS expects the auctioneer's terms to cover:
- how deposits are accepted, such as electronic transfer or debit card
- whether the deposit is held as stakeholder or as agent for you, and who gets any interest
- where the balance goes
- how the auctioneer checks the bidder's identity
Under the Common Auction Conditions, if the deposit isn't paid in full by the time the auctioneer's terms set, you can treat the contract as at an end and claim against the buyer.
Fees on top of the price have to be clear from the start. The ASA's advice on auction guide prices and non-optional charges says a guide price shown to consumers needs a clear reference, next to it, to any buyer's premium or other fees. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has applied since 6 April 2025, and a price shown to consumers must include the fees they'll necessarily pay. RICS told auctioneers in an April 2025 practice alert that failing to set out all fees in the special conditions or particulars, so buyers can work out the full cost upfront, is likely to be misleading. If you plan to recover your legal pack or search costs from the buyer, that goes in your special conditions, in figures. The cost of selling land at auction covers who pays what.
How do guide price and reserve work online?
They work exactly as they do in a room. The guide is published. The reserve is confidential between you and the auctioneer, and the lot won't sell below it. Under the ASA ruling reproduced in the RICS standard, unless the auctioneer updates the guide whenever the reserve is set above it, the guide must be explained as the range within which the minimum sale price will fall, or, for a single-figure guide, within 10% of it. RICS's April 2025 alert says guide figures "must reflect the anticipated reserve at the time the guide is published".
Some platforms show the reserve status on screen as "reserve not yet met" or "reserve met", without showing the figure. The guide price and reserve guide has worked examples.
Viewings and marketing for rural lots sold online
An online sale still needs people on the land. Someone weighing up 40 acres (16 hectares) of grazing will usually want to walk the boundaries and check the water before they bid, however the bidding is run.
For a rural lot, the practical questions are:
- Viewing arrangements. Set open days, accompanied viewings, or unaccompanied viewing with particulars in hand. Say which gates to use and what to keep off: stock, crops and the yard.
- Plans. A clear plan with the lot edged, field numbers, acres and hectares, access points and rights of way marked.
- Information online. Drone footage, soil and cropping history, and scheme and tenancy details belong in the listing or the legal pack. Buyers bidding remotely rely on them more.
- Tracking interest. RICS notes online registration is a convenient way to track potential buyers and tell them about amendments. Legal pack downloads and viewing numbers are the best guide you'll get to how bidding might go.
What must be disclosed doesn't change online. RICS expects auction particulars to be factual and accurate. The DMCC Act 2024 bans misleading omissions in dealings with consumers. National Trading Standards' Part A, B and C material information guidance was withdrawn on 8 May 2025 when the Act replaced the old consumer regulations. The duty itself stayed. As of September 2026, the Government has said it will publish new non-statutory material information guidance for residential listings later in 2026. For a land-only lot, known issues such as rights of way, flood risk, overage, occupation and access belong upfront.
Online, in-room or hybrid: how do they compare for a rural lot?
None of the three is better in general. Each one trades something off, and which matters most depends on the land and on who is likely to buy it.
| Factor | Timed online | In-room | Live-streamed (hybrid) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reach | Anyone registered, anywhere, over several days | People who can attend, plus phone and proxy | Room plus remote bidders |
| Pace | Slow build, fast finish with extensions | Minutes per lot | Minutes per lot |
| Bidder convenience | Bid from the farm office at any hour | Fixed date, time and venue | Fixed time, remote option |
| Local presence | None; neighbours may prefer to see the room | Strong; neighbours see who's bidding | Moderate |
| Technology risk | Platform or connection failure, covered by the conditions | Low | Stream delay for remote bidders |
| Date flexibility | Lots can go live on their own timetable | Tied to the catalogue date | Tied to the catalogue date |
| Contract options | Unconditional or conditional | Usually unconditional | Usually unconditional |
The factors that tend to decide it for land:
- Who's likely to buy. A block next to three neighbouring farms may be won by someone who wants to see who they're bidding against. A small paddock may attract buyers from well outside the area who'll never attend a saleroom.
- Timing. Online lots don't have to wait for the next catalogue. If harvest, a tenancy end, or a probate deadline fixes your date, that helps.
- Complexity. A lot with tenancies, overage, or scheme agreements needs bidders who've read the pack. A long online window gives their solicitors time.
For the wider comparison with private treaty and tender, see auction vs private treaty vs tender and the pros and cons of selling land at auction.
Selling online in Scotland and Wales
Wales. Conveyancing in Wales follows the same law as England, and the Common Auction Conditions sale conditions cover England and Wales. The buyer pays Land Transaction Tax to the Welsh Revenue Authority instead of Stamp Duty Land Tax. The auction mechanics described above are the same.
Scotland. Scots property law is separate. The RICS consumer guide explains that in a Scottish auction the auctioneer is the judge of the roup and the conditions of sale are the articles of roup. In a Scottish sale the articles of roup do the job missives do in a private sale. The Common Auction Conditions state that their sale conditions apply only to property in England and Wales, so a Scottish lot needs Scottish conditions drafted by a Scottish solicitor. The buyer pays Land and Buildings Transaction Tax to Revenue Scotland. Any sale of land still recorded in the old Register of Sasines triggers registration in the Land Register, because a disposition recorded in the Sasine Register has had no effect since 8 December 2014. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 adds prior-notification and lotting rules for large landholdings. As of September 2026 they depend on further regulations, so if your holding is large, ask your solicitor where they stand before fixing a date. For the Scottish market generally, see buying farmland in Scotland.
Next steps
- Get your paperwork moving. Ask your solicitor to order official copies and searches now. On most online sales, the legal pack sets the timetable.
- Decide the contract type. Choose unconditional or conditional before you choose a platform, because it changes who bids and how quickly you're paid.
- Read the online conditions. Check the extension rule, the deposit method and timing, the fees charged to buyers, and what happens if the platform fails.
- Get a price view. Ask a RICS-registered valuer or your auctioneer for a view on guide and reserve before the listing goes live.
- Talk to your accountant. Do this before the auction date, not after. The contract date fixes the tax year for any gain.
Our buyer-side guide to agricultural land auctions covers what bidders will be checking, and how long it takes to sell agricultural land compares timescales across routes.