Auction Lot Lingo: A Glossary of Auction Terms

Every trade has its language, and auctions have more than most. Whether you're a consignor reading your first settlement statement, a bidder wondering what a buyer's premium is, or a new auctioneer writing your first terms and conditions — this is the lot lingo, in plain English.

Bidding Terms

Absentee bid: A bid left in advance by a bidder who won’t be present (or online) when the lot closes. The auctioneer or platform executes it on the bidder’s behalf up to their stated maximum.
Absolute auction: An auction with no reserve — the lot sells to the highest bidder regardless of price. Also called a "no-reserve" auction. The opposite of an auction "with reserve."
Bid increment: The minimum amount a new bid must exceed the current high bid. Online platforms raise increments automatically as prices climb (e.g., $1 steps under $50, $5 steps above).
Hammer price: The final winning bid amount when the auctioneer "knocks down" the lot — before buyer’s premium, tax, or fees are added. On online platforms, the closing high bid.
Max bid (proxy bid): The highest amount a bidder authorizes the platform to bid for them. The system bids the minimum needed to stay in the lead, up to that ceiling — the standard mechanic on HiBid and K-BID.
Opening bid: The starting price the auctioneer sets for a lot — where bidding begins.
Reserve: A confidential minimum price a lot must reach to sell. If bidding closes below the reserve, the lot passes (goes unsold). Under UCC § 2-328, auctions are with reserve unless stated otherwise.
Shill bidding: Bidding on your own consigned property (or having someone do it for you) to inflate the price without disclosure. Illegal or prohibited nearly everywhere and grounds for removal from every major platform.
Sniping: Placing a bid seconds before an online lot closes to deny others time to respond. Most auction platforms neutralize it with a soft close (see below); fixed-deadline sites like eBay allow it.
Soft close (extended bidding): An online closing rule: any bid in the final minutes extends the lot’s countdown, so bidding continues until interest is exhausted — the online equivalent of "going once, going twice."

Lots & Cataloging

Lot: The unit of sale at auction — one item or a group of items sold together under a single lot number. Everything in a catalog is organized by lot.
Box lot: A lot consisting of an unsorted box or grouping of smaller items sold as one unit. A staple of estate and consignment auctions; photos should spread the contents so bidders can count.
Catalog: The complete listing of an auction’s lots — numbers, titles, descriptions, and photos. Building the catalog is the most labor-intensive part of running an auction (and the part AI now does the typing for).
Choice: A selling method where the high bidder may take their pick of several identical or similar lots at the winning price, often with the option to take more than one ("times the money").
Lot number: The identifier that ties a lot to its catalog entry, photos, and settlement line. Platforms have format rules — K-BID, for example, accepts a number from 1–9999 with up to two letters before or after.
Pass / passed lot: A lot that goes unsold — because it failed to meet reserve, drew no bids, or was withdrawn. Sell-through rate measures sold lots against passed ones.
Preview: A scheduled window when bidders can inspect lots in person before bidding. Online auctions often hold one preview day; the photos and descriptions carry the rest of the load.
Provenance: The documented history of an item’s ownership. Strong provenance (receipts, letters, estate records) materially raises prices for art, antiques, and collectibles.

Money & Settlement

Buyer’s premium: A percentage added to the hammer price and paid by the buyer (commonly 10–18% online). A $100 winning bid with a 15% premium costs the buyer $115 plus tax.
Commission: The auctioneer’s fee, usually a percentage of gross sale proceeds deducted before the consignor is paid. Consignment commissions commonly run 20–40% depending on the work involved.
Gross proceeds: The total of winning bids for sold lots, before commissions, fees, and taxes are deducted — the top line of a settlement statement.
Net proceeds: What the consignor actually receives: gross proceeds minus commission, agreed expenses, refunds, and adjustments — the bottom line of the settlement statement.
Sell-through rate: Sold lots divided by total lots offered, expressed as a percentage. Online estate and consignment auctions routinely run above 90% because most lots start at low opening bids without reserves.
Settlement: The post-auction accounting and payout: a written statement of what sold, for how much, what was deducted, and the payment to the consignor. Some states set deadlines and record requirements for it.

People & Roles

Auctioneer: The person or company that conducts the sale — cataloging, marketing, running the auction, collecting payment, and settling with the consignor. Some states license auctioneers; many exempt online-only sales.
Consignor: The owner of the property being sold, who "consigns" it to the auctioneer to sell on their behalf under a consignment agreement.
Affiliate: On marketplace platforms like K-BID, the independent auction company that runs sales under the platform’s umbrella — the affiliate catalogs and manages the auction; the platform brings the bidder audience.
Ringman: At a live auction, the assistant working the crowd — spotting bids and relaying them to the auctioneer. Online platforms replaced the ring with software, but the term survives.

Terms of Sale

As-is, where-is: The default condition of auction sales: the buyer takes the item in its current condition, at its current location, with no warranties beyond what the law requires. Honest descriptions and photos are what make it work.
Removal (pickup) deadline: The date by which buyers must collect purchased lots. Missed removals are the operational headache of online auctions, which is why the deadline appears in both the bidder terms and the consignment agreement.
Simulcast: A live auction broadcast online so internet bidders compete with the in-person crowd in real time.
Terms and conditions: The rules every bidder agrees to before bidding: premiums, payment deadlines, removal windows, condition disclaimers, and dispute handling. They bind the buyer the moment a bid is placed.
With reserve: The default auction type under the UCC: the auctioneer may withdraw a lot before announcing completion of the sale, and a reserve price may apply. Contrast with an absolute (no-reserve) auction.

Put the Lingo to Work

If you're learning these terms because you're thinking about running auctions, start with our guides on writing lot descriptions and auction photography — or skip ahead to what it takes to start an auction business of your own.

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