How Our Sales Work

Welcome to our website. You can bid online for items that are of interest to you. There are 4 categories of sale which are indicated on the home page next to the sale title. You will need to register with us if you wish to bid online or submit commission bids.

HOW DO I REGISTER?

To place a bid you will need to have an account with us. You can do this by clicking on the ‘Register’ button at the top of any page, or by clicking here. You only need to  register  once as we will keep your details on our secure database. We will send you an email to confirm your registration and you may then make bids as required. Please keep your registration password secure.                  

DEPOSITS AND CREDIT LIMITS

When you register for an account an automatic bidding limit of £1,000 will be set. If you wish to have a higher limit than this you must contact the office to request this. We reserve the right to request a deposit, paid by Bank Transfer, before raising your bidding limit. Your bids may not be accepted if you have not arranged a higher bidding limit prior to bidding over £1,000. Please note – Bidding Limits relate to total bids placed for all current sales, regardless of whether or not you are the highest bidder. The total amount of bids is worked out by adding up the highest of all your Max Bids and Bids for each lot. Once a finished sale has been processed by our admin team, the amount you bid in that sale will be freed up again for you to bid in other sales. 

For example: if you bid £300 on a Lot, you will have used £300 of your £1,000 limit, leaving you £700 to purchase other Lots.

If you think you may require a higher limit please contact our office - you will be asked for a refundable deposit of £1,000 in order to increase this limit.

Regular Buyer Status: After you have successfully purchased and paid for items from several sales you may request that the limit be removed.

THE BIDDING PROCESS

All current sales are shown on our Sales page and the different sale types are explained in the next section. The type of sale is shown next to the sale category - Medical / Catering etc. If the icon next to the sale description shows 'View Lots', you are able to go into the sale and look at what is available but you can't bid at this stage. If the icon shows 'Bid Now' or ‘log in to bid’ you are able to make bids by logging into your account. If the icon shows 'Bidding Closed' the sale is over and you can only view the lots.

WHAT TYPES OF SALES ARE THERE?

All current sales are shown on our Sales page. The type of sale is shown next to the sale category - Medical / Catering etc. If the icon next to the sale description shows 'View Lots', you are able to go into the sale and look at what is available but you can't bid at this stage. If the icon shows 'Bid Now' or 'Buy Now' you are able to make bids / buy items if you are registered. If the icon shows 'Bidding Closed' the sale is over and you can only view the lots.

HOW DO THE SALES DIFFER? 

Live Auction

These are live auction sales which you can either attend in person, or submit bids prior to the auction. The auctions date and start time are advertised underneath the sale number. Bids placed prior to the auction are known as commission bids and suit people who cannot attend the auction in person. These are one off bids of the highest amount you are prepared to offer and this information is passed to the Auctioneer at the time of the Auction. All commission bids are kept confidential and will only be used by the Auctioneer as required to secure a lot. You can only place commission bids or bid in person for this type of sale, real-time internet bidding is not available. By clicking on the sale you will see a list of all the lots currently in the sale. You can search for any particular item within the sale or within all our current sales by using the search boxes. Click on the description or the photo to get further details of the item if available. ‘Condition Reports’ are also available for some Live Auctions – these are our engineers' comments on the item's functionality and condition – Please contact our Medical Engineering Dept if you would like more information or a ‘Condition Report’ conducted on a lot before the auction. The engineers will endeavour to fulfill all requests but cannot guarantee that all will be done. Both the Catalogue and Condition Reports are updated regularly prior to the sale and are available to print out. Please Note: It is not always possible to write condition reports for all items in a sale. Any comment on an item is the opinion of our engineers, not statements of fact - all items are sold as seen. 

Timed Online Auction

This is where you can bid for lots via the website (after registering with us) up to a certain advertised deadline date and time. If you click on the Lot Name or photo you can see the item’s full description and additional photos (if available). You can also see a list of bids which have been made as well as the current bid, next bid and the lot's estimate. Bidding is set in pre-determined increments. You can place a bid by either clicking on ‘Bid Now’ which will automatically bid to the advertised ‘Next Bid’ amount, or by entering your desired bid amount in the ‘Max Bid’ box and clicking on ‘Leave Bid’. By clicking on ‘Leave Bid’ you are leaving a ‘Commission Bid’ – bidding will increase to the next bidding increment, as shown in ‘Next Bid’, and the website will continue to bid on your behalf against other bidders until your ‘Max Bid’ has been reached. If there is a reserve on the item and your commission bid reaches or exceeds this the reserve price will automatically be met by your bid.  If a ‘Leave bid’ commission bid is placed and this is matched by a bid at a later time, the first bid received takes precedence. Once you have confirmed your bid, this will be displayed and, if you are the highest bidder, the website will show ‘You are the highest bidder’ underneath the lot’s ‘Current Bid’ in bold green text.. If you have been outbid it will show ‘You have been outbid’ underneath the lot’s ‘Current Bid’ in bold red text.  Please refresh the page towards the closing time of the auction to ensure you are viewing the current bid status. A green star appearing next to the item's ‘Current Bid’ shows that the reserve price has been met. 

Please refresh the screen regularly to be sure you are viewing the current bid.

To avoid the practice of "sniping" - where online bids are placed in the last few seconds to prevent a counter-bid - we run a time extension system for Timed Online Auctions to allow other bidders additional time to place a bid:

• Where bids are placed within the last 1 minute on lots up to £500, the online auction deadline time for that lot will extend by 1 minute from the time each new bid is placed.
• Where bids are placed within the last 2 minutes on lots between £500 and £5000, the online auction deadline time for that lot will extend by 2 minutes from the time each new bid is placed.
• Where bids are placed within the last 5 minutes on lots over £5000, the online auction deadline time for that lot will extend by 5 minutes from the time each new bid is placed.

The successful bidder will be invoiced by email. Invoices must be paid immediately with cleared funds and prior to collecting the items purchased.

Live Webcast Sale

This is a live sale where you can attend in person or use real time internet bidding online as the sale is in process via our Webcast platform. To bid through the Hilditch Webcast Sale, follow the Webcast link from the Hilditch website situated alongside the sale details on the main Auction Sales page. You will need to register on the Webcast platform. Once registered, you can also bid through the Hilditch Webcast app by downloading this onto your portable device. You can only bid through the Webcast when the sale is live, but please feel free to leave commission bids in the usual way on the Hilditch website ahead of the sale. 

Webcast sales do tend to be faster paced than live sales, so please be prepared for speedy bidding and updates if you’re taking part. 

Tender Sale / Private Treaty Sale

These are sales where you submit bids via the website (after registering with us). They have a deadline shown and all bids must be submitted prior to this closing date. This is a sealed bid system - you will not be able to see bids from other potential purchasers so you need to submit your highest bid. The successful bidder will be invoiced by e-mail after the tender / sale closes. Invoices must be paid immediately with cleared funds and prior to collecting the items purchased.

HOW MUCH DO I PAY?

You will be charged VAT on the hammer (bidding) price if VAT is applicable (indicated by the VAT icon next to the Lot Name) and 22.5% buyer's premium plus VAT on this premium.

• Bank Transfer - this usually takes 3 days to clear our bank
• Cash - up to the value of £500 only
• Debit card - there is no charge for using a debit card (Please note: limited to £5000 per invoice for new buyers and £1500 per invoice per telephone transactions) 
• Business credit card - there is a 2.5% surcharge for commercial cards (Please note: limited to £5000 per invoice for new buyers and £1500 per invoice per telephone transactions)

You will need to either collect your items from the sale location in person, or arrange for a transport company to collect the goods on your behalf. Items are to be collected within five working days of the auction date - late collection charges will apply after this date. Items must be collected before 3.00pm daily. Lots are as seen in the auction photographs and are usually unpacked - you may wish to pack the items yourself, however a packing company can be recommended if needed, please contact us for more information. Postage of small items can be arranged at an additional charge. Names of haulage and shipping companies can be provided on request. If you send a transport company or courier to collect the items purchased please provide them with your buyer’s number, name, sale number and invoice number. 

LATE COLLECTION FEE

Items which are not collected within five working days following the auction date will be subject to a Late Collection Fee. 

We understand that it can sometimes be difficult to arrange collection within this time, and from November 2020 will charge a minimum of £10+VAT per pallet, per week for any late collections after the payment and collection deadline of 5 working days after the auction to cover our additional warehouse and movement costs during this time.

Please also not note that any items left on site after six weeks will be considered abandoned and will be re-entered into auction.

ITEMS SOLD AT AUCTION

The Buyer accepts responsibility for having the equipment checked before use and thereafter maintained appropriately to ensure its continued safe and effective use and for following any instructions, advice or warnings issued by the manufacturer or other competent body. The Vendor/s of the goods listed on the invoice, and the Auctioneer, accept no responsibility for the use or condition of the item. All items are strictly ‘sold as seen’. 

PLEASE NOTE

• All items must be paid for in full and removed five days after the date of invoice.  The Auctioneers will not accept responsibility for items not collected by the specified removal date  
• If a courier or transport company is sent to collect the items purchased, it is essential that they are provided with the buyers name and number, the sale number and the invoice number/s
• Items not collected by the specified date will be subject to a late collection charge, payable by the Purchaser upon demand, prior to release of the goods.