Create Market Auction

Market Auctions is a self-serve auction platform on Trade Classics where you can list your vehicle for free. You’ll handle everything yourself, from taking photos to writing the description, with the help of our easy-to-use listing wizard.

We accept specialist, rare, or classic vehicles that fit well with our buyer community. Market Auctions is ideal for cars in the £5,000 to £15,000 range. However, if your vehicle doesn't meet our criteria, like a 2012 Vauxhall Corsa then we may not approve the listing. Rest assured, if we don’t accept it, you won’t lose any of the content you’ve created - you'll have the option to edit and resubmit, or explore other selling options with us.

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Ultimately we are interested in consigning good quality and fresh-to-market vehicles from genuine sellers, that will appeal to our buyers and bidders at auction.

If you’re unsure about the value of your vehicle, our Car Valuer app can help - it's available for both iOS and Android (links below), and you can get a free, accurate valuation to set a realistic price for your auction.

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Alternatively simply contact us and we'll have a chat to give you out thoughts on pricing.

Yes, Market Auctions is completely free for sellers.

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There are no listing fees or final value fees for sellers. However, sellers are responsible for providing their own photos and writing their own listings.

All you need is some basic details about your car (make, model, condition, etc.), clear photos, and any relevant paperwork. Our step-by-step wizard will guide you through the entire process, making it as easy as possible.

Auctions typically last for 7 days, giving plenty of time for bidders to place offers and ask questions if needed - you can upgrade to Curated Auctions to take advantage of 14 days auctions, giving your car more exposure.

While we don’t offer professional photography with Market Auctions, we do provide tips on how to take great photos that will make your car stand out - here's a link to our guide.

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Alternatively, if you upgrade to Curated Auctions then we'll come out and action professional photography - we'll also write the listing and you'll benefit from an extra trust layer buyer's value - meaning more money back for you.

Yes, with Market Auctions, you’re in control of writing your listing. Don’t worry - our wizard will give you some helpful guidance on what to include to make your listing attractive to buyers.

Although Market Auctions is self-serve, we’re here to help if you run into any issues. You can reach out to us anytime for assistance during the listing process.

Absolutely! If you’d rather have us handle everything - professional photography, writing the description, and getting your listing ready then our Curated Auctions service is available. It’s a more hands-on experience with expert support.

The car always stays with you - even if you upgrade to Curated Auctions, the car still stays with you.

A reserve is the minimum price that you will let the car go for.  This is a secret price agreed between us, i.e. we never disclose it publicly and we ask you to do the same.  Sometimes bidders may ask you for the reserve price in the comments section on the listing, and we ask you to politely reply saying no, as disclosing the reserve price undermines the auction process.

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We'll work with you to set a realistic reserve in line with market pricing – we don’t take on vehicles with unrealistic pricing.

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If the reserve price hasn’t been met at the end of the auction, i.e. the highest bid received is below your reserve price, then the car is not sold.

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It is important for you to say the minimum you will sell the car for, as if the reserve is set too high and bidding doesn't reach the reserve, then the car is not sold and no buyers are contracted to the sale.  One of the biggest benefits of our auction service is that if the reserve price has been met, i.e. a bidder has bid over the reserve price, then at the end of the auction they are legally contracted to complete the sale of the car.

Probably not - we only consign fresh to market cars that have not been widely advertised anywhere else.  This is because the price has already been set and makes achieving a higher price more difficult.

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Also buyers may be put off seeing the car not sell by one process and then appear for sale within another.

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It's likely we'll say no if you've advertised the car on eBay or a top classified site, however, if you've just listed locally or on a site like Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace then we may accept the car.

The security and safety of our community is our top priority.

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Before a person is allowed to bid they must submit a credit or debit card for us to validate.

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During the bidding process the buyer's stored credit or debit card is used to authorise the Trade Classics Fee (Buyer Commission).  If this authorisation fails then the bid will not be made.  At the end of the auction this fee is charged to the stored card automatically.

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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 stored cards.

Our terms and conditions are very straightforward and what you'd expect for a typical auction company.

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For example, the sale is between the buyer (winner at auction) and you (the seller).  It's on a 'Sold as Seen' basis with no warranties.  Essentially like a private sale - we are in the middle making sure it all goes through smoothly and take a small buyer's commission.

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Honesty and transparency are important to us so we don't have anything unusual in our terms and conditions - we do ask you to give us exclusivity during the sale period, i.e. you don't advertise it anywhere else.  This is to protect us as it takes a lot of time and money in advertising to complete a sale.  It also makes sure we get the most money back for you - duplicate sales can confuse buyers.

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 6% 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.

No - we do ask you to refrain from doing so.

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We have chosen your car as we believe an online auction route is the best process to achieve the highest possible price.

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If in the unlikely event you wish to remove the car from sale then you will be charged 6% of either the starting bid or current bid at that time, whichever is greater.

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This is to cover our costs of working with you during the auction preparation process.

No - after we agree consignment of the car with an associated reserve price then this is set for the duration of the process / auction. 

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However, you could cancel the contract with us, but then you would be liable for 5% + VAT of the initially agreed reserve price - please see Section 6.1.21 of our terms for more info. 

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This rule is in place to protect our service, as if you decide to move the reserve up then naturally it will decrease the chances of sale - which is a key factor for us when deciding to take your car into our service.

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You are free to lower the reserve - please see 'Can I change the reserve price down?' for more information.

Yes - you are free to lower the reserve at any time  - we just need at least 2 hours notice before the end of the auction, e.g. if your auction ends at 7.30pm then you have up until 5.30pm on the day of the auction to write to us saying you want to reduce the reserve.

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Naturally there is no restriction on lowering the reserve as it will increase our chances of a successful sale.  However, we do need the direction in writing on email or instant message to one of the team you are working with.

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IMPORTANT NOTE - As we have spend considerable time and money bringing your car to market, you can't under any circumstances increase the reserve that we initially agreed - this is because of course raising the reserve reduces our chances of selling your car.

No - if you decide to authorise a lower reserve to us for any reason, at any point in the process, then we will not make up the difference to any previously agreed reserve price.  This is because you have decided to reduce the lowest price for the car that you are willing to accept.  This decision may have been by your own accord or recommended to you by us - either way it is your decision.

The buyer is contractually bound to purchase the car from you within 7 days of the auction end.

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We automatically deduct our non-refundable Trade Classics Fee (Buyer Commission) from the buyer's credit card at the end of the auction, so they are financially tied to the transaction.

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If the buyer still doesn't complete then you can either choose to take no action, or issue legal proceedings to recover the money.  This is the same process as any other auction sale - traditional or online.

If your car doesn't sell at auction then we'll try our best to sell it post-auction at a price you're happy with.

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However, of course we can't guarantee a sale, like any other service, but we do try our very best to get you that sale.

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If the car doesn't sell at auction or post-auction, then we'll let you know and give you feedback on the process.  Rest assured, due to our own extensive buyer network and the unique way we advertise your car across other platforms, e.g. eBay, Cazoo, Pistonheads, Motors.co.uk, Facebook and Instagram, it does mean all potential interested parties will have seen the car.

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If we think your car could sell in the future then we may offer a re-run of the auction, however, that has to be at least three months from the date of the last auction - it's just there is no point re-auctioning a car sooner as we will have marketed it to all interested parties at that time.  We'd need to wait for a new group of people that may be interested in the car, or economic situations to change, in order to stand a chance of sale at the price you're looking for.

Once your listing is live, potential buyers can see it and place bids. You’ll also get notifications when someone bids on your car, and buyers can contact you directly with any questions.