The claimant sought damages from an auctioneer who had failed to accept his bid, and withdrawn the items from the sale.
Held: In an auction without reserve the auctioneer was not entitled to withdraw an item on the basis that the highest or only bid was too low. To do so was to put himself in a position as if he was bidding for the seller, and that was not allowed save under the Act. The auctioneer himself was liable in damages to the disappointed bidder in a sum equivalent to the market value less the rejected bid.
Pill LJ, Sir Murray Suart-Smith
Times 31-Aug-2000, Gazette 12-Oct-2000, [2000] EWCA Civ 235
Bailii
Sale of Goods Act 1979 57(4)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Payne v Cave 2-May-1789
Auction Bid Withdrawn Before Hammer Fell
The defendant’s bid for a worm-tub, and a pewter worm was highest at the auction, but he withdrew his bid before the hammer fell. The auction was under standard conditions.
Held: No contract had been made. The bid was an offer which could be . .
Cited – Thornett v Haines 28-Apr-1846
Where a sale by auction is advertised or stated by the auctioneer to be ‘without reserve’, the employment by the vendor of a puffer to bid for him, without notice, renders the sale void, and entitles the purchaser to recover back his deposit from . .
Cited – Harris v Nickerson QBD 25-Apr-1873
The defendant auctioneer advertised in the London papers that certain brewing materials, plant, and office furniture would be sold by him at Bury St Edmunds on a certain day and two following days. The plaintiff, a commission broker in London, . .
Cited – Warlow v Harrison QBD 25-Nov-1858
Whether Auctioneer liable to bidder – vendor’s bid
Three following horses were advertised for sale at auction being the property of a gentleman and sold without reserve. The auctioneer had knocked one down as sold for 61 guineas, but the bid was from the owner. The plaintiff sued the auctioneer, . .
Cited – Warlow v Harrison CExC 26-Nov-1859
Unless public notice of this was given, a bid from the seller himself was fraudulent. He appealed against rejection of his claim against the auctioneer.
Held: The appeal failed on the existing pleadings, but said that the plaintiff might . .
Cited – Mainprice v Westley 4-Jul-1865
Liability of auctioneer. Sale without reserve. Undisclosed principal – 1. A declaration alleged that the defendant, an auctioneer, published handbills representing that at a certain day and place he would offer certain premises for peremptory sale . .
Cited – Harris v Nickerson QBD 25-Apr-1873
The defendant auctioneer advertised in the London papers that certain brewing materials, plant, and office furniture would be sold by him at Bury St Edmunds on a certain day and two following days. The plaintiff, a commission broker in London, . .
Cited – Fenwick v MacDonald Fraser and Co SCS 29-Jun-1904
A sale of farm animals by auction was not made without reserve because the condition of sale reserved to the owner the right to make one offer for each animal. The Lord Ordinary Lord Kyllachy had decided the case both on the grounds that there was a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract, Consumer, Damages, Agency, Contract
Updated: 05 January 2022; Ref: scu.78262