An absentee bid lets a bidder compete in a sale without being present, in the room or online, at the moment the lot is offered. The bidder tells the auction house the most they will pay. The auction house, or the platform, then bids on their behalf only as far as needed to beat the competition, up to that limit.
How an absentee bid is executed
The rule is one increment above the competition. Suppose a bidder leaves $1,000 on a lot that opens at $400 with increments of $50.
- If nobody else bids, the lot is knocked down to the absentee bidder at the opening bid or the reserve, whichever is higher.
- If the room reaches $600, the absentee bidder is taken to $650 and wins there.
- If the room reaches $1,000, the absentee bidder’s limit is matched, and because their bid was placed first, the auctioneer may knock it down to them at $1,000 or ask the room for $1,050.
- If the room goes past $1,000, the absentee bidder loses.
In a live sale the clerk executes absentee bids from the book, or the platform does it automatically against room, phone and online bidders. In a timed sale the same logic runs as a maximum bid: the platform bids for every maximum bidder in turn, enforcing the increment table, until each lot has a winner or passes unsold.
Why absentee bids matter to the auction house
Absentee bids are the best signal an auction house has before a sale. A lot with three absentee bids above the low estimate will sell; a lot with none needs marketing or a word with the consignor about the reserve. A good auction house CRM records every absentee bid against the client, successful or not, because an underbidder on a rare coin is the first person to tell when a similar one comes in.
Phone bids are the other form of remote bidding, where a member of staff relays the bidding to the client live. Platforms that manage phone bidder cards and absentee bids in one console keep both from clashing during the sale.
