Estimates, reserve price and other aspects of buying at AstaGuru’s online auction

In this two-part article series, we elaborate on several key aspects of buying at AstaGuru’s online auction like estimates, reserve price, and buyers premium.

• Estimates are essentially based on an average market value of the lot. These are provided only as a guide for buyers. Buyers should not rely on estimates as a prediction of actual price. Estimates do not include Buyers Premium. The reserve price is the minimum price at which the lot shall be sold. It's kept confidential. There will be a 15 percent buyers’ premium calculated on the hammer price at the close of the auction. For all lots taxes are payable on the buyers premium at the applicable rate, included in the invoice.
  
• Pre -Registration and Verification marks your participation in the bidding process. Prospective buyers should be registered and verified in order to bid. In case you’ve already registered before, you will still need to pre- register and accept the terms and conditions for the sale. (Use your previous login Id) Once you’ve pre- registered a representative will call you to verify your details.
  
• Unless the above process takes place, you shall not be given bidding access. All registrations should take place 24 hours before the auction. Once you are accepted, you will receive an email confirming your bidding access along with your Login Id and password. You may place an absentee bid, by faxing the written bid form available online and in the printed catalog. All bids must come in 24 hours before the auction.
  
• Opening Bid is the value at which the auction house starts the bidding of each lot. It’s 20 percent lower than value of the lower estimate. Once you have identified the lot you would like to bid on, click on "Bid Now" confirm your bid at the value listed. This is where you participate in the bidding process, by entering the next valid bid each time you are out-bid. The next valid bid will be a 10 percent increment in value of the last valid bid. All lots have bid history available to be viewed.

It's important to note that all bids have an increment of 10 percent of any current valid bid. 'My Bid Summary' acts as a bidder's personalized page, One may choose how frequently one wants to be notified of a change on one's bid status. The bid history denotes each lot's value recorded right since the beginning of the auction. In the next part, we shall consider estimates, reserve price and other aspects of buying at AstaGuru’s online auction.