Conditions of Sale Conditions of sale are the terms under which the auction will operate, including buyer's premium in effect, reserves in place, options and terms, and date by which items must be removed from the sale site. These sale conditions are generally printed on the registration agreement, announced by the auctioneer at the beginning of the sale, and printed in the auction lot catalog.

Bidder Number Before being able to bid on items, you must first obtain a bidder's number, which is issued at the registration. The bidder's number is boldly printed on a paddle or piece of cardboard and is large enough to be seen by the auctioneer or bid spotter during the sale. When you have successfully purchased an item, the auctioneer will ask for your bidding number and assign this number to the item purchased, so you can claim it at the end of the sale.

Bid A bid is the amount of money you offer on a particular item you wish to purchase. Low-value items will generally increase by dollar increments, while higher-value items can increase in hundred or thousand-dollar increments.

Opening Bid The auctioneer usually opens bidding, at which point bidders can wait as the opening bid drops, or begin to bid, driving the price higher.

Absentee Bid People who are not physically at the auction sale can bid on items by telephone, by e-mail, by pre-delivered letter stating the lot and bid price, or through the auctioneer's website.

Reserve A reserve is the minimum price a seller is willing to accept for an item. For instance, if bids top out at $300 for a table, but the reserve is $350, the table will not sell because the reserve price was not reached. The auctioneer informs bidders that the reserve was not met, though he will not disclose the reserve amount, and moves on to the next lot for sale.

Buyer's Premium To increase revenues many auctioneers now add a buyer's premium to the total value an item has sold for, which can be represented as a or a percentage of the total value. For instance, if a table sells for $300 and the buyer's premium is 10 percent, then the buyer must pay $330 for the table, plus applicable taxes. As a rule of thumb, buyer's premiums are generally 5 to 10 percent of the total sales value of items purchased.

Preview A preview is the opportunity for bidders to inspect items before the sale. Larger sales generally have a preview day or half-day preview time anywhere from one week before the sale to the day of the sale; smaller sales generally have the preview an hour or two prior to the sale. Some auctioneers also list sale items on their Web sites for preview prior to sales. The purpose of the preview is to give bidders the opportunity to closely examine the items for condition and details prior to bidding.

As-Is As the term suggests, when you purchase items at auctions as-is, these items are sold absent of any warranties. You get what you see, with no guarantee it will work or as to the overall condition.

Lots The term lot(s) has two meanings. First, every item being auctioned receives a number, which is referred to as a lot. Second, often a number of small items, such as hand tools, are grouped together in one lot and sold to the highest bidder. So a lot can be one item, or a number of items grouped together.

Pick When more than one identical item is being auctioned, such as six of the same size and age, the first successful bidder will get to choose which one they want and how many they want at the same price. The buyer may choose to buy one, some, or all. He or she gets "The pick of the lot." The items not purchased by the first successful bidder are auctioned once more until all have sold, or the auctioneer has moved on to the next lot.