Auction Sales Act 1973

A person shall not promote or conduct or assist in the promotion or conduct of a mock auction.

For the purposes of this section and subject to subsection (3) a sale in any way commonly known and understood to be by way of auction or purporting to be by way of auction may be taken to be a mock auction if, but only if, during the course of the sale —

any lot is sold to a person and either —

it is sold to him at a price lower than the amount of his highest bid for that lot; or

part of the price at which it is sold to him is repaid or credited to him or is stated to be so repaid or credited;

the right to bid for any lot is restricted, or is stated to be restricted, to persons who have bought or agreed to buy one or more lots; or

any money or article is given away or offered as a gift or in addition to the lot bought; or

the sale of any lot is obtained by deception, including a deception as to the present intentions of the person using the deception or any other person.

A sale shall not be a mock auction by virtue of subsection (2)(a) if it is proved that the reduction in price or the repayment or credit, as the case may be —

was on account of a defect discovered after the highest bid in question had been made, being a defect of which the person conducting the sale was unaware when that bid was made; or

was on account of damage sustained after that bid was made.

A sale shall not be a mock auction by virtue of subsection (2)(c) by reason of the seller providing without charge any or all of the following services —

food and refreshment for consumption during the course of the auction by persons attending the auction;

transport to and from the auction site for persons wishing to attend;

transport from the auction site of lots purchased;

catalogues.

For the purposes of this section —

stated in relation to a sale means stated by or on behalf of the person conducting the sale by an announcement made to the persons for the time being present at the sale;

any bid stated to have been made at a sale by way of mock auction shall be conclusively presumed to have been made and to have been a bid of the amount stated;

any reference in this section to the sale of a lot to a person who has made a bid for it includes a reference to a purported sale of the lot to a person stated to have made a bid for it, whether that person exists or not; and

anything done in or about the place where a sale by way of mock auction is held, if done in connection with the sale, shall be taken to be done during the course of the sale whether it is done at the time when any lot is being sold or offered for sale or before or after that time.

For the purposes of this section any mode of sale at which the persons present, or some of them, are invited to buy by way of a bid stated, or whereby prospective purchasers are enabled to compete for the purchase of lots whether by way of increasing bids or by the offer of lots to be bid for at successively decreasing prices or otherwise, shall be deemed to be a sale purporting to be by way of auction.