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Bidding for someone else at auction, a guide by Dotto

South Australia · Australian Capital Territory · Tasmania

Bidding at auction for someone else

A person can bid at an auction on a buyer’s behalf. South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania each set out what that person must provide, and when the buyer’s name has to be given.

Three places, three signals. Each guide opens on its own place’s flags: a message sent for someone who is not there, in a code everyone watching can read.

Bidding for someone else at auction, a guide by Dotto, sets out the rules for bidding on another person’s behalf at an auction of homes and residential land in South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania. It is written and published by Dotto. All three provide for one person to bid for another. They differ on the paper the person bidding carries and on the moment the buyer’s name reaches the agent or the auctioneer.

General informationDotto is not a real estate agent, buyer’s agent or buyer’s advocate. Dotto holds no agent licence and does not act for buyers or sellers. This is general information, not advice.

Each place has its own registration or licence for agents: registration as an agent in South Australia, where Consumer and Business Services is the place to take a problem with an agent; a real estate agent licence in the ACT, issued by Access Canberra; and in Tasmania, a real estate agent named on the Register kept by the Property Agents Board, the state’s regulator for property agents.

Three places, side by side

Each card follows one auction through, from the person bidding’s side: before the first bid, during bidding, and after the auction.

  • South Australia

    The buyer’s signed authority is shown before bidding

    Before bidding
    The agent must have the bidder’s proof of identity, a written authority signed by the buyer, and proof of the buyer’s identity before entering the bidder in the bidders register. Copies of the authority and of the buyer’s proof of identity will do.
    During bidding
    The auctioneer takes bids only from registered bidders displaying their identifier, and announces each bid aloud as coming from that identifier.
    After the auction
    SA.GOV.AU says whoever wins is expected to sign the contract and pay a deposit as soon as the auction ends.
    Bidding for someone else at a South Australian auction

  • Australian Capital Territory

    The buyer is named in the record before bidding

    Before bidding
    The seller’s agent records whether each bidder is bidding for someone else, with that principal’s name and address, and must first sight a written authority that states them.
    During bidding
    A bid is taken only from someone displaying their bidder number, and the auctioneer acknowledges the number aloud.
    After the auction
    The agent keeps the record for three years, must not use it for anything not related to the auction, and must not disclose it except where the law allows.
    Bidding for someone else at an ACT auction

  • Tasmania

    The buyer is named after the winning bid, or before the auction

    Before bidding
    The person bidding may give the auctioneer the buyer’s name and address in advance. Notice of this duty, among others, must be given before any auction is conducted.
    During bidding
    At a public auction of land, nobody may bid on the owner’s behalf, with narrow exceptions the Act sets out, including a bid the auctioneer may make for the owner.
    After the auction
    The successful bidder gives the auctioneer the name and address of the person the bid was for, as soon as practicable.
    Bidding for someone else at a Tasmanian auction

Why the pages fly flags

A flag signal carries a message for someone who is not standing there, in a code everyone watching can read. Bidding for an absent buyer is much the same: the person bidding speaks for someone else, in front of a room, under rules each place writes for itself. The pairs of flags at the top of each guide are drawn for that place alone.

What the three guides cover

Each guide reads one place’s Acts and regulations as the official legislation sites publish them, and the South Australian guide also draws on SA.GOV.AU’s page on buying at auction. They cover auctions of residential land in South Australia, public auctions of residential property in the ACT, and auctions under Tasmania’s Property Agents and Land Transactions Act 2016. Reserve prices, vendor bids and cooling-off in general are left out, except where a rule turns on someone having bid for another person.