Whether you're looking for the latest releases or searching for your favourite whisky from times gone by, Whisky-Online Auctions has over 30 years of experience selling old & rare whisky!
If you’re searching for hard-to-find whiskies, you’ve come to the right place! Whisky-Online Auctions specialise in offering the rarest whiskies ever bottled.
Every whisky auction we run includes bottles that hardly ever come to auction alongside rarities that have never been seen on the open market before. As a drinker, collector or investor there will always be something in our whisky auctions to interest you.
On this page you’ll find everything you need to know before bidding in our online whisky auctions. If you can’t find the information you are looking for, please Contact Us and a member of our team will be more than happy to assist you.
REGISTER TO BUY
Anyone over the legal drinking age in their country can create an account on our whisky auction website for free. If you wish to register to bid and buy in our auctions, there’s a one-off (lifetime) registration fee of £3. Registration is part of our due diligence to ensure genuine bidders and can be done as soon as your account is created.
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL ACCOUNTS HAVE A DEFAULT BID LIMIT OF £1,000. If you wish to place bids totalling over £1,000 in any auction, there is a further verification process that must be completed before further bids can be accepted.
Once your account has successfully been verified you will not need to complete this process for future auctions.
To verify your identity, you just need to provide us with images of the following documents:
• A Passport or other official Photo Identity Card (Driver’s License etc) • An up-to-date utility bill from within the previous 6 months.
The bill must be in your name and match the address you used to register on our website.
Please be assured that your document images and personal information remain entirely confidential at all times. Personal information supplied by you for the bid approval process is used by Whisky-Online Auctions only for identity verification purposes and is not provided or supplied to any third parties.
After your document images have been verified and approved by our team, your Bid button will be activated for bids over £1000. All bidding approvals are entirely at our discretion, and you will be notified when the process is completed.
Please note that due to high demand, verification and approval decisions can take up to 24 hours after we have received your document images. We strongly recommend registering and verifying your account at least 24 hours before an auction goes live to ensure your approval is completed before the auction has started.
We take the verification and approval process very seriously, and the process cannot be rushed or circumvented under any circumstances. If you register during a live auction, you will have to wait until we have verified your account before you can place bids over the £1000 limit.
Head Office Address
Whisky-Online Auctions Unit 15 Cropper Close, Whitehills Industrial Park, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY4 5PU Open map →
All auctions start at 8pm (20:00) UK Time and will begin to close down from 8pm (20:00) UK Time seven days later. This gives all our bidders plenty of time to create a watchlist, ask any questions and place their bids.
In the final 10 minutes before the end of our auction, any individual Lot that receives a bid will have its finishing time extended by 10 minutes. Any further bids after 20:00 will reset a 10-minute timer for that Lot until no further bids have been placed within 10 minutes.
This is the most important time of our auction and the moment when our buyers have to be fully engaged to catch the bottles they want. It’s a good idea to have your Watchlist open as the timers tick down at the end of the auction so you can react quickly if you’re outbid on your desired Lots.In unforeseen circumstances where there's a technical issue with the end of the auction, we reserve the right to manually extend the end time to ensure the auction ends as set out above.
Update commencing 22 May 2024: We're excited to announce a new feature on our platform that will streamline the bidding process for lots with reserves: Synced Reserve Lot Timers.
Synced Reserve Lot Timers For future auctions, beginning with our May 2024 sale, any Lots that have not met their reserves by the beginning of the extension period will have their timers synced in line with the Lot that has the longest time remaining. This means that all Lots with reserves will close at the same time.
Please note that the rollout of this change may affect the time our auction normally closes, and therefore this new feature will be monitored carefully and reviewed for possible adjustment after our May 2024 auction.
All Lots are checked by our whisky specialists Wayne & Harrison Ormerod prior to any auction. We do not auction opened bottles, so all items are sealed unless otherwise stated, e.g. if the original bottles were not sealed by the producer.
No item is deemed new, however most bottles are generally in good condition. If this is not the case, any faults will be mentioned in the description. All Lot images are of the actual item you will receive.
If the fill level of the liquid is not visible in the images provided, we aim to indicate the level in the description. If the fill level is impossible to determine (e.g. ceramic decanters), we will provide the decanter's overall weight in kilograms. Our fill level guideline can be found on each Lot page.
All information in Lot listings, including estimated bottling dates, is provided to the best of our knowledge. If you believe there is an error/discrepancy with any Lot description, please notify us immediately and we will address the issue accordingly.
Placing a bid confirms that you have checked the Lot and are satisfied with its condition; returns will not be accepted.
Fill Level Guidelines
HOW TO BID
Bids can be placed via the main Auction page, on the individual Lot detail page or from your dedicated Watchlist. Buyers can place either Auto-Bids or Single-Bids - below we explain how each feature works.
While you’re browsing our auction you’re likely to see various bottles of interest, which you can save to your own personal Watchlist. As long as you’re logged in, a link to your Watchlist can be found at the top of every page on the website.
You can also access your Watchlist, track your bids and view historical orders from your Account area. Your Watchlist enables you to view and bid on multiple live auction items in one place, and you can add your own notes to each item on your list. This makes it easier to narrow down your selection and monitor your top priority items as the end of the auction approaches.
Whenever you place a bid, it’s recorded and checked against any Auto-Bids previously placed by other bidders. The next bid will be based on the increment table below.
Lower Price
Upper Price
Bid Increment
£1.00
£9.99
£1.00
£10.00
£99.99
£2.50
£100.00
£249.99
£5.00
£250.00
£499.99
£10.00
£500.00
£999.99
£25.00
£1,000.00
£2,499.99
£50.00
£2,500.00
£999,999.99
£100.00
If your maximum bid is greater than the current bid, our system's Auto-Bid feature will bid on your behalf if another bidder places a bid. Auto-Bids are always placed at the lowest possible increment that will put you in the lead and will never exceed your maximum bid.
You can increase your Auto-Bid limit at any time, even if you are currently in the lead for the item - please be assured by increasing your Auto-bid our system will not allow you to bid against yourself, it will simply increase you Maximum amount.
The Single-Bid feature allows users to place bids quickly without having to enter an amount manually. The Single-Bid feature lets you place a bid at one bid-increment above the current winning bid and is very useful in the final moments of the auction.
This feature requires close attention if you wish to place further bids on the same item if you are outbid. If you will not be available to monitor live bids at the end of the auction, we recommend using the Auto-Bid feature.
When you place a bid, you will be asked to confirm the bid amount. Our system is completely automated and will not place any bids until the amount is confirmed by you.
Once you are in a winning position it is not possible to withdraw your bid under any circumstances. It is therefore absolutely vital that you check your bid amount before confirming.
When you place any bid you are confirming that you have read and understood our terms of sale, and consent to be bound by them if your bid is successful. This affects your legal rights and constitutes your obligation to purchase under these terms, including paying the buyers commission and any other charges forming part of the sale. For full details, please read our Terms and Conditions.
Our system will send you an email notification if you have been outbid.
BUYERS' FEES
Auctioneer’s commission - 15% of final hammer price.
Buyers do not have to pay VAT on the hammer price of their items. VAT is payable by the buyer only on services provided by the auctioneer such as delivery charges, loss & breakage assurance and commission.
If your items are being shipped outside the UK, you will not have to pay any UK VAT whatsoever but goods may be subject to VAT and possibly customs import duties on arrival at the destination country. For full details on international shipping, please check our Delivery page.
PAYMENT
In a change from our previous system, no Lots can be paid for until the auction is completely finished. After the final Lot has sold, all successful bidders will receive an email with confirmation of their winning Lots and details on how to pay.
Payment for winning bids is due immediately after the end of the auction, but we allow up to three days for you to choose your preferred method. Faster payment means you are more likely to receive your goods sooner.
If payment has not been made within three days, a late payment surcharge fee will be applied (see below). If you are paying by bank transfer, we understand this may take you over the three day limit - please contact our office and let us know so the late payment charge may be waived.
• UK debit or credit card (max £10,000) - No surcharge.
• UK bank transfer - No surcharge.
• Cash on collection (max £10,000) - No surcharge.
• Non-UK debit or credit card (max £10,000) - No surcharge.
• Non-UK bank transfer - All costs must be met by the buyer.
An additional 3% of the full invoice amount will be charged for payments not received in full within three days after the auction closes. Placing a bid at auction creates a legal contract between the buyer and the seller. If your bid succeeds you have a legal obligation to pay for the items you have won.
Failure to pay will result in your account being suspended permanently and we will take any further steps we feel necessary to protect the integrity of our auction.
Delivery & STORAGE
After payment, you can opt to receive your goods in any of the following ways, or place them in our Secure Storage facility.
All Lots are available for collection from our head office and we highly recommend collecting to avoid any unforeseen risks associated with delivery. If collection is not an option or you wish to have your Lots delivered, liability for loss & breakage is the buyer's responsibility.
All winning auction Lots can be collected by prior appointment from our head office.
You can pre-calculate Delivery costs at any time during the auction on our Delivery & Storage page. We also supply optional Loss & Breakage Assurance (LBA) if required.
Loss & Breakage Assurance (LBA) is optional and can be selected at the checkout if required. All parcels are prepared with the same special care and attention regardless of whether LBA has been taken or not. Please note that due to the various ages and conditions of pre-owned bottles, leakage in transit is not covered by LBA and we cannot accept returns.
For full details on our Loss & Breakage Assurance, please visit our Delivery & Storage page.
Orders being delivered outside the UK may be subject to local taxes and duties upon arrival in your country. Any additional customs clearance charges or courier admin fees will be collected from you (or the recipient) at the time of delivery. Customs policies vary widely from country to country - if you require further information please contact your local customs office.
US Customs charges are calculated on ABV% and Volume. Our delivery fees for US deliveries include all US taxes and FDA fees where applicable.
