Auction rules and expectations

How auctions work

• Sellers can start a public auction for an available, approved domain before it has public bids. Set an opening bid, closing date and time, and optional hidden reserve in Manage bids. Public bidding must be switched on.
• All auction bids are in GBP. The first bid must meet the opening amount; further bids rise by at least £50, in £50 steps. Larger jumps are welcome. There is no automatic proxy bidding: the amount you submit is your actual bid.
• The reserve is the seller’s minimum sale threshold and cannot be below the opening bid. Its amount stays private; bidders see whether it has been met. Without a reserve, the highest valid bid wins.
• The displayed deadline uses UK time (Europe/London), switching automatically between GMT and BST. Server time decides whether a bid is on time. A bid in the final two minutes extends the end to two minutes after that bid; this can repeat.
• The highest qualifying bid wins when bidding ends. If there are no bids or the reserve is not met, no sale is agreed.
• While an auction runs, the domain is auction-only: ordinary offers and direct offer acceptance through DAB are blocked. Sellers must not agree an outside sale that prevents them honouring the auction.

Buyer expectations

• Sign in, choose your public username, check the domain spelling, amount, reserve status and deadline, and read the listing before submitting.
• Bid only if you intend and are able to complete the purchase if you win. Bids are not enquiries. Published bids cannot be edited or withdrawn through the dashboard; report genuine mistakes promptly to DAB.
• No fake bids, self-bidding, coordinated bidding to inflate a price, or use of another account to evade restrictions. DAB limits accounts to 20 public bids per day.
• Your username is displayed during a live auction. Amounts, dates and statuses remain visible anonymously outside live auctions. Contact details are shared with the seller after acceptance or a win.
• Contact the seller within two working days of winning. Aim to agree payment and transfer arrangements within seven days, or agree a different timetable together in writing. These are service expectations, not automatic payment collection or cancellation deadlines.

Seller expectations

• List only domains you control and are authorised to transfer. Keep registration renewed and describe the domain accurately, including any transfer restrictions or known dispute affecting the sale.
• Choose an opening bid and reserve you are willing to honour. Terms lock immediately on launch; you cannot raise the reserve, change the deadline manually or remove an active auction, even before any bids. Switching off public bidding does not cancel a launched auction.
• Check all terms before launching. Once launched, allow the auction to finish and sell to the winning bidder if the reserve is met.
• Respond to the winning buyer within two working days. Agree who pays any transfer or escrow fees and complete the transfer on the agreed timetable. Mark the domain sold after completion.
• New bids generate seller email notifications and dashboard notices. Enquiries and auction-enabled offers also generate seller email notifications. Check your dashboard regularly: email can be delayed or fail.

Offers that may become auctions

The optional checkbox in Make an offer gives the seller five days to accept directly or launch a seven-day, no-reserve auction using that offer as its opening bid. The bidder must explicitly agree. If neither happens, the offer expires; a decline releases it immediately. Starting an auction means the seller accepts that the opening offer may win. Other offers are not automatically entered. Once launched, the opening bid remains active through the auction deadline and any late-bid extensions.

After the auction and notifications

DAB records the result and provides contact details; it does not take payment, provide escrow or transfer the domain. Buyer and seller agree and carry out the transaction directly. Consider an independent escrow service for a transaction where either party wants additional protection.

Bidding stops at the server deadline. Result processing runs during bid-page activity and scheduled background checks. Emails may wait until the next successful check, and provider delays may also occur. A saved or accepted email submission is not proof it reached the inbox. Check My bids and your seller dashboard.

For a mistake, suspected abuse or a non-responsive trading partner, contact chris@c-v.org.uk with the domain and relevant details. Do not assume a dispute automatically cancels a bid or authorises an alternative sale. DAB does not guarantee payment or transfer. These platform rules do not remove any rights that apply to your transaction.

Ownership and moderation

Auction-only domains require ownership verification and DAB approval before launch. Use account-specific DNS TXT verification, or request a manual check with a reason and the current UK registrar TAG where applicable. A TAG alone does not prove ownership. For DNS-verified domains, keep the TXT record in place; it is rechecked at launch. Manually verified domains use DAB’s recorded ownership approval. These domains do not appear in the ordinary sales catalogue.

Sellers cannot withdraw a launched auction, even with no bids. DAB may suspend a seller from new auctions and may cancel an active auction. On cancellation all auction bids are released, with no winner. Normally a public reason remains and bidders and seller receive notices. DAB may instead remove an auction from public view without a cancellation notice; private bid history and admin audit records remain. Completed results cannot be overwritten through this cancellation control.

Buyer and seller ratings

Each successful auction creates two feedback opportunities: the winning buyer rates the seller, and the seller rates the buyer. Each has 14 days from the recorded result to submit one positive or negative rating at Auction feedback. Feedback should reflect payment, transfer and how the transaction was handled. Submitted feedback is final.

If a person leaves no feedback by the deadline, their counterpart receives an automatic positive. Automatic positives count towards the positive total but are labelled separately; they are not proof of a completed payment or transfer. Public names show positive and negative totals, including ratings received as both buyer and seller. The rating’s accessible label and tooltip show the automatic count.

Only auctions settled after this feature launched qualify. Cancelled auctions, no-bid auctions and auctions that miss their reserve do not create feedback. Private offers and ordinary enquiries do not create ratings. Contact DAB support about abusive feedback or a disputed transaction.