Sell Your Property with Confidence – The Online Auction Process Explained

Why Choose an Online Property Auction?

Selling your property through an online auction is a fast, transparent, and secure way to achieve a competitive sale price with minimal hassle. Unlike traditional estate agency sales, where deals can fall through at the last minute, online auctions ensure that once the auction ends, the buyer is legally committed to the purchase.

At YooWin, we provide a fully digital auction experience, where buyers bid in real-time on a secure, web-based platform. The process offers maximum exposure to interested buyers, clear timelines, and a legally binding sale – all from the comfort of your own home.

YooWin auctions can offer properties for sale either:

• Unconditionally (the traditional method) – with the fall of the virtual gavel effecting an exchange of contracts between buyer and seller. There must always be a full legal pack provided for these types of auctions.
• Conditionally – with the winning bidder securing a period of exclusivity (usually four weeks) to arrange any mortgage funding before exchanging contracts.

How Does an Online Auction Work?

1. List Your Property & Attract Buyers

We’ll market your property extensively through our online platform, email campaigns, property portals, and social media.
Open house viewings can be arranged to give buyers the opportunity to inspect the property.
You and your solicitor need to create a legal pack so potential buyers can review important documents before placing a bid. If you don’t have a solicitor we can happily introduce you to one of our panel solicitors whose primary focus is assembling auction packs that can guide you through the process.

2. Buyers Register & Place Bids

Interested buyers register online, verify their identity, and provide solicitor details before they can bid.
Bidders compete in a live, eBay-style auction, with every bid recorded and displayed transparently.
Auctions typically run for a set period, allowing buyers to place bids at their convenience.
Towards the end of an auction, any bids made within the last 5 minutes will re-set the countdown timer to allow for a 5 further minutes of bidding. This provides ample opportunity for all possible bids to be received.

3. Exchange & Complete with Confidence

If the reserve price (your confidential minimum selling price) is met or exceeded when the auction timer reaches zero, the sale is legally binding.
The buyer immediately pays a deposit and/or reservation fee, ensuring their commitment to the purchase.
Completion typically takes 20-28 days, ensuring a quick and efficient transaction.
A reservation fee is automatically taken when the virtual gavel goes down.

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Why Sell Your Property at an Online Auction?

✅ Watch Your Sale Price Increase in Real-Time

Buyers bid competitively, often driving up the price beyond initial expectations. You can monitor the bidding process live, knowing that the highest bid at the end of the auction is the best offer available in the market.

✅ Speed & Certainty – No Delays, No Chain

Once the auction ends and the reserve price is met, contracts are automatically exchanged immediately.

At the end of the auction (when the timer reaches zero and the Reserve Price has been met or exceeded) the buyer will make a payment which is split between a non-refundable fee called a buyer fee and an exchange deposit.

Buyers are legally committed and are obliged to pay any outstanding balance of the deposit (typically 10% of the purchase price) by 12pm on the next working day, reducing the risk of sales falling through.

Completion usually follows within 20-28 days, meaning you get your funds quicker.

✅ Set a Reserve Price – Your Financial Safety Net

You are in full control of the sale price.

Your reserve price (the minimum amount you will accept) is confidential and ensures you never sell for less than you’re comfortable with.

✅ A Secure, Hassle-Free Process

No risk of gazundering (buyers reducing their offer at the last minute).

No lengthy negotiations – buyers commit when they bid.

The entire process is managed by us, so you don’t have to worry about administration.

Is My Property Suitable for Auction?

Online auctions work for a wide range of properties, including:

• Residential homes (vacant or tenanted)
• Investment properties
• Development sites and land
• Commercial properties
• Unique or high-demand properties

Even if your property has been struggling to sell through traditional methods, an auction can generate strong interest from motivated buyers. We’ll always advise if auction is the best option for your specific circumstances.

How to Get Started – What We Need from You

To begin the process, we require:

• Full address of the property
• Photos (internal & external)
• Tenure details (leasehold or freehold)
• Tenancy details (if applicable)
• Floor plans (if available)
• Title deeds & documents

YooWin can arrange your photos floorplans EPC and virtual tours.

Before listing, we’ll also conduct an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) check to verify your identity, ensuring a fully compliant and secure sale.