How bidding works

Create an account

You bid with a Mineralica account whose email address you have confirmed. You must be of legal age. The same account works for the magazine and for the auctions.

Choose a lot

Each lot names its seller and shows its locality, its dimensions, and when its auction ends. Before you bid, you see the shipping costs to your country. If the seller does not ship to your country, you cannot bid on that lot.

Place a bid

Select Place bid and enter your amount, in the currency shown on the lot. The first bid must be at least the starting price. Every later bid must exceed the current highest bid by at least one increment:

Before you confirm, you see the lot, your amount, the shipping costs, and the seller. Your bid is placed when you select Confirm bid.

Set a maximum bid

You can also enter the most you are willing to pay. Our system then bids for you whenever someone outbids you, only as much as it takes to keep you in the lead, and never more than your maximum. Nobody sees your maximum, not other bidders and not the seller.

You can raise your maximum at any time, but not lower it. While you lead, raising it does not raise the price. If two bidders set the same maximum, the one who set it first leads.

The reserve

A seller may set a reserve, the lowest price at which the lot is sold. We do not show the amount. The lot shows Reserve not met or Reserve met. If your maximum reaches the reserve, your bid rises to the reserve at once. If the highest bid is below the reserve when the auction ends, the lot is not sold.

Reserve not metReserve met

The last two minutes

A bid in the last 120 seconds of an auction extends it by 120 seconds, as often as such bids come in. This applies to that lot only, so lots of the same auction can end at different times. Setting or raising your maximum while you lead does not extend the auction.

Bids are binding

You cannot take back a bid. If you made a typing error, write to info@mineralica.com right away, if possible before the auction ends. We confirm every bid by email and let you know when you have been outbid. The bid history on each lot shows every bid, without names.

When you win

When the auction ends, the highest bidder buys the lot at the hammer price. No further step is needed. You receive the contract by email, with the seller’s terms of sale and withdrawal policy. The lot is waiting in your cart, where you pay by credit or debit card. Shipping costs are added to the hammer price. There is no buyer’s premium and no other fee for bidders.

When to pay, how the lot is shipped, and your right of withdrawal are set out in the seller’s terms of sale, linked on every lot.