Auction rules

for Mineralica Auctions

Last updated: October 14, 2026

1. Scope

1.1 These rules apply to all auctions on Mineralica Auctions (mineralica.com/auctions). The platform is operated by Mineralica, owner: Maximilian Schiller, Klosterholz 5, 94491 Hengersberg, Germany. Postal address: Mineralica, Postfach 86 06 47, 81633 München, Germany. Phone: +49 89 2153 7111. Email: info@mineralica.com.

1.2 Every lot names its seller. The purchase contract is concluded between you and that seller. Mineralica is your contracting party only where the lot names Mineralica as the seller.

1.3 These rules govern how bids are placed and how the purchase contract is concluded. Payment, delivery, withdrawal, and rights in case of defects are governed by the seller's terms of sale and withdrawal policy. Both are linked on every lot.

2. Taking part

2.1 You can bid with an account on mineralica.com whose email address has been confirmed. You must be of legal age.

2.2 You bid in your own name. The account is personal; do not pass on your access.

2.3 Before every bid you see the shipping costs for your shipping country. Each lot shows where the seller delivers it. We do not accept a bid for a shipping country the seller does not deliver to.

3. How an auction runs

3.1 Every auction starts and ends at the times shown on the lot. The time of our system applies. A bid has been placed once our system has received it.

3.2 Bids are placed in the currency shown on the lot. The first bid must be at least the starting price.

3.3 Every further bid must exceed the current highest bid by at least one bid increment:

3.4 If a bid is received in the last 120 seconds of an auction, the auction for that lot is extended by 120 seconds. This applies to every such bid, without an upper limit, and only to that lot. A bid that does not change the current highest bid does not extend the auction: that is setting or raising your maximum bid as the highest bidder under section 4.4.

3.5 A seller may set a reserve for a lot. We do not show the amount of the reserve. The lot does show that there is a reserve and whether it has been met ("Reserve not met" or "Reserve met"). If the highest bid is below the reserve when the auction ends, the lot is not sold.

4. Bids and maximum bids

4.1 You bid by entering an amount and confirming it with "Confirm bid." Before you confirm, you see the lot, your amount, the shipping costs, and the seller's details.

4.2 You may also enter a maximum bid. Our system then keeps bidding on your behalf whenever another bidder outbids you, and only as much as needed: the price rises to the highest bid of another bidder plus one bid increment, and no higher than your maximum bid. If nobody else bids, the price stays at your bid. If the lot has a reserve and your maximum bid reaches it, your bid rises to the reserve at once.

4.3 Your maximum bid stays secret. Other bidders do not see it, and the seller does not see it on the platform. Mineralica uses maximum bids solely to carry out automatic bidding and never to influence a price. This also applies where Mineralica itself is the seller.

4.4 You can raise a maximum bid, but you cannot lower it. As long as you are the highest bidder, you can set or raise a maximum bid without raising the current price.

4.5 If two bidders reach the same maximum amount, the one who placed it first leads.

4.6 The bid history on the lot is public. For every bid it shows the amount, the time, and a neutral label such as "Bidder 1," but no name. Bids our system places on your behalf are marked as automatic bids.

4.7 We confirm every bid by email and let you know when you have been outbid.

5. Conclusion of the contract

5.1 By listing a lot, the seller makes a binding offer to conclude a purchase contract. It is addressed to the bidder who holds the highest bid when the auction ends. If the lot has a reserve, the offer applies only if the highest bid reaches it.

5.2 By placing your bid you accept that offer, on the condition that you are the highest bidder when the auction ends. A maximum bid is your instruction to our system to bid in your name, in increments, up to that amount.

5.3 Your bid lapses as soon as another bidder places a higher bid.

5.4 When the auction ends, the purchase contract is concluded between the seller and the highest bidder at the amount of the highest bid (hammer price). No further declaration is required. If a reserve has not been met, no purchase contract is concluded. If the auction is extended under section 3.4, the period in which the seller's offer can be accepted is extended with it.

5.5 Shipping costs under the seller's terms of sale are added to the hammer price. You see the amount for your shipping country before you bid. There is no buyer's premium and no other fee for bidders.

5.6 We store the text of the contract. After the auction ends, the highest bidder receives it by email: the lot, the hammer price, the shipping costs, these rules, and the seller's terms of sale and withdrawal policy.

6. Bids that are not permitted

6.1 Sellers do not bid on their own lots, whether themselves or through others. This also applies to their employees and agents and to the employees and agents of Mineralica.

6.2 Bids placed without the intention to buy, and arrangements meant to influence a price, are not permitted.

6.3 A bid that breaches section 6.1 or 6.2 is invalid. If it raised the price, the buyer owes only the price that would have resulted without that bid.

7. Binding bids and removal of bids

7.1 Bids are binding. You cannot take back a bid.

7.2 If you made a mistake when entering your bid, for example a typing error in the amount, please write to us at info@mineralica.com right away, if possible before the auction ends. Your statutory right to contest a declaration made in error remains unaffected.

7.3 We remove a bid only for one of these reasons:

• the bidder reported an input error without undue delay;
• the bid breaches section 6;
• the account was used without the knowledge of its holder;
• the bidder's account has been suspended under section 10.

We tell the bidder by email that the bid was removed and why. The price is then determined as if the bid had not been placed.

8. Ending an auction early

8.1 We end the auction for a lot before its scheduled end only for one of these reasons:

• the specimen has been lost, stolen, or damaged;
• the description or the starting price contains a material error, such as a wrong identification, a wrong locality, or wrong dimensions;
• the sale is not legally permitted;
• a technical fault prevented or distorted bidding.

8.2 In these cases no purchase contract is concluded for the lot, and all bids on the lot lapse. We tell everyone who bid on the lot by email and give the reason.

8.3 Once an auction has ended, a lot is no longer withdrawn.

9. After the auction ends

9.1 The highest bidder receives the contract confirmation described in section 5.6. The lot is in their cart, ready for payment.

9.2 Payment, delivery, and the consequences of non-payment are governed by the seller's terms of sale.

9.3 Consumers have the statutory right of withdrawal for purchases made in an auction on this platform as well. The seller's withdrawal policy sets out the details.

9.4 Anyone who is not the highest bidder at the end has not bought anything. Their bid has lapsed. If the reserve of a lot has not been met, the highest bidder has not bought anything either; we let them know by email.

10. Suspension of accounts

We may suspend an account if its holder breaches these rules or has not paid for a lot they won despite a grace period. A suspended account can no longer place bids. We will first ask the holder to stop the breach, unless the severity of the breach makes this unreasonable for us.

11. Liability

11.1 We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body, or health, under the German Product Liability Act, and to the extent we have given a guarantee.

11.2 In the case of a slightly negligent breach of an essential contractual obligation, our liability is limited to the damage that was foreseeable when the contract was concluded and is typical for this kind of contract. Essential obligations are those whose fulfillment makes the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance you may regularly rely.

11.3 Otherwise we are not liable for slight negligence.

11.4 These rules also apply to the liability of our employees and agents. The seller's liability under the purchase contract is governed by the seller's terms of sale and by law.

12. Versions of these rules

Each lot is governed by the version of these rules that is published when its auction starts. That version is linked on the lot and included in the contract confirmation. A new version applies only to auctions that start after it has been published.

13. Final provisions

13.1 German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer and have your habitual residence in another country, the mandatory consumer protection provisions of that country remain applicable.

13.2 If you are a merchant, a legal entity under public law, or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction is Deggendorf, Germany.

13.3 We are neither obliged nor willing to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

13.4 If a provision of these rules is invalid, the remaining provisions remain valid.

13.5 The contract language is English.