Common vendor questions
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO LIST MY CAR AS A UCA AUCTION?
It depends! If you choose our Vintage submission (no professional photos included), it’s free! If you opt for Vintage Plus submission type (pro photos included), the fee is €250. Either way, that is the only fee a seller pays, period.
HOW DO I SUBMIT MY CAR AND WHAT HAPPENS AFTER I SUBMIT IT?
You can submit your vehicle by going here. Once you submit, one of our Auction Managers will review your submission and get back to you, typically within 2 business days. If we accept your vehicle for auction, you pay the listing fee and an Auction Specialist will be assigned to you who will assemble your listing based on the information you provided. If you have chosen Plus, we will arrange a photographer to come take photos of your vehicle.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR MY VEHICLE TO GO LIVE?
For a Classic submission, it usually takes a few weeks to go from submission to live on the site. For a Plus submission, professional photos will need to be taken, so the time may be a little longer depending on when the shoot is scheduled. The more information and photos you provide us during submission, the quicker the process goes.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE AUCTION? HOW DO I GET PAID?
The transaction for a vehicle won on UCA is between the buyer and the seller. At the close of auction, the winning bidder and seller will receive each other’s contact information via email.
At the close of the auction, the winning bidder will need to pay the auction fee to UCA within 2 business days. All the necessary info will be received through e-mail. After this, buyer and seller will receive each other’s contact information via email to close the auction.
We recommend that the seller sends the buyer a photocopy/confirmation of the title and price of the auction prior to the buyer sending payment, and we recommend a wire transfer.
All of the auctions data remains saved with UCA to prevent fraud.
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHICH CARS TO ACCEPT?
We choose which vehicles to list based on a number of factors including condition, quality of information, quality of photos, requested reserve price, and similar vehicles currently for sale.
CAN I SELL IF I'M NOT FROM EUROPE?
Sure! All bidders are welcome and we are happy to assist you with shipping the car to your country.
HOW LONG DO AUCTIONS LAST?
Auctions start and end 7 days a week, with regular listings live on the site for 7 days, while Plus listings are live on the site between 7 and 21 days.
HOW DO RESERVES WORK?
A reserve is the minimum price that a vehicle will sell for. We work with sellers to set reasonable reserves, and avoid vehicles with reserves that are not realistic. Reserve values are not shown on the listing, nor do we announce when reserves have been met (we think that leads to bidding games).
CAN I EDIT MY SUBMISSION?
Once you complete your submission, our Auction Manager will review it and get back to you, typically within 48 hours. There is no way to edit your initial submission, however you will have the opportunity to add more information and photos after the initial correspondence.
WHO WRITES THE LISTING?
If your vehicle is accepted for auction, an Auction Specialist will be assigned to you who will be in charge of assembling your listing based on your provided information. They will also monitor your auction and assist with any questions you may have.
CAN I RELIST MY CAR IF IT DOESN'T SELL?
Generally speaking we don’t like to re-list a vehicle if it doesn’t sell. A listing tends to have the most interest when it is fresh to market.
CAN I BID ON MY OWN LISTING?
Fairness is one of our most important values on UCA and we have gone to great efforts to develop a system that is transparent and fair to all of our users. We do not allow sellers to bid on their own listing, and any such behavior is strictly prohibited. We have tools in place that monitor bidding and the user accounts from which bids are placed to ensure this doesn’t happen. Additionally, we choose to make each user’s account history public via their user profile.
CAN I CANCEL MY AUCTION ONCE IT'S LIVE?
We do not cancel auctions. We require listings to be exclusive to UCA during that time with all other ads taken down.
HOW DO I TAKE GOOD PHOTOS OF MY CAR?
Good photos are very important to the success of an auction. We put together a photo guide to help you take photos of your vehicle, which you can see here.
CAN YOU PROVIDE ME A PHOTOGRAPHER RECOMMENDATION?
For €250 you can add Vintage Plus professional photography to any listing. Your photographer will capture a comprehensive gallery of your vehicle’s exterior, interior, engine bay, along with any documentation that you bring to the shoot. Learn more about Vintage Plus photography here.
I AM HAVING PROBLEMS UPLOADING PHOTOS IN MY SUBMISSION, CAN YOU HELP?
If you are having problems uploading photos in your submission, try starting with 5-10 photos that show the overall condition of the vehicle. In addition, we recommend that photos be 2000 – 3000 pixels on the long side, which usually results in a 1 – 2 MB file size. Photos that are too small or too large might not be able to be uploaded. If accepted, more photos can be added prior to the auction going live.
If you are still having problems, please email us at info@uniquecarauctions.eu and let us know the specific problem you’re having.
Common bidder questions
HOW DOES BIDDING WORK?
You simply type in the amount you would like to bid. If it’s higher than other bids and there is still time on the clock, you become the high bidder. Bidding advances immediately to your entered amount. The bid you place in the bid box will become the new high bid and the amount you will be responsible for paying should you win the auction.
WHAT IS THE BUYER'S FEE AT UNIQUE CAR AUCTIONS?
Buyers pay a 5% fee on top of the final sale price to UCA, with a minimum of €250, and with a maximum at €5,000
HOW DO I SIGN UP FOR AUCTION UPDATES
You can subscribe to receive email auction updates by clicking into an auction listing and sign up for updates. If you no longer want to receive auction updates from a particular auction, you can unsubscribe. Go to the auctions page here
I WANT TO BID ON A LISTING. WHERE CAN I FIND ALL OF THE RELEVANT DETAILS?
We encourage all potential bidders to read the listing and review the entirety of the comments for details of the car and insights offered by members of the community. Questions can be asked via the comments section or the Contact Seller button, and we recommend potential bidders to do so prior to placing a bid.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I WIN AN AUCTION AND HOW DOES PAYMENT WORK?
The 5% buyer’s fee is paid via the buyer’s card on file at auction close. The transaction for the winning bid amount is between the buyer and the seller. At the close of auction, the winning bidder and seller will receive each other’s contact information via email. We recommend that the seller send the buyer a photocopy of the title and a bill of sale prior to the buyer sending payment, and we recommend a wire transfer.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE RESERVE IS NOT MET ON AN AUCTION?
If the reserve is not met, we encourage the seller to work with the high bidder in hopes that they can reach a deal. The high bidder is not charged the 5% buyer’s fee.
HOW MUCH IS THE BUYER'S FEE?
If you win an auction we charge 5% of the final bid price on top of the winning bid, with a minimum fee of €250 up to €5,000 (5% of a €100,000 bid). The fee for sales higher than €100,000 is capped at €5,000.
WHAT CREDIT CARDS DO YOU ACCEPT?
We accept all major credit and debit cards.
CAN I BID IF I'M NOT IN BELGIUM?
Sure! So long as you have registered with a valid credit card, you can bid from anywhere.
WHY DOES THE CLOCK KEEP RESETTING?
It’s common in online auctions for buyers to use special software to enter a bid in the very last seconds of the auction to outbid others without giving them a chance to respond. During the last 2 minutes of UCA Auctions, the clock resets to 2 minutes after every bid. This happens until no more bids are placed and the auction ends. This gives everyone a chance to place their bids and gives sellers a chance to sell to the true high bidder.
CAN I CANCEL MY BID?
We do not cancel bids on the site. Please be very careful when placing your bid.
General questions
HOW DO I REGISTER?
You can register for an account by going here.
HOW CAN I CHANGE MY PASSWORD?
You can change your password at any time by going to your My Account page and updating the information there.