Wilsons Auctions

Wilsons Auctions was formed in 1936 and is still family-owned and managed, having grown from a single site in Northern Ireland into the largest independent auction company in the UK and Ireland. It runs more than 3,200 auctions a year across 19 sites, sells over 200,000 lots annually and reports an annual hammer total above GBP 620 million. A substantial part of that is asset recovery work: Wilsons acts for police forces and public bodies disposing of seized property and proceeds of crime, which is why its catalogues carry things a commercial auction house would never see.

What you can buy

• Vehicles: the core business, including a dedicated electric-vehicle stream and the occasional one-off, such as a specially liveried BMW X6 design car.
• Plant, machinery and agricultural: site plant, farm machinery and commercial equipment.
• Police and government: seized and confiscated assets sold on behalf of law enforcement and public bodies.
• Land and property: a separate auction stream with its own legal packs and payment timetable.
• Luxury and designer: watches, jewellery and designer goods, with authenticity handled as its own topic in the firm's guidance.
• General goods and fashion: unreserved general sales, high-street and designer clothing, beauty and cosmetics, sport and fitness equipment.
• IT, gaming and electrical: computing and consumer electronics, including themed sales such as retro video games.
• Bikes: unreserved bicycle auctions, frequently drawn from recovered property.

How the bidding works

Register for the specific auction you want, then bid either in a timed online sale or during a live webcast. Each lot shows its current bid and you can bid manually or leave a maximum for the system to work up to. Win, and you pay the hammer price plus fees before collection. If bidding stops short of the reserve the highest bid is held provisionally or the lot is passed out unsold. Bids cannot be retracted — the firm's own guidance is blunt that due diligence belongs before the bid, not after it. Bidding requires a deposit; unused deposits are refunded through the My Deposits area of your account, typically within three to five working days, provided you are not registered for a live auction or carrying an unpaid invoice.

What to check before you bid

Everything is sold as seen. Trade buyers of vehicles need a Trade Account, which requires photographic ID for the main account holder, proof of company address, proof of motor trade insurance and two motor trade references — apply through tradeaccount@wilsonsauctions.com well before the sale you want. Lots are spread across the branch network, so read which site a lot sits at: an auction advertised as "multiple locations" means collection may not be where you expected. Property lots run on their own rules, with legal packs to read and a fixed payment timetable after the hammer. Wilsons Auctions Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference 913413 and acts as a credit broker rather than a lender, and it holds Irish PSRA registration number 001527.