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Buyers premium auction fees compared: what buyers pay on top of the price

Buyers premium auction fees explained: the buyer's premium, administration fee and reservation fee, with published examples and how to add them up.

4 min read
Last reviewed 4 November 2026
By Your Property Check team

Part 1 of 5

The fees a buyer can meet

General information, not advice. The winning bid (the hammer price) is rarely the whole cost of buying at auction. Which fees apply depends on the auction house and the type of sale. These are the common labels:

Fee	What it is	Usually paid
Deposit	Part of the price, paid on the day in an unconditional sale	At the hammer
Buyer's premium or buyer's fee	A charge to the auctioneer, often a percentage with a minimum	At exchange
Administration fee	A fixed or sliding charge covering the cost of concluding the sale	At exchange, with the deposit
Reservation fee	A non-refundable fee in a conditional (modern method) sale	When bidding ends
Legal pack, search and other costs	Costs set out in the special conditions of sale	As the pack says
Stamp Duty and Land Registry fees	Government charges	At completion

EIG Property Auctions describes a buyer's administration fee as paid at exchange to cover the cost of concluding the sale, including compliance checks under the Money Laundering Regulations. Auction House UK says an administration fee covers the auctioneer's costs, is payable by the buyer plus VAT alongside the deposit after the gavel falls, and can be a fixed fee or a percentage of the sale price subject to a minimum. It also says there may be a buyer's premium payable on exchange and disbursements payable on completion.

Part 2 of 5

What auction houses publish

We looked for published figures on auction houses' own pages. Where a page gave an amount, it is shown with the date we checked it. This is not a ranking and not a recommendation, and fees change, so treat these as examples of structure only.

Example 1: a sliding administration fee (Clive Emson, checked 4 November 2026). The page lists a fee including VAT, added to the sale price and payable with the deposit, per lot:

Sale price	Administration fee including VAT
Up to £29,999	£750
£30,000 to £99,999	£1,250
£100,000 to £249,999	£1,750
£250,000 to £499,999	£2,250
£500,000 to £749,999	£3,500
£750,000 and above	£5,000

The same page says other non-optional fees may be payable on top of the bid price, such as repaying search costs, and that Stamp Duty, Land Registry fees and VAT may be due on completion.

Example 2: fixed and variable fees (SDL Auctions, guide dated March 2021). The guide set out a fixed buyer's fee of £1,074 including VAT for one type of sale, and for a variable-fee sale 4.8% including VAT of the price up to and including £250,000 or 3.6% above that, with a £6,000 minimum in England and Wales. It added that all fees and deposits are non-refundable. This document is more than five years old, so current terms will differ. We use it only to show that fees can be a flat figure or a percentage.

Example 3: no amount stated. Auction House UK's page on administration fees (checked 4 November 2026) gives no amount, and refers readers to each property's details for the fee that applies. This is common: the number lives in the lot's legal pack.

Part 3 of 5

Reservation fees in online conditional sales

In a conditional sale, EIG's glossary says the buyer pays a non-refundable reservation fee once the highest bid meets the reserve, then has 28 days to exchange and a further 28 to complete. Our article on the modern method of auction compares the timeline and risk with a traditional sale. Fee levels vary, and a reservation fee may or may not count towards the price, so ask.

Part 4 of 5

A worked example

Take a £200,000 hammer price and the Clive Emson sliding fee above. The administration fee is £1,750 including VAT. Add a 10% deposit of £20,000, which counts towards the price, and the balance is £180,000. Stamp Duty depends on your buyer type: for the cost of the property you can use our stamp duty calculator. The fee, legal pack and search costs are extras. For another house with a percentage fee, the figure would differ, which is the reason to compare terms before choosing a lot.

Part 5 of 5

How to check before you bid

Read the auction's buyer's fee page and the lot's legal pack.
Check whether quoted fees include VAT and whether there is a minimum.
Find out which fees are refundable. SDL's guide said none were, and EIG describes the reservation fee as non-refundable.
Add the fee, deposit, searches, Stamp Duty and your own legal costs to your maximum bid.
Use the auction cost calculator to test a few fee profiles.

For how the guide and reserve relate to the sale price, read guide price vs reserve vs sale price. This page is general information, not advice.

Our take

Add the fees before you set your maximum bid

The hammer price is rarely the whole cost. Fees differ by auction house, can be fixed or a percentage with a minimum, and some, such as a reservation fee in a conditional sale, are non-refundable. The common mistake is to fix a maximum bid first and meet the extras in the legal pack afterwards.

Our auction cost calculator lets you test different fee profiles alongside the deposit, so you can see what a lot really costs. Add Stamp Duty with our stamp duty calculator, then work backwards from a total budget to a bid.

Cost my bid

Our opinion, drawn from the facts on this page: not advice and not a forecast. We earn from OfferCheck reports and from introducing sellers to cash buyers, so weigh it with that in mind (see our disclosure). We are not authorised or regulated by the FCA.

Questions, answered

Frequently asked questions

What is a buyer's premium at auction?

A charge the buyer pays the auction house on top of the winning bid, often a percentage with a minimum and usually with VAT. Many property auctioneers use an administration fee instead, fixed or sliding by price.

How much is the buyer's fee at a property auction?

It varies by auction house. One published sliding scale, checked on 4 November 2026, runs from £750 up to £29,999 to £5,000 at £750,000 and above, including VAT. Others use a percentage. The lot's legal pack states the fee that applies.

Is the administration fee refundable?

Check the terms. One auctioneer's March 2021 guide said all fees and deposits were non-refundable, and EIG describes the reservation fee in a conditional sale as non-refundable. Ask before bidding.

Do auction fees include VAT?

Some quote fees including VAT and some add VAT. Auction House UK describes its administration fee as payable plus VAT. Always check the wording on the fee schedule.

What is a reservation fee?

A non-refundable fee paid by the winning bidder in a conditional auction, who then has a set period to exchange and complete. Amounts and periods vary by firm and are in the reservation agreement.

Where this comes from

Sources

Last reviewed 4 November 2026 by the Your Property Check team. This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. For your own situation, speak to a conveyancing solicitor or another qualified professional.