Buying at auction
How to buy whisky at auction
From creating your account to arranging delivery, buying whisky with Just Whisky is straightforward. Register once, browse each monthly auction and bid from anywhere.
Already registered?
- £5 lifetime membershipOne payment, every future auction
- Monthly online auctionsFive days of bidding each month
- Worldwide deliveryOr collect in person from us
- 5.0 Trustpilot ratingRead our reviews on Trustpilot
Coming up
Next auction: September 16th – 21st
September 2026
- Bidding runs for
- 5 days
- Lots close at
- 8pm UK time
- Oct 14th – 19thOctober 20265 daysEntries close October 7th
- Nov 11th – 16thNovember 20265 daysEntries close November 4th
- Dec 9th – 14thDecember 20265 daysEntries close December 2nd
The process
Buying, made straightforward.
Four simple steps take you from registration to delivery.
Bidding in detail
How bidding works.
Our auctions run on maximum bids. It is the part most new bidders ask about, so here is exactly what happens when you enter a figure.
Your maximum bid
Enter the most you are willing to pay. Nobody else sees that figure, and entering it does not raise the bid to it. It is a ceiling, not an offer.
Automatic incremental bidding
From there the system bids for you — one increment at a time, only far enough to keep you in front, stopping at your maximum. If nobody outbids you, you win at the lower figure.
Increments are set by price band, and the minimum next bid is always shown beside the bid box. You can bid a larger amount by hand whenever you prefer.
Watching lots
You do not have to bid to keep track of a lot. Add it to your watchlist and it appears in the Buyer's Area alongside everything you have bid on, with your private notes.
We email you if you are outbid, so a watchlist is a shortlist rather than something you have to sit and refresh.
Lot #1023
Port Ellen 22 Year Old
Rare Malts Selection · Distilled 1978
70cl / 60.5%
Reserve met
Minimum next bid £525. Enter more to set a maximum.
What happens next
Say you type £700 into that box instead of £525.
- Your £700 maximum is stored, and stays hidden from other bidders.
- You immediately lead at £525 — one increment of £25 above the current bid, not £700.
- The remaining £175 is only spent if somebody bids against you.
An illustration of the bidding mechanic. Not a live lot.
The 5-minute rule — Time extensions
Lots are scheduled to close at 8pm UK time on the final day. A bid placed when a lot has fewer than 5 minutes left extends that lot's timer by 15 minutes.
Only that lot is extended, and it can extend again — so a last-second bid cannot win on timing alone.
| Current bid | Increment |
|---|---|
| £0 to £49.99 | £2.50 |
| £50 to £99.99 | £5.00 |
| £100 to £499.99 | £10.00 |
| £500 to £999.99 | £25.00 |
| £1,000 to £4,999.99 | £50.00 |
| £5,000 to £9,999.99 | £100.00 |
| £10,000 and above | £250.00 |
You are told by email whether a bid has been successful, and the same information appears in the account area.
Winning a lot
After you win.
What is added to the hammer price, and the three ways your whisky can leave us.
Payment and fees
We email you when you win, with an invitation to pay through your account. Payment is due within 3 days (72 hours) of the auction ending.
A buyer's premium is added to the winning bid on every lot. If you are in the United Kingdom, VAT is added to that premium — not to the winning bid itself.
| Hammer price | £500 |
|---|---|
| Buyer's premium at 12.5% | £62.50 |
| VAT at 20% on the premium | £12.50 |
| Total before delivery | £575 |
Delivery is quoted separately and is not included in this figure.
- How you can pay
- All major debit and credit cards, American Express included, or by bank transfer.
- Card surcharges
- None on cards registered in the UK or EU. A 3% surcharge applies to credit cards registered outside those areas.
- Paying late
- A late payment fee of 5% is applied to the account once the payment window has passed.
- VAT-registered lots
- A small number of lots are VAT registered. On those, 20% VAT is added to the hammer price as well as to the premium — it is marked on the lot.
Delivery, collection and storage
Once a lot is paid for you choose how it reaches you. All three options are offered at checkout.
UK and international delivery
We ship worldwide, though there are a few countries we cannot reach. Check yours and its rate on the shipping calculator, which is also available while you browse the auction.
Insurance is available at 3% of the winning bid plus VAT. It covers loss or breakage on the way to you; it cannot cover leakage or damage to seals in transit.
Collection in person
Collect from us whenever suits — no appointment needed. If you are paying on collection, please arrive after 10am for local licensing reasons. Someone else can collect on your behalf if you send us their name; ask them to bring identification.
33 West Way Business Park, Dalgety Bay, KY11 9AE, ScotlandStorage with us
The first 45 days are free from the moment you pay. After that you can buy storage in blocks of 3, 6 or 12 months.
Anything in storage can be combined with a later order at checkout, so you only pay to ship once. Your account area lists everything you hold, with what you paid and an estimate of what it might make at auction.
Ready to take part?
Register once for £5 and bid in every future Just Whisky auction.
Have whisky to sell instead?
Request a free, no-obligation valuation from our auction specialists.