Your questions, answered

Open the lot and use the bid box: enter your maximum bid or choose the next increment and confirm. You need a free Stamp Circuit account and must be signed in. During a live sale you can also follow and bid in the live room from the sale page.

Every sale is run by an independent auction house under its own terms of sale, which set the buyer's premium, taxes, payment, shipping and returns. They differ from sale to sale, so they are shown to you on your first bid in each sale and you must accept them before the bid is placed. Your acceptance covers all your further bids in that sale.

A maximum bid is the most you are willing to pay for a lot. The system bids on your behalf, one increment at a time, only as far as needed to keep you in the lead, up to your maximum. Other bidders never see your maximum.

A bid is a binding offer under the sale's terms of sale and cannot be withdrawn on the site. If you made a genuine mistake, contact the auction house running the sale as soon as possible; whether it cancels a bid is its decision.

We email you when you are outbid and again with the result when the sale closes. You can also see every bid you placed and its status under My Bids.

They are set by the auction house and are listed in that sale's terms of sale, shown on your first bid and on the auction house's own website. The hammer price you bid does not include them.

No. Catalogues, sale pages and prices realized are open to everyone. You need an account to bid, to save favorites and to follow your collecting interests.

Click Register in the header, fill in your details and confirm your email address. One account per person; the details you give must be accurate, since the auction house uses them to invoice and ship your lots.

Use the Forgot password link on the login page. We email you a link to choose a new one.

Favorites are lots you mark with the heart icon so you can find them again under My Favorites. Interests are the collecting areas you tell us about under My Interests, so we can point you to matching sales.

Write to support and we will close it. Records of sales you took part in are kept as long as the law or a completed sale requires.

Stamp Circuit is a marketplace. Each sale is organised and run by an independent auction house, named at the top of the sale and on every lot. The contract for a lot you win is between you and that auction house.

The auction house that ran the sale invoices you after the sale closes and tells you the payment methods and deadline. Stamp Circuit does not collect payments.

The auction house packs, insures and ships your lots under its terms of sale. Shipping costs and options are listed there and on your invoice.

Contact the auction house that sold it; its terms of sale explain how returns and claims work and within what time. Stamp Circuit can help you get in contact but is not a party to the sale.

From its page under Auction houses, from the Sale Info button on any of its sales, or with the Ask a Question button on a lot, which sends your question straight to that auction house.

Every finished sale has a Prices Realized button in its banner. It lists, lot by lot, the opening price and the price the lot sold for, or whether it was unsold or withdrawn, with a PDF when the auction house provides one.

See Work With Us for how the platform works for auctioneers and how to get in touch.

Your information is private. We do not sell or rent it and do not pass your email address to anyone for marketing. When you bid in a sale, the auction house running that sale receives the details it needs to register you, invoice you and ship your lots. See our Data Privacy Terms.

Emails about your account and your bidding: registration, password, bid confirmations, outbid notices and results. We may also send occasional emails about sales on Stamp Circuit; you can opt out of those at any time through the unsubscribe link or your account settings.

Yes: a session cookie that keeps you signed in, a cookie for your language, analytics cookies to understand in aggregate how the site is used, and Google reCAPTCHA on our forms. Signing in and bidding require cookies.