Best Australian Auction Sites (2026): Fees, Categories & Which to Use

Best Australian auction sites by category

Cars: ex-government and fleet are the smart buys

If you want a used car at auction, start with the ex-government and fleet lanes. Pickles is the official auctioneer for several government fleets and runs regular public sales of ex-lease and corporate cars. Manheim (owned by Cox Automotive) moves tens of thousands of vehicles a year from dealers, lease companies, government, banks, and insurers. Grays does the same job fully online, with condition reports on most listings.

Why fleet? Because those cars get serviced on a schedule, keep their records, and tend to be sensible mid-range models. Boring, honestly. Boring is exactly what you want at auction.

One caution worth taking seriously. Mike Costello of Cox Automotive Australia, Manheim's parent, has been upfront that these platforms sell wholesale on a vendor's behalf, which means some cars won't be detailed, some won't have a roadworthy certificate, and condition varies widely across the lane. Translation: assume nothing, read the condition report twice, and budget for a mechanic.

Salvage and repairable write-offs (experienced buyers only)

Salvage in Australia runs through Manheim and Pickles, not the US brands you might have read about. This is the deep end. Vehicles are sold "as-is, where-is" with damage that photos don't always capture. Manheim generally lets you inspect salvage on-site. Pickles often doesn't, which is a real sticking point for buyers, and something to weigh before you bid blind on a repairable write-off.

If you can't tell a light-hit panel from a bent chassis, this isn't your category yet.

Trucks, machinery, and heavy equipment

For plant and earthmoving gear, the serious sales are at Ritchie Bros, Slattery, Grays, and Lloyds. Ritchie Bros runs unreserved auctions from yards in Brisbane, Geelong, Perth, and Dubbo, drawing a global buyer pool that tends to produce honest market pricing. Slattery is strong on end-of-project disposals, when a whole fleet clears at once and speed beats squeezing every dollar.

Buying machinery? Hours matter more than looks. A tidy-looking high-hour machine is often a worse buy than an ugly low-hour one. Ask for the ECM readout on anything with a computer, and add 20% to 40% on top of your max bid for transport, servicing, and compliance.

Government, police, and seized goods

ALLBIDS is the specialist here. Founded in Canberra back in 2003, it sells on behalf of the Australian Federal Police, government departments, estate executors, insolvency firms, and retailers, and it takes in over 100,000 items a year across cars, electronics, tools, wine, jewellery, and collectables. Police-seized and recovered goods go to public auction by law, and ALLBIDS handles a lot of that flow. Pickles and Grays also carry government surplus, so it's worth watching all three.

Jewellery, antiques, art, and collectables

ALLBIDS and Lloyds both run strong collectables sales, from estate jewellery to fine art to the odd rack of vintage wine. Provenance is everything in this category, so read the description like a contract and ask questions before, not after. If collectables are your niche for resale, our guide on selling antiques online pairs well with sourcing them at auction.

Liquidation, pallets, and resale stock

This is the one that matters most for online sellers, and it's where the current guides go quiet.

Auctions can be a genuine sourcing channel. Insolvency firms, retailers, and government agencies offload surplus stock through Grays, ALLBIDS, and Lloyds all the time, and you can sometimes buy well below wholesale. The catch is the same catch every time: the margin has to survive the buyer's premium, the freight, and the "as-is" risk. We break down the pallet and liquidation route in more detail in master liquidation auctions.

Just don't confuse a cheap hammer price with a cheap buy. Which brings us to the part everyone skips.

The real cost of buying at auction

Your winning bid is not what you pay. Not close.

Say you win a resale lot for $2,000. Here's what actually lands on your invoice:

• Buyer's premium. A percentage the auction house adds on top, paid to them, not the seller. It ranges from a few percent to over 20% depending on the platform and the lot. On a mid-range example, call it 12.5%, so $250.
• Card surcharge. Most platforms pass on payment fees, roughly 1% to 1.5%. Another $30 or so.
• Transport or collection. Auction goods are almost always collect-only, and often in a different state. Budget realistically. Say $180.
• GST. Here's the one that trips people up. If the vendor is GST-registered (a business, dealer, or government seller), GST applies to the hammer price. If it's a private seller, usually it doesn't. On a $2,000 lot that attracts it, that's another $200. At ALLBIDS, for example, the buyer's premium already includes GST, but the bid itself may or may not, depending entirely on who's selling.
• Storage. Miss the collection window and the clock starts. Pickles charges from day one. Manheim runs about $66 a day after day three. Lloyds is gentler at $22 a day. It adds up fast on a lot you meant to grab "next weekend."

So the $2,000 lot is really pushing $2,500 before GST, and past that with it. For a reseller, that changes everything. If you were counting on a $2,000 cost base and a $2,900 resale, your real margin just got a haircut. Run the numbers the way you would on any sourcing decision, and if margins are new to you, our primer on dropshipping profits and margins covers the math.

This is the whole reason to read a page like this before you bid. In my experience, the buyers who lose money at auction aren't the ones who bid too high. They're the ones who forgot the premium, the freight, and the day-rate storage, and only saw the true cost on the invoice.

How to choose the right auction site

Match the platform to the job and you'll rarely go wrong.

Buying a car? Start with Pickles, Manheim, or Grays, and favor the ex-government lanes. Buying salvage? Manheim or Pickles, and only if you can read damage. Chasing government or police surplus? ALLBIDS first, then Pickles and Grays. After machinery? Compare Ritchie Bros, Slattery, Grays, and Lloyds. Sourcing resale stock? Watch Grays, ALLBIDS, and Lloyds for liquidation and surplus, and always model the all-in cost first. Not sure what's even live? Auction Finder shows you everything closing this week, by state.

Red flags to check before you bid

A few things that separate a bargain from a regret:

• No inspection option on a high-value lot. If you can't see it and can't send someone, discount your max bid hard.
• A vague condition report. "Sold as viewed" with three blurry photos is a warning, not a description.
• A buyer's premium you didn't read. It's always in the terms. Read it before your first bid, not after your winning one.
• Collection-only, far away. Factor freight, or the deal isn't the deal.
• Unclear GST treatment. Ask if you're not sure. A 10% surprise ruins a thin margin.
• A run of recent bad reviews on the specific platform. ProductReview is worth a two-minute skim.

Auction sites vs eBay, Amazon, Facebook Marketplace, and Trade Me

Auctions aren't always the answer. If you're selling your own inventory and want a marketplace, a fixed-price channel usually beats an auction house's premium and collection hassle. eBay still has the traffic, Amazon has the trust, and Facebook Marketplace is unbeatable for a fast local sale. Trade Me, worth clearing up, is New Zealand's eBay, not an Australian auction site, so it belongs in a different conversation.

If that's your situation, skip the auction route and read the best eBay alternatives instead. No point paying an auctioneer to do a marketplace's job.

For sellers: where to list what

Selling through an auction house makes sense for the right goods. A vehicle, business equipment, an estate, a shed full of tools, a liquidation lot. Pick the platform whose buyers already want your category: Manheim or Pickles for vehicles, Ritchie Bros or Slattery for plant, ALLBIDS or Lloyds for mixed and collectable goods, Grays for almost anything.

If you're reselling as a business, sort the boring paperwork first. Here's a quick guide to registering a business in Australia. And if auction sourcing feels too risky for your margins, a vetted supplier is the steadier path. SaleHoo lists Australian dropship suppliers you can order from without a buyer's premium or a collection window.

How we made this

We reviewed the auction platforms that are actively operating in Australia in 2026, and prioritized category coverage, current activity, fee transparency, inspection and collection terms, and how well each suits buyers, sellers, and resellers. Fees and buyer's premiums change and vary by lot, so treat every figure here as a guide and read each lot's own terms before bidding. This guide was researched and written by the SaleHoo team, and reviewed for accuracy at the last-updated date shown above.

Ready to source stock the steadier way? Auctions can work, but they come with premiums, freight, and collection windows. SaleHoo gives you 8,000+ vetted suppliers and 2.5 million products with no hammer, no buyer's premium, and no surprise storage bill. See what other sellers have built then start your journey today.