Auction & Bidding Terms

TNH runs timed online auctions. Each lot page shows the seller (TNH or a named Vendor), starting bid, minimum increment, whether a reserve applies, the opening and scheduled closing time, and the full bid history. Auctions are conducted in US dollars; other currencies shown are indicative only.

Every bid is a binding offer to buy the lot at your bid amount. If you are the highest bidder when the auction closes (and any reserve is met), a contract of sale forms automatically between you and the seller at your final bid. Bid only what you are prepared to pay. Bids cannot be retracted, except that we may cancel a bid at our discretion for an obvious typing error reported immediately (e.g., 15,000 entered instead of 1,500) or a material listing error discovered mid-auction.

• Your bid must be at least the current bid plus the stated minimum increment (or the starting bid if none). The system enforces this.
• Reserve lots: the lot page shows whether a reserve exists and, once bidding reaches it, “reserve met”. If the reserve is not met at close, no sale forms; the seller may offer the lot to the high bidder afterward at the reserve, without obligation on either side.
• You must have a registered account in good standing to bid. We may require payment-method verification, deposits, or bidding limits for high-value lots or new accounts.
• Sellers, their households, employees, and associates must not bid on their own lots (shill bidding). We monitor bidding patterns; shill bidding results in voided sales, permanent bans, and — where fraud is indicated — referral to authorities.

Any bid placed in the final 2 minutes of an auction automatically extends the closing time to 2 minutes after that bid. Extensions repeat until 2 full minutes pass with no new bid. This is enforced by the platform itself and ensures lots are won by the willing highest bidder, not by timing software. Scheduled closing times are therefore indicative once bidding is active.

• Winners are notified on-platform and by email, and the lot appears at checkout as a payable order.
• Payment is due within 3 calendar days of the auction closing.
• If you fail to pay: the sale may be cancelled, the lot re-offered (including to the underbidder), your account restricted or banned, and any deposits applied against the seller's costs. Unpaid-item defaults are recorded against your account.

Auction sales are final, subject to the protections in the Returns & Refunds Policy: the lifetime Authenticity Guarantee, the 7-day material-misdescription remedy, and insured transit. Shipping, export flags, customs, and duties follow the Shipping & Export Policy — lots restricted to domestic delivery (for example Indian antiquities) say so on the lot page, and bids from ineligible shipping regions may be blocked or voided.

• All bids are timestamped server-side; the recorded sequence in our database is authoritative in any dispute.
• We may pause, extend, cancel, or re-run an auction affected by verified technical failure, and will document any such intervention on the lot page.
• Automated bidding by third-party software is prohibited; we may offer native proxy bidding, and only bids placed through the Platform count.
• We may remove a lot mid-auction for legality or authenticity concerns; all bids on a removed lot are void.