About our auctions...

Sandafayre are the worlds largest postal stamp auction company, and we have been trading for over 30 years. We are based in offices in Northern England, where over 20 people work with pride to bring you the very best in stamp auctions! Traditionally a mail bid auction, this service is still available to our clients who don't have access to, or don't wish to use the Internet. (Mail bid clients are sent copies of our auction catalogues, and then bid by returning bids sheets, or by phoning, faxing or e-mailing us).

Our Internet auctions are probably very different to other web auctions you've seen. Unlike many Internet auctions where you can follow the bidding on lots, all our auctions are private and the current bid status of lots is not shown, individual bidders are not revealed and results aren't published.

We have an auction closing every week. In our terms, an auction is a collection of lots usually numbering between 3000 and 4000 -not single lots that run as individual auctions on sites like Ebay. Each auction contains such a wide variety of lots that there is something to cater for every taste! Auctions typically close for bidding at 5pm on Tuesdays (British time), with bids being submitted in the weeks preceding the close date.

As bids are received they are logged and entered into our computer system. Then, when the auction has closed, our auctioneer determines who has won which lots and for how much, simply- we look at each lot and consider all the bids that meet the reserve. If yours is the only bid on a particular lot, we sell it to you for the reserve regardless of whether you bid more. Internet bids and mail bids are treated equally. When there are multiple bids on a lot, the highest bidder wins the lot for one increment above the next highest bid - this enables clients to confidentially submit their maximum bids. For more information on bidding increments, click here.

Once successful bidders have been established, invoices are generated and the lots that have been paid for are dispatched in the most cost effective way.

Even though we take lots from vendors, you deal only with Sandafayre. This way we can ensure all transactions are handled quickly and professionally by our dedicated admin team. We don't even pass your details on to our vendors - everything is kept strictly confidential. We also take full responsibility for everything we sell, see our 100% satisfaction guarantee promise below.

We guarantee the accuracy of our descriptions and we guarantee the satisfaction of our buyers. If you're not happy - send it back, it's as simple as that and you'll receive a full refund of the lot price and buyers premium. See our notes in Terms and Conditions for more information on how to return lots.