Queensland Auction Rules That Agents and Auctioneers Must Know: Price Guides, Vendor Bids and Compliance

An interstate agent stepping into their first Queensland auction campaign, or a newly licensed salesperson assisting their principal, will quickly discover that Queensland’s auction framework is stricter and more specific than virtually anywhere else in Australia. The rules around price guides alone are enough to attract an OFT investigation and a five-figure penalty — and they catch experienced operators out, not just newcomers.

In Queensland, the conduct of property auctions is regulated under the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) and supporting regulations. The legislation applies to property agents, resident letting agents, auctioneers and their employees, and is designed to protect consumers. What that means in practice is a tightly structured set of obligations — on price communication, bidder registration, vendor bid disclosure, reserve price confidentiality, and post-auction contracting — where a single misstep can have serious professional consequences.

This article covers every layer of Queensland auction rules that agents and auctioneers must know: the price guide prohibition, what information can lawfully be shared, vendor bid requirements, reserve price obligations, bidder registration, what happens at the fall of the hammer, and the post-auction private treaty window where the cooling-off period disappears.

The Absolute Prohibition on Price Guides to Bidders

This is the area where Queensland diverges most sharply from other Australian states — and where agents who have worked in Victoria or New South Wales are most likely to slip up.

Under the Property Occupations Act 2014, a real estate agent is prohibited from giving any type of price guide to potential buyers when a property is going to auction in Queensland. This is not a prohibition on misleading price guides, or guides that are too low — it is a prohibition on price guides entirely. The distinction matters. An agent cannot give a bidder any price representation about an auction property, regardless of how accurate or well-intentioned that representation might be.

For these reasons, an agent must not disclose a price guide or a price they think will result in a successful bid to anyone, other than a person acting for the seller. The phrase “a person acting for the seller” is important — it means the vendor themselves, or their solicitor or conveyancer. Prospective buyers, registered bidders, and curious enquirers are all outside that boundary. As an agent cannot know how high the final bid will be, it is misleading to give a price guide. It also prevents agents from ‘heating up’ an auction by drawing in bidders who have no chance of being the final winning bidder.

The legislative rationale is clear: the value of a property at auction is determined by the market, and this can only happen at the auction itself. A price guide necessarily corrupts that process, whether it is too low (bait advertising) or even if it turns out to be accurate.

What Agents CAN Share: The CMA Exception

The prohibition does not leave agents without any tools to communicate property value — but the pathway to doing so is narrow and requires documented vendor consent.

An agent may give copies of the CMA to potential bidders, but only if the vendor agrees in writing. This is the sole mechanism by which auction property value information can be shared with the buyer side of the transaction, and it requires a deliberate, documented decision by the vendor to authorise it.

An agent may choose to recommend a reserve price to the vendor before they decide the price, but if they do, they must give a copy of a comparative market analysis (CMA) to the seller. If a CMA cannot be prepared for the offered property, the agent must provide a written explanation showing how they decided the market value of the property. The CMA obligation flows to the vendor, not to buyers — and sharing it with buyers only becomes permissible if the vendor explicitly consents in writing to that disclosure.

Agents should understand what this means for their usual pre-auction enquiry calls. A buyer asking “what’s this going to sell for?” or “what’s the vendor expecting?” must be turned away without any dollar figure. Directing the buyer to review the CMA if the vendor has consented to its release is the only permissible alternative to providing no price information at all.

Online Listings and Price Brackets

Property portals create a specific compliance issue. An agent may give a price or price range to an electronic listings provider in order to sort the property into a search category on their website, but the provider may not disclose the price on their website. Instead, the website must include the following statement: “This property is being sold by auction or without a price and therefore a price guide cannot be provided. The website may have filtered the property into a price bracket for website functionality purposes.”

An agent may only give a price to the listings provider if satisfied that they will follow these requirements. This places a positive obligation on the listing agent, not just the portal. If a portal displays a price range against an auction listing without the required statement, the agent who provided that range may face scrutiny. Confirm the portal’s compliance settings before providing any price bracket information for auction listings.

Vendor Bids: Permitted, But Regulated

Vendor bids — bids made by the auctioneer on behalf of the seller — are lawful in Queensland. Unlike New South Wales, where only one vendor bid is permitted per auction, Queensland does not statutorily cap the number of vendor bids that can be made. What the legislation does impose, however, are strict conditions on how and when they are used, and how they must be disclosed.

An auctioneer may accept a bid from the vendor, but only up to the reserve price, and must disclose whenever a bid is a vendor bid. The disclosure obligation is not a formality — it is a substantive requirement. An auctioneer who calls a vendor bid without clearly announcing it as such is engaged in conduct that is, effectively, a form of dummy bidding.

Auctioneers may accept vendor bids only up to the reserve price, and these bids must always be disclosed as vendor bids. Once the bidding reaches or exceeds the reserve, the property is “on the market” and vendor bids are no longer permissible. This is the critical line: vendor bids exist to protect the seller’s interests below the reserve by generating competition when genuine bids are slow to materialise. Once the reserve is exceeded, the seller’s protection no longer applies, and the process must be left to genuine bidders.

The vendor is allowed to make bids on their own property until the reserve price is reached, but it is against the law for the seller to bid higher than that amount. The auctioneer must also tell everyone if a bid is made by the vendor.

The auctioneer’s announcement of a vendor bid must be unambiguous and audible to all participants. Standard practice is a clear verbal statement — “that’s a vendor bid” or “I’m bidding on behalf of the vendor” — at the time the bid is called. Logging each vendor bid in the auction records is equally important, both for compliance and in the event of any later dispute over the conduct of the auction.

The Dummy Bid Prohibition

A dummy bid — a false bid placed by someone connected to the vendor, without genuine intention to purchase — is prohibited. A dummy bid is when the seller, or someone they know, like a friend, family member, or even the auctioneer, makes a fake bid to try to push the price higher. This is distinct from a lawful vendor bid. The key difference is disclosure: a vendor bid is declared openly; a dummy bid is concealed. The prohibition on dummy bidding sits alongside the vendor bid rules and is enforced as a consumer protection measure. An auctioneer who permits dummy bidding — even without initiating it — can be caught by the legislation if the conduct was knowingly facilitated.

Reserve Price: Setting It, Keeping It Confidential, and the No-Reserve Scenario

The reserve price is the vendor’s minimum acceptable price. It exists to protect the seller from having to sell below a floor they have determined in advance. Queensland’s rules around the reserve create obligations that run in both directions — towards the seller before the auction, and against disclosure to anyone else.

An agent must ask vendors if they have set a reserve price. If the vendor elects not to set one, the agent must advise them in writing that they will be obliged to accept the highest bid. This is a meaningful duty of care obligation. A vendor who genuinely believes the market will exceed their expectations may choose to proceed without a reserve — but they must do so with full understanding of the consequence. The written notice requirement ensures that understanding is documented.

A reserve price is the minimum amount a vendor is willing to accept for the property. Sellers must put this in writing, and the auctioneer must confirm whether a reserve price has been set. The written form requirement is not optional. A verbal reserve that the vendor mentions to the agent is not a reserve for the purposes of the Act until it is documented.

Once set, the reserve price is strictly confidential. An agent must not disclose the reserve price to anyone other than a person acting for the seller, and a penalty of $32,260 applies if they do not comply with this rule. That penalty figure — which applies to the reserve price disclosure rule under the Property Occupations Act 2014 as currently enforceable — is real and material. An offhand comment to a bidder that “the vendor’s at $850,000” is a potential $32,260 breach, not just a procedural slip.

One important nuance: sellers don’t have to set a reserve price, but if they do, it must be written down before the auction. The auctioneer doesn’t have to announce when bidding reaches that amount. This surprises some bidders from other states. Unlike Victoria, where “on the market” announcements are common, Queensland auctioneers have no obligation to signal when bidding has passed the reserve. Buyers attending Queensland auctions do so without knowing whether any given bid has passed the seller’s floor.

Bidder Registration Requirements

Queensland requires all bidders to be registered before they can participate in an auction. State authorities require buyers to register and get “a unique identifier” (a numbered paddle) before auction, as only registered bidders are allowed to bid on the day.

Before an auction starts, everyone who wants to bid must register by giving the auctioneer their name, address, and proof of ID (like a driver’s licence or passport). Each registered bidder gets a numbered card, and only people with these cards can make bids. The auctioneer must also maintain a register of all bidders. An agent must keep a register of all bidders at an auction. That register is a legal document. It must be maintained accurately during the event and retained after it.

To maintain transparency, all auction participants must be registered bidders. The auctioneer must verify the identity of each bidder before allowing them to register, provide bidders with a unique identifier, and announce that only registered bidders may participate. During the auction, the auctioneer must not disclose bidder identities, except in cases where it is necessary to finalise the property sale or if required by law.

The consequences of failing to maintain proper bidder records are significant. Failure to comply with bidder registration and record-keeping obligations can result in serious consequences for auctioneers including monetary penalties, disciplinary action, suspension or cancellation of the auctioneer’s licence, and regulatory enforcement action.

A complication arises when a successful bidder later reveals they were bidding on behalf of another party. A situation occasionally encountered in practice is where a successful bidder later advises — after the fall of the hammer — that they were bidding on behalf of another person. In Queensland, non-disclosure by a bidder that they are not the prospective buyer does not automatically invalidate the sale, and the contract may still proceed in the name of the undisclosed person. However, while a bid accepted in breach of registration requirements can be treated as binding between buyer and seller, this does not shield the auctioneer from regulatory consequences. The contract surviving does not mean the procedural failure disappears.

Auction Day: Authority, Conditions, and Conduct

Before bidding opens, the auctioneer carries a set of pre-commencement obligations that are easy to overlook under the pressure of managing a crowd and a vendor’s nerves.

Before bidding begins, the auctioneer must ensure that their name is displayed prominently at the auction site, and/or that they otherwise announce their name; they must also display and announce the conditions of the auction, including the auction process, the deposit payable under the terms of the auction contract, all other pertinent terms of the contract of sale, and any other information material to potential bidders.

Auctioneers must clearly display their name at the auction site. This requirement ensures transparency and professionalism. In cases where signage is not feasible, such as outdoor auctions with strong winds, the auctioneer must verbally announce their identity at the beginning of the event.

The auctioneer has the discretion to refuse to accept any bid from any person, and a bid will be taken to be accepted and irrevocable unless the auctioneer, immediately after it is made, refuses it. This is the mechanism by which auctioneers manage chaotic or ambiguous bidding — if a bid is not refused immediately, it is accepted. A bid cannot be made or accepted after the fall of the hammer.

The Fall of the Hammer: Binding Contract

At the fall of the hammer, a binding contract is formed. At that point, the auctioneer has authority to sign the contract of sale on behalf of the seller and the successful bidder. This authority arises automatically from the auction process and cannot be withdrawn by either party once the hammer has fallen.

Immediately on the fall of the hammer, the bidder of the highest bid accepted must sign, as buyer, the contract of sale in the form displayed or circulated with the conditions of sale, and pay the deposit to the nominated stakeholder. The deposit payable under the contract of sale is 10% of the successful bid, or any other percentage or figure nominated in the contract of sale.

The unconditional nature of an auction sale is a key practical point for buyers and their representatives: if a buyer needs a loan to purchase the property, it is very important to have finance approved before the auction, because auction sales are unconditional — once you win, you must go through with the purchase. If the buyer cannot pay the full amount on settlement day, they will be breaking the contract, which means they could lose their deposit and might have to pay extra costs.

Post-Auction Private Treaty: The Two-Business-Day Window

When a property is passed in at auction — meaning no bid reached the reserve, or the property was not sold under the hammer — the campaign does not necessarily end. Queensland allows the auctioneer and agent to continue negotiating with registered bidders immediately after the auction under a private treaty framework. But there is a specific and important consequence for buyers who transact in this window.

There is no cooling-off period in Queensland if a private treaty contract is entered within 48 hours of a passed-in auction, or the buyer was a registered bidder at the failed auction. The standard five-business-day statutory cooling-off period that applies to residential property sales in Queensland does not apply in this scenario. The cooling-off period also doesn’t apply if the property is bought within two business days after an auction and the buyer was one of the registered bidders at that auction.

This rule has two practical implications for agents. First, buyers negotiating post-auction must be clearly advised that no cooling-off period applies — this is not a courtesy; it is a disclosure obligation. Second, the two-business-day window means that the period of elevated negotiating leverage for the vendor and agent is short. Once that window closes, a buyer who was not a registered bidder at the auction who subsequently enters a contract would ordinarily regain their cooling-off rights.

It is also worth noting that post-auction negotiations are still subject to all other obligations under the Act. A price guide prohibition does not lift the moment the hammer fails to fall. If the property is being re-listed for sale by negotiation after being passed in, the agent’s obligations around price representations shift — the auction-specific rules no longer apply, but the prohibition on misleading price representations under the Act and under the Australian Consumer Law continues.

Authorisation to Act: The Form 6 Requirement

No auctioneer can conduct an auction without a valid formal appointment to act. An agent cannot conduct an auction on a property without a valid appointment to act. Before any auctioneer services can be performed, a property agent must be properly appointed in writing. This is done by way of a compliant Form 6 Appointment (for residential sales) or a Form 6A Appointment (for commercial sales).

Where an agency is appointed to sell a property by auction, the appointment authorises the agency’s employed auctioneers to conduct the auction. This means it is the agency that holds the appointment, not the individual auctioneer — but the individual auctioneer must hold their own licence. Auctioneers must have an auctioneer licence, as a real estate agent licence alone is not acceptable. These are separate licences under the Act, and the distinction is not a technicality. A licensed real estate agent who calls an auction without holding an auctioneer licence is in breach of the Act regardless of how competently the auction is conducted.

OFT Enforcement: What Happens When the Rules Are Broken

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is the primary regulatory enforcement body for Queensland auction compliance. The OFT follows an escalation model, meaning its response to ensuring compliance increases as a trader’s attitude to complying with the law decreases.

OFT activities and powers to promote compliance and enforce the law include administrative actions such as issuing show cause notices, changing licence or registration conditions, or suspending or cancelling a licence or registration; public warnings naming businesses and traders consumers should avoid; and prosecutions through a court or tribunal, which can result in court orders or injunctions.

For individual breaches under the Property Occupations Act 2014, the penalty that appears most frequently in agent guidance is the $32,260 figure — applicable to reserve price and price disclosure violations. The reserve price remains confidential and cannot be disclosed to anyone except those legally acting for the seller. Failing to follow this rule may result in penalties of up to $32,260.

Beyond the Act, agents who provide misleading price guidance to buyers can also face the Australian Consumer Law. A breach of Australian Consumer Law can be punished by a penalty for an individual of up to $500,000 per offence. An agency is liable for a fine of either $10 million or three times the value of the accrued benefit. If there is no way to calculate the benefit, then the penalty may be 10% of the agency’s previous annual turnover. These are not theoretical maximums — the ACL penalty regime has been progressively strengthened, and regulator appetite for enforcement in real estate has increased in recent years.

An enforceable undertaking is an agreement the OFT makes with a business that they will change or stop doing certain activities that may breach a law. Generally, an enforceable undertaking will be used instead of court action if this is the first time the OFT has had to enforce compliance for this conduct and the business is unlikely to reoffend. For first-time or inadvertent breaches, an enforceable undertaking is the most likely outcome. For deliberate or repeat contraventions — particularly dummy bidding, undisclosed vendor bids, or systematic price guide provision — prosecution and licence suspension become realistic outcomes.

Compliance Before, During and After the Auction: A Practical Framework

The compliance obligations under Queensland’s auction rules do not all arise on auction day. They are distributed across the pre-auction period, the day itself, and the post-auction window. An agent or auctioneer who treats compliance as a checklist to run through in the hour before the hammer falls is already behind.

Pre-auction period obligations include:

• Valid Form 6 or Form 6A appointment in place before any auction marketing commences
• Asking the vendor about reserve price; obtaining written acknowledgment if no reserve is set
• Providing the vendor with a CMA if recommending a reserve price
• Ensuring all marketing and portal listings carry the required statement on price-guide prohibition
• Confirming bidder registration processes are in place

Auction day obligations include:

• Auctioneer’s name displayed or announced before bidding commences
• Conditions of sale displayed and read aloud to participants
• Bidder identity verified and register maintained
• Vendor bid disclosure made clearly and contemporaneously with each vendor bid
• Reserve price held confidential throughout
• Conditions of sale signed and deposit collected immediately on fall of hammer

Post-auction obligations include:

• Advising any buyer entering private treaty negotiations within two business days that no cooling-off period applies
• Retaining the bidder register as required under the Act
• Ensuring the contract signed at or immediately after auction is in the form circulated before bidding

What This Means for Queensland Agents

Queensland’s auction rules are not a loose set of industry norms — they are statutory obligations with enforceable financial and professional consequences. The price guide prohibition is absolute: no dollar figure, no range, no “expect it to go for around” comment to a buyer, unless a CMA has been provided to the vendor and the vendor has specifically consented in writing to its distribution to potential bidders.

Behind every successful auction is a tightly regulated framework governing who may conduct an auction, who may bid, and how the process must be documented. For agents and auctioneers, understanding these obligations is essential to ensuring both compliance and confidence on auction day.

Vendor bids are lawful tools that the legislation permits — but only below the reserve, and only with immediate, unambiguous verbal disclosure at the time each bid is called. Every vendor bid must be recorded. Bidder registration is mandatory, verified, and must be maintained as a contemporaneous record. The reserve price is confidential to the point that disclosing it to anyone outside the vendor’s camp attracts a statutory penalty of up to $32,260 under the Property Occupations Act 2014.

Post-auction, the two-business-day no-cooling-off window is a significant tool for converting passed-in properties into unconditional sales — but buyers must be clearly informed of its application. The moment of the fall of the hammer forms a binding, unconditional contract, and both parties must understand this before they enter the room.

Principals running multi-agent teams should treat auction compliance as a training and culture issue, not just a legal one. Salespersons who have recently come from interstate, or who are assisting on an auction campaign for the first time, need to understand specifically that Queensland’s rules are stricter than most states — especially on price guides and auctioneer licensing — before they field a single buyer enquiry.