Terms of sale
What you agree to when you bid
These are the rules the auction actually runs on. Every number below is enforced by the system, not by anyone’s judgement on the day.
Last updated . Draft. This has not been reviewed by a lawyer. Do not rely on it as a binding agreement until it has been.
1. Who you are dealing with
Hughes Living Auctions is an assumed name of LEGAL_ENTITY, a Texas seller permitted by the Comptroller of Public Accounts. We buy furniture and household goods by the pallet — customer returns, freight damage and short-parts stock — repair what we can, and sell the result at auction. We sell our own property. We are not acting for anyone else.
2. A bid is a commitment
When you place a bid you are offering to buy that lot at that price. If you are the high bidder when the clock stops, the lot is yours and you owe the hammer price plus tax.
Bids cannot be retracted. Every bid is recorded permanently, with the time it was placed and the paddle that placed it. We do not delete bids, edit them, or place any of our own.
3. How the price moves
You enter the most you are willing to pay. The system bids only as much as it takes to keep you in front, and stops at your number. Nobody else can see your maximum — not other bidders, and not the office screen.
The price advances one published increment above the second-highest maximum, capped at your own:
| Current price | Next bid rises by |
|---|---|
| $1 – $49 | $5 |
| $50 – $249 | $10 |
| $250 – $999 | $25 |
| $1,000 and up | $50 |
Bids are in whole dollars. If two bidders enter the same maximum, the one who entered it first holds the lot, at that amount. Raising your own maximum while you are already leading does not raise the price.
4. The two-minute rule
A bid placed inside the final two minutes moves the closing time to two minutes from that bid. Not two minutes added — two minutes from then. A lot ends when two full minutes pass with nobody willing to go higher. There is no advantage to bidding at the last second.
5. Opening price, reserves and buy-it-now
Every lot opens at one dollar.
Some lots carry a reserve — a minimum we will accept. If bidding ends below it, the lot does not sell and nobody wins it. Where a lot has a reserve, the lot page says so.
Some lots carry a buy-it-now price. It stays available until somebody bids, then it comes off permanently and the lot runs to the clock.
6. Condition, and what the grade means
Everything here arrived damaged, incomplete or returned. Each lot carries three lines: what we found, what we fixed, and what is still wrong. The third line is the one that matters — it is the flaw you are buying on purpose.
| Grade | Means |
|---|---|
| A | Functionally new. Nothing wrong we could find. |
| B | Repaired, and the repair leaves a trace you could point at. |
| C | Repaired, with a flaw that stays visible. |
| D | Parts or project. Sold as it sits, with no protection. |
Lots are sold as described on the tag. Anything printed on the “still” line is not a defect you can return the item for. You bought that flaw knowingly, and it is reflected in what you paid.
7. Paying and collecting
You have four days from the close of a lot to settle and collect it.
If you do not, or if you tell us you no longer want it, your claim ends and the lot is listed again for someone else. We will not chase you for payment and there is no penalty — but the piece does not wait.
If you know you do not want a lot you have won, say so on your paddle page. It goes back up immediately, which is better for both of us.
Collection is in person. Bring help and a vehicle that fits what you bought — measure first, since dimensions are printed on every lot page. We load; you secure the load.
8. Tax
Texas sales tax is added at the Houston rate — 6.25% state, 1.00% City of Houston, 1.00% Houston MTA, 8.25% in total — and remitted to the Comptroller. It is shown on the bid sheet before you commit. There is no buyer’s premium: the hammer price plus tax is what you pay.
If you hold a valid Texas resale or exemption certificate, give it to us before settlement.
9. Bench protection
Not settled yet. The coverage described on the site — 6% of the hammer, $8 minimum, ninety days on the repair — is placeholder text and has not been reviewed. Texas may treat a paid coverage plan as a service contract with its own registration requirements. Nothing here should be relied on until that is answered.
10. Bidding on our own lots
We do not bid on our own auctions, and we do not have anyone bid on our behalf to move a price. Every bid on this site came from a bidder who wanted the piece.
11. When we can void a sale
We may cancel a lot or void a result if the listing contained a material error — the wrong item, a wrong grade, a wrong condition line — or if the system did something it was not supposed to. If that happens you owe nothing and we will say plainly what went wrong.
12. Accounts
One paddle per person. Keep your password to yourself; bids placed from your account are treated as yours. We may suspend a paddle for non-collection, abuse of other bidders, or attempts to interfere with the auction.
13. Questions and disputes
Ask before you bid, not after. CONTACT_EMAIL.
Not settled yet. Governing law, venue and dispute resolution have not been drafted. A lawyer should add them.