Buyer's Guide
Our customers love rum, and we want them to love our auctions too. That’s why we make it as easy as possible to buy rum online with Rum Auctioneer.
How does it work?
Our Buyer's Guide will help you navigate our auctions from registering an account to winning that prized bottle.


Step by step guide
Register with us
First, you need to make sure you’re registered to bid. By registering, you will gain lifetime access to buy and sell in any of our auctions.
Browse auctions and place your bids
Once you have registered an online account you are all set to take part in our auctions. Our auctions run on a monthly basis and last for 10 days.
We make it as easy as possible for you to place bids in our auctions, the first step is to navigate to the lot you are interested in and place a bid.
We would recommend that you choose our maximum bid option, designed to save you time during live auctions. Enter the highest amount you're willing to pay for a lot, and we will do the work for you. Our system will automatically increase your bid incrementally if someone bids against you. If your maximum bid is exceeded, you will be notified by email with the option to increase your bid.
Alternatively, you can choose to place a single incremental bid on a lot you are interested in.
Please note: To place bids over £2,000, please complete our quick and secure process below to verify your account.
Review your winnings and pay
Our monthly auctions end from 7:00 PM (UK local time) on the closing date. If a bid is placed after 7:00 PM on any lot, the entire auction will be extended by an additional two minutes. The auction will end once all bidding has ceased for two minutes. Based on previous auction activity, the auction will continue for several hours and is most likely to finish between 9pm - 11pm (UK local time).
Once the auction ends, winners will receive an email with details on how to process and pay for your order.
Collect, ship or store your order
During the checkout process, you can choose to collect your bottle(s) from our offices, utilise our storage service or we can arrange delivery to you. Further details and our appointment booking calendars can be found below.
Our top tips
Find interesting lots
There are several ways to search for bottles in our auctions. You can filter lots by distillery or region, sort them by current bid price or alphabetically, or use the search bar to find a specific bottle. Whatever you're looking for, our auction tools are designed to help you refine your search and quickly find the bottles that interest you most.
Keep an eye on your favourites
Whether you know exactly what you're looking for or want to track multiple interesting lots, adding items to your watchlist is easy. Simply click the star icon in the top-right corner of the lot image. You can view and manage your entire watchlist in your personal dashboard, where you can monitor and compare the current bid prices of all your favourite rums.
Read lot listings thoroughly
We take pride in providing detailed descriptions and high-quality photography for every lot in our auctions. To ensure you're fully informed about what you're bidding on, we encourage you to carefully review all available information. Since all lots are sold as seen, please examine the images, lot descriptions, and condition reports (where applicable) before placing a bid to ensure you're satisfied with the item. Additionally, we use icons to highlight key features of each lot, such as its location.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can find all the details about the fees involved in buying wine at auction on our Buyer Fees and Payment Terms page.
Due to the governing laws for licensing in Scotland, there is a minimum price for alcohol units. As a result we have introduced a minimum bid price for each item, £20 will be the starting bid for most bottles of rum, but this will be calculated on a lot-by-lot basis (for example, multiple bottle lots will have a higher starting bid).
Yes, items can be stored with us for combining multiple orders and dispatching at a later date. Please visit our Storage Services page for more information.
We aim to ship all orders within 10 business days of receiving payment. Once your order has left our warehouse, you can expect delivery within 5 business days to most locations. Please visit our Shipping page for more information.
Most courier companies fail to cover alcohol or glass on their insurance policies. We can offer Loss & Breakage Assurance for your items at a rate of 3% of the total value of all Lots included in your order.
Loss & Breakage Assurance is offered to warrant against the total breakage or loss of bottles in transit arising from human negligence. Loss & Breakage Assurance does not cover leakage attributable to the natural deterioration or unforeseen failure of closure materials.
If you would like to add Loss & Breakage Assurance to your order this is selected at the checkout stage.
Sell with Rum Auctioneer
Our global rum auctions give your bottles the attention they deserve. Get started with a free valuation today.
Discover and buy amazing rums
Discover and bid on unique, rare and collectible rums in our online auctions each month.