A new online auctions firm has announced it will not be charging sellers anything upfront for legal packs, with listings also free for sellers and no premiums charged to buyers.

Bamboo Auctions launched at the end of January as part of the Pi Labs programme backed by Faisal Butt’s venture capital firm Spire Ventures.

Bamboo Auctions only accepts listings from agents.

Vendors that approach Bamboo Auctions directly are referred to an appropriate estate agent. Since launching, 25 estate agent offices across England and Wales have signed up to list properties and over 300 individuals have registered to buy.

Agents only pay a fee – out of the commission they are paid by the vendor –  if a sale goes through the Bamboo Auctions platform.

Traditionally, sellers have had to pay an upfront fee for a legal pack before listing a property for sale by auction. Bamboo Auctions yesterday announced that it now works with a team of auction law specialists to ensure that sellers can avoid the cost of the legal pack.

Each legal pack comes with a shelf life of six months, so can be used more than once. Prospective purchasers will, as normal, buy the legal packs.

Robin Rathore, founder of Bamboo Auctions, which expects its first sale at the end of this month, said: “Allowing sellers to list without having to pay anything in advance, means that agents can offer greater choice to their vendors.

“This goes to the heart of what we want to achieve for agents and for the consumer.

“We don’t disrupt the relationship between the agent and their vendor. The agent found the vendor and cultivated the relationship, so they are best placed to manage the transaction.”

Bamboo Auctions operates a traditional method of auction, with immediate exchange, and steers clear of the so-called modern method, which offers delayed completion.

Rathore said of the traditional method: “It means estate agents earn their commission faster and can provide a value-added service to sellers. Buyers and sellers benefit from greater certainty.”

He told Eye: “Sellers and agents have absolutely nothing to lose. We’re making auctions more accessible.”

He said that ‘no sale, no fee’ was an important part of Bamboo’s offering. He added: ” Buyers don’t pay either. There are other online auction houses who offer the no sale, no fee arrangement to sellers, but charge a non-refundable buyer premium irrespective of whether exchange occurs.

“They also offer a modern method of auction, where we are traditional and  they disrupt the relationship between the agent and the vendor but we do not intervene in that relationship.

“We co-market properties with agents –  agents carry out local marketing and portal-based marketing as normal and we carry out national marketing. We also have a growing database of our own buyers. We’ve got really exciting  marketing plans that will increase buyer numbers. Watch this space!”

The website is here

* Auction House, which partners with estate agents, has reported brisk business at the start of the year. It offered 571 lots in January and February, compared with 432 last year, with a success rate of 76% and raising £52.5m.