Short answer. Yes. Until the auctioneer announces perfection by the fall of the hammer or in another customary manner, any bidder may retract his bid. Article 1476 also lets the auctioneer withdraw the goods before that moment, unless the auction was announced to be without reserve.
What the law says
A sale by auction is perfected when the auctioneer announces its perfection by the fall of the hammer, or in other customary manner. Until such announcement is made, any bidder may retract his bid; and the auctioneer may withdraw the goods from the sale unless the auction has been announced to be without reserve.
Civil Code, Article 1476 — Sale by Auction. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Where goods are put up for sale by auction in lots, each lot is the subject of a separate contract of sale.
Civil Code, Article 1476 — Sale by Auction. Read the full provision →
Everything turns on the announcement
A bid is an offer, not yet a contract, and Article 1476 fixes the moment it becomes one: A sale by auction is perfected when the auctioneer announces its perfection by the fall of the hammer, or in other customary manner. Until such announcement is made, any bidder may retract his bid; and the auctioneer may withdraw the goods from the sale unless the auction has been announced to be without reserve. The freedom runs both ways and ends at the same instant. Before it, you may withdraw and so may the seller; after it, you are a buyer with all a buyer's obligations, and second thoughts are breach rather than retraction.
Without reserve changes the seller's half
The exception matters more than it looks. If the auction was announced to be without reserve, the auctioneer loses the power to pull the goods once bidding has begun, so a seller disappointed by the level of bidding cannot rescue his position by withdrawing the lot. Your own power to retract before the hammer is unaffected either way. Whether the announcement was made is a question of what was actually said or printed, so the catalogue, the published conditions of sale and the auctioneer's opening remarks are what decide it, not what participants assumed from the atmosphere in the room.
Each lot stands on its own
Where goods are offered in lots, Where goods are put up for sale by auction in lots, each lot is the subject of a separate contract of sale. That is not a technicality. It means a defect, a failure to deliver or a dispute over one lot does not entitle anyone to unravel the rest, and that your retraction of a bid on lot four has no effect on lot three, which was knocked down to you an hour earlier. It also means the price is tested lot by lot, and conditions attached to one lot do not travel to the others.
Bidding by or for the seller
The seller may reserve a right to bid, but only expressly and only where notice has been given that the sale is subject to it. Without that notice it is unlawful for the seller to bid himself, or to employ or induce anyone to bid on his behalf, and unlawful for the auctioneer to take such bids knowingly. Any sale contravening this rule may be treated as fraudulent by the buyer. If you suspect the price was pushed by the seller's own people, the bidder registration list and the record of who bid on the lot are the documents to ask for.
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 1476 — Sale by Auction
- Civil Code, Article 1475 — Perfection of the Sale
- Civil Code, Article 1326 — Advertisements for Bidders