Short answer. Usually yes. Under Article 1476, until the auctioneer announces the sale by the fall of the hammer or in another customary manner, he may withdraw the goods — unless the auction was announced to be without reserve. Before that announcement no sale exists yet, so the goods can still be pulled.
What the law says
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 →
The sale is perfected only at the fall of the hammer
An auction does not bind anyone the moment bidding starts. Article 1476 says a sale by auction is perfected when the auctioneer announces its perfection by the fall of the hammer, or in other customary manner. Up to that announcement, there is no contract yet — only an ongoing invitation and offers in the form of bids. That is why the law adds that until such announcement is made, any bidder may retract his bid; and the auctioneer may withdraw the goods from the sale. So a bidder is not locked in by shouting a number, and, on the other side, the auctioneer keeps the freedom to pull the item off the block before he closes the sale.
The important exception: 'without reserve'
The auctioneer's freedom to withdraw is not unconditional. Article 1476 withholds it where the auction has been announced to be without reserve. When a sale is advertised as without reserve, the seller has effectively committed to sell to the highest genuine bidder, and the goods cannot simply be snatched back once bidding has begun in the expected way. If, instead, nothing was said about being without reserve, the ordinary rule governs and the goods may be withdrawn before the hammer falls. So the single most important question is whether that specific promise — a sale without reserve — was made; that promise is what strips away the power to withdraw.
Related safeguards in the same article
Article 1476 also frames how each item and each bidder are treated. Where goods are put up in lots, each lot is the subject of a separate contract of sale, so withdrawing one lot does not disturb another. The article further restrains the seller: unless notice was given that the sale is subject to a right to bid on his behalf, it is unlawful for the seller to bid himself or to plant bidders to drive up the price, and any sale breaking this rule may be treated as fraudulent by the buyer. These protections work together to keep the process honest until the moment the auctioneer's announcement finally seals the sale.