Short answer. No. The Civil Code is explicit: an unpaid seller conducting a resale cannot, directly or indirectly, buy the goods at that resale. This prohibition applies regardless of whether the sale is by public auction or private arrangement. Violating it would undermine the buyer's protection the law requires.
What the law says
He cannot, however, directly or indirectly buy the goods.
Civil Code, Article 1533 — Unpaid Seller's Right of Resale. Read the full provision →
The flat prohibition on self-purchase
Article 1533 grants an unpaid seller broad rights to resell goods when the buyer defaults — but it draws a clear line at the end: the seller cannot directly or indirectly buy the goods at his own resale. The word "indirectly" is deliberate. You cannot bid through a relative, a friend, a dummy buyer, or any arrangement that results in the goods coming back to you at a discounted price. The concern is obvious: a seller who controls the resale and also bids on it has every incentive to chill other bidders and buy cheap, which harms the defaulting buyer's interests.
What the seller can legitimately do
Setting aside the self-purchase bar, an unpaid seller reselling under Article 1533 has significant latitude. The resale may be by public or private sale, provided it is conducted with reasonable care and judgment. The seller keeps any profit from the resale — the original buyer has no claim to it. But if the resale fetches less than the original price, the seller can pursue the buyer for the difference as damages. The seller is also not liable to the original buyer on the original contract of sale once a valid resale is made.
Notice requirements depend on why you are reselling
For perishable goods, no notice of intention to resell is required — the urgency is self-evident. For non-perishable goods where the resale right comes from the buyer's unreasonable default rather than an express contract clause, failure to give notice is not fatal to the resale's validity, but it becomes relevant evidence when a court evaluates whether the default was truly unreasonable. Similarly, notice of the time and place of resale is never strictly required for validity, but choosing not to give it can affect how the proceedings look if challenged later.
Who gets a clean title from the resale
A third-party buyer at a properly conducted resale acquires good title as against the original buyer. That protection belongs to the new buyer, not the seller, which is another reason the law bars the seller from being that new buyer: the protection would circle back to the very person it was meant to constrain. If you are conducting a resale, keep clear documentation of who bid, what the price was, and how you marketed the goods — this record protects you if the original buyer later argues the resale was not conducted fairly.