How a Timed Auction Works
Lots close one after another, a set number of seconds apart that the house chooses, and a late bid extends only that lot.
Auctions here are timed online auctions. There is no auctioneer and no live stream. Bidding on every lot opens when the auction is published and each lot has its own closing time.
The house's home page shows what is happening now: Closing Soon is the next lots to close with their clocks and current prices, Auctions lists every auction taking bids or coming up (with any preview day you can visit, and its closing and pickup days), and Recently Sold shows hammer prices from the last auctions. Open an auction to see all of its lots.
The Closing Sequence
Lots close in order, a fixed gap apart — each house sets its own, and the auction page tells you what it is for that auction — starting at the time shown on the auction. Lot 1 closes first, then lot 2 half a minute later, and so on. The countdown on each lot shows its own time.
Soft Close
A bid in the final minutes of a lot extends that lot's closing time, so nobody can win by sneaking a bid in at the last second. Only that lot moves. Lot 42 keeps its own schedule even if lot 41 goes into overtime, so two lots can be in their final seconds at once. That is expected.
What Time Is That Where You Are
Times on an auction house's site are the house's own clock, because the house sits in one place and its lots close on its own wall time. That is written next to every time, like 6:50 PM PDT, so it can never be mistaken for yours.
If you are in a different timezone, the site adds your own time beside it: Closes Mon, Sep 7, 6:50 PM PDT (9:50 PM your time). When the difference is big enough to land on another day it says so, so 2:50 AM can never be read as this morning by mistake. If you are in the same timezone as the house, nothing extra appears, because there is nothing to tell you.
You do not have to set this anywhere, and there is no setting to get wrong. Your device already knows where it is, so it works the moment you land somewhere new.
The countdown needs none of this. Closes in 2h 10m means the same thing everywhere on earth, which is why it is the biggest thing on the page. When in doubt, watch the countdown, not the clock.
Pickup and preview times are always the house's clock, never converted, because you are driving there.
Who Decides the Close
The server does. The countdown on your screen is a convenience and corrects itself against the server's clock; if your phone's clock is wrong the lot still closes when the server says it does. Refreshing the page shows you the current state.
See Placing a bid for how the price moves.