We recently tried to purchase a house via the online auction method. After having 3 offers refused it transpired that the vendors were actually looking for offers in excess of 25%(including the £ 6,000 fee) of the guide price( differing guide prices on the auction site to their rightmove site???) This house had attracted huge interest due to a £20,000 reduction. We paid for a survey due to the condition of the property, and our concerns about paying a £6,000 reservation fee.We were prepared to pay over the survey valuation price with the fees on top.This was still not enough! We feel that we were mislead by an unreal guide price. We were told by the office there had not been any other offers or surveys arranged,despite the "negotiater" claiming otherwise. To add insult to injury, on the day our final offer was refused, the house suddenly appeared as "added today"at the same low guide price, supposedly to generate another flurry of interest, another misleading ploy! Please do not touch online auctions, we entered into this in good faith .WHAT A CON!