Frequently Asked Questions

auto-markt24.com is a B2B-only vehicle auction platform for licensed automotive dealers in Germany and the EU. Sellers list cars, buyers bid live or in advance. Auctions take place every Monday and Thursday.

Only commercial users as defined by § 14 BGB — i.e. registered businesses, dealers, GmbHs, sole proprietors with a Gewerbeschein. Consumers are explicitly excluded.

For sellers the platform is completely free — no listing fees, no commission.

For buyers there's a flat service fee of €100 per vehicle after a successful purchase. This fee falls under the Reverse-Charge procedure (§ 13b UStG).

Click "Register" in the top right and choose your role: Buyer, Seller, or Both. Fill in company name, VAT ID, address, phone, and a password. Recommended: upload your Gewerbeanmeldung or HR-Auszug right away — it speeds up verification.

Right after registration you can log in and browse the platform. Bidding and listing unlock only after our team verifies your account — typically within 1–2 business days. You'll receive a confirmation email when approved.

Required: VAT ID, valid business address, phone number. Recommended: Gewerbeanmeldung (sole proprietorship) or Handelsregisterauszug (GmbH, AG, KG, etc.) as PDF/JPG. Sellers additionally must provide: bank details (account holder, IBAN, BIC) — buyers wire the car price directly to this account.

Yes. Go to "My Profile" and click "Enable Seller features". You'll need to provide your bank details. Our admin team will then re-verify you for selling — once approved, you can list vehicles.

Via the 3-step form:

Step 1 — Vehicle data: upload a photo of your Zulassungsbescheinigung (Part I) — our AI-OCR auto-extracts make, model, VIN, HSN/TSN, first registration, displacement, power, etc. You review and add the mileage.

Step 2 — Photos & damage: upload up to 30 photos. Mark damage locations on an interactive vehicle diagram by clicking; optionally attach detail photos.

Step 3 — Price & date: set start price, optional reserve price and buy-now price, pick the auction date (Mon/Thu), confirm the terms — done.

Take a photo of your Zulassungsbescheinigung (or upload one). Our AI service (Mistral OCR, hosted in France, GDPR-compliant) reads the fields and auto-fills the form. You review every value before publishing. Misread data can be corrected manually.

If the highest bid stays below your reserve, the auction does not automatically end without a sale. You get 24 hours to make a counter-offer to the highest bidder. If they agree, the contract is concluded. If no agreement is reached, you can re-list the vehicle.

Yes, as long as the vehicle isn't in the live auction yet. Go to "My Vehicles" and click the car. You can add/remove photos, edit damage markers, adjust prices, or pick a different auction date.

Yes — at the bottom of the edit page there's a "Delete listing" section. Vehicles currently in a running auction or already sold cannot be deleted.

Two phases:

Pre-bidding phase (until auction day): on the vehicle detail page, click "Place bid" — use the quick buttons (+€50, +€100, +€500) or enter a custom amount.

Live auction (Mon/Thu): vehicles are called in catalogue order. Bid in real-time on the live auction page. You'll hear a short ding sound on every new bid (mutable via bell icon).

€100 per purchased vehicle — regardless of the car price. This is the only fee we charge. It falls under the Reverse-Charge procedure (§ 13b UStG): the buyer self-accounts the 19 % VAT and can claim it back as input tax.

For the service fee (€100) to us: credit card, Sofortüberweisung, Klarna Pay Now, SEPA Direct Debit, Giropay — whichever are active in your country.

For the car purchase price to the seller: SEPA wire transfer directly to their bank account. The seller's bank details are unlocked in your dashboard (and emailed) once you've paid the service fee.

Yes. Every bid is legally binding. By placing a bid you confirm you have the funds and the intent to buy. Joke bids, fake bids, or deliberate misbids are prohibited and may result in account suspension and damages claims.

Yes. On every vehicle detail page there's a heart icon — clicking adds it to your favourites. Access them via "Favourites" in the navigation.

Every Monday and Thursday. Exact times are shown in the auction calendar. Each auction day is preceded by a 3-day pre-bidding phase during which you can already place bids.

If a bid lands in the final 30 seconds of a lot, the remaining time automatically extends by another 30 seconds. This prevents sniping (last-second bidding) and gives everyone a fair chance to keep up. The extension can repeat indefinitely as long as new bids keep coming.

In the auction catalogue, sold vehicles are marked after auction end:

🟢 Green stripe + "Sold" — reserve price reached or exceeded, contract is binding.

🟠 Orange stripe + "Under Reserve" — top bid was below the reserve; seller contacts the highest bidder for a counter-offer.

All vehicle data is anonymised after auction end; only the price remains visible.

Until midnight of the auction day. After that the catalogue is removed from public view; all records remain stored for invoices, receipts, and post-auction negotiations.

Step 1: You pay the €100 service fee to us via Stripe (card / Sofortüberweisung / SEPA).

Step 2: Once we've received the fee, your buyer dashboard auto-unlocks the seller's bank details and we email them to you.

Step 3: You wire the car purchase price directly to the seller (using the provided reference code).

Step 4: Once the seller confirms receipt, you automatically receive the pickup certificate as a PDF.

Escrow payments in Germany fall under BaFin supervision (Payment Services Supervision Act). That requires an expensive payment-institution license. The direct model keeps the platform regulatorily clean and your fee low (€100 flat vs. 1–2 % typical for escrow services).

A legally binding confirmation that the seller has received the purchase price. It's auto-generated as a PDF once the seller confirms receipt in their dashboard. You receive the PDF by email and via your buyer dashboard. Please present it when picking up the vehicle.

If you've demonstrably wired the money and the seller doesn't confirm within 5 business days, contact us with your transfer receipt. We mediate between the parties (§ 11 (6) of the AGB).

Within 10 business days of the pickup certificate being issued, unless you've agreed otherwise with the seller. The buyer bears the cost of collection, transport, and re-registration.

Fully GDPR-compliant. Vehicle photos are stored at Hetzner Object Storage in Germany (Falkenstein). Database data at Neon (Postgres, with SCC safeguards). Vehicle registration scans are archived internally and never publicly displayed. Details in our Privacy Policy.

Top right of the live auction page there's a bell icon. Click it to mute all sounds (ding on new bid, "Sold" sound). The preference is saved on your device.

Bids you've already placed remain valid. As soon as the connection is restored, the page reloads the current lot state. We recommend a stable internet connection — for important auctions ideally cable rather than Wi-Fi.

Yes. All features — registration, listing vehicles (incl. OCR photo upload via the phone camera), bidding in live auctions, payment processing — are fully mobile-compatible. No separate app needed.

By email at info@auto-markt24.com. We typically respond within one business day.