What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file a website stores on your device. It lets the site recognise your browser between page loads and between visits — remembering that you are logged in, or that you prefer the catalogue in list view rather than grid.
Cookies we set
Strictly necessary
These make the site work and cannot be switched off. They do not require consent because the site cannot function without them.
- Session and authentication — keeps you signed in while you browse or bid, and prevents your session being hijacked.
- Security tokens — set when you submit a form, to confirm the request genuinely came from this site.
- Consent record — remembers the cookie choices you made, so you are not asked again on every page.
Functional
These remember choices you have made, to save you setting them again.
- Catalogue view — whether you last viewed a catalogue as a grid or a list.
- Watchlist — the lots you have marked to follow.
Analytics
Only set if you consent. They tell us which pages and which sales are being looked at, in aggregate, so we can improve the site. They are not used to identify you personally and we do not sell the data.
Bidding platform cookies
Registration and bidding are completed on our auction platform, which sets its own cookies when you register or bid. Those are necessary for bidding to work — placing a bid is not possible without a session that persists between pages. The platform’s own policy governs them.
Changing your mind
You can change or withdraw consent at any time using the cookie settings link in the footer. You can also delete cookies through your browser settings, though clearing strictly necessary cookies will sign you out and may interrupt a registration in progress.
Do Not Track
Browsers vary in how they signal a tracking preference and there is no agreed standard for honouring it. We do not set analytics cookies without consent regardless of any Do Not Track signal, so the outcome is the same.