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SDL Auctions reviews: who it is now, and what it charges

Taken from the January 2026 bidder terms, the SDL fee pages and public registers, and dated as read.

By Haroon Ali Updated Covers England and Wales
On this page
  1. Who SDL Auctions are
  2. What SDL charges a seller
  3. The sell for free option
  4. What buyers pay, and why it matters
  5. Reserve above the guide
  6. Unconditional and conditional sales
  7. Who a complaint names
  8. SDL Auctions reviews, under a new name
  9. What we could not confirm
  10. Questions people ask

The short answer

SDL Auctions reviews on Trustpilot scored 4.8 of 5 from 1,114 reviews on 23 September 2026, on a profile now named BTG Eddisons Property Auctions.9 SDL Property Auctions is a trading name of Eddisons Commercial Limited.1 SDL publishes no seller fee and offers a sell for free option, and its bidder terms let the reserve exceed the guide price.43

SDL Property Auctions: what is published, what is confirmed

  • Seller fees published No entry fee, commission, unsold fee or withdrawal fee is given.4
  • Buyer fee published Listed on each lot; worked examples run from 1.2 to 4.8 per cent.5
  • Reserve terms published Clause 9.5 of the January 2026 bidder terms: the reserve can exceed the guide.3
  • Company behind the brand Eddisons Commercial Limited, 03280893, active with accounts not overdue.6
  • Redress scheme The Property Ombudsman register returns Eddisons Commercial Limited.8
  • RICS regulation Stated on the site; the RICS firm search did not return it for us.1
  • Client money protection Neither this nor Propertymark membership could be confirmed.
  • Success rate published No percentage for its sale rooms, and no definition of one.
  • Reviews under the SDL name The Trustpilot profile for the SDL site now carries the BTG Eddisons name.9
The House Desk's check of the SDL and BTG Eddisons sites, Companies House, the ombudsman's register and Trustpilot, 23 September 2026.

Who are SDL Auctions?

SDL Auctions, in full SDL Property Auctions, is a trading name of Eddisons Commercial Limited, company 03280893, named in the footer of the SDL site.1 BTG Eddisons says SDL Property Auctions now operates as part of BTG Eddisons Property Auctions.2 The January 2026 bidder terms name Eddisons Commercial Limited as the auctioneer and list five trading names: BTG Eddisons Property Auctions, SDL Property Auctions, Pugh and Co, Mark Jenkinson and Network Auctions.3

Two companies, one brand: the dated record

  1. 20 November 1996 Eddisons Commercial Limited incorporated6 Company 03280893, the one named on the SDL site today.
  2. January 2026 Bidder terms issued3 Eddisons Commercial named as auctioneer, with SDL Property Auctions one of five trading names.
  3. No date given SDL folded into BTG Eddisons2 BTG Eddisons says SDL Property Auctions now operates as part of it.
  4. 23 September 2026 The other company, SDL Auctions Limited7 Company 07719474: a proposal to strike it off, accounts overdue.

The company behind SDL, read 23 September 2026

Company named on the SDL site
Eddisons Commercial Limited1
Company number
032808936
Status
Active, accounts not overdue6
Registered office
340 Deansgate, Manchester M3 4LY6
Owner
Eddisons Commercial (Holdings) Limited6

Your contract will name Eddisons Commercial Limited rather than SDL, and a complaint follows that company's registration rather than the brand. The sale rooms, staff and terms you read about under one name may appear under another by the time you instruct.

What does SDL Auctions charge a seller?

SDL Auctions publishes no seller fee, and says its fees can change from sale to sale and start from nothing. Its page on auction fees for sellers gives no entry fee, listing fee, commission rate, fee for a lot that does not sell or withdrawal fee.4

The only costs the SDL seller page quantifies belong to other people: a legal pack typically up to £500, and conveyancing after the sale of £750 to £1,200.4 Published conveyancing quotes to set that range against are in our solicitor fees guide. Commission figures for SDL circulate on other websites. The firm itself confirms none of them, so none appears here.

What is the SDL sell for free option?

Sell for free is an option on the SDL seller page where the seller pays no fee and the buyer pays more instead.4 The auction standard for surveyors expects any charge added to the buyer's side to be set out in the special conditions of sale.11

When an auctioneer offers to sell for free, ask it to price the same lot both ways: with a seller fee, and free to you with the higher buyer fee. Put the two next to each other before choosing, because the option that costs you nothing up front can still cost you at the hammer.

Haroon Ali Author, The House Desk. Over 11 years in property and renovation

The cost does not disappear. A buyer who has to find several thousand pounds in fees on top of the hammer price has less money for the bid itself, so the cost tends to reappear in a lower price. Our auction fees guide works through who pays what across the firms that publish figures. Ask what the buyer fee on your lot is, in pounds, and what the firm believes that does to bidding.

What buyers pay, and why a seller should care

Buyers at SDL pay a non refundable buyer's fee, listed on each lot, and it does not count towards the purchase price. SDL's own worked examples run from 1.2 per cent of the price, minimum £1,500 including VAT, up to 4.8 per cent, minimum £6,000 including VAT.5 On top of that a buyer's contribution towards the seller's costs is usually £1,650 including VAT, and the deposit is usually 5 or 10 per cent with a £5,000 minimum.5

What a buyer finds on top of a £150,000 bid

  • Buyer's fee1.2 to 4.8 per cent, minimums apply £1,800 to £7,200 5
  • Contribution to the seller's costsUsually, including VAT £1,650 5

£3,450 to £8,850 on top of the bid, before the buyer's own legal costs

An illustrative £150,000 lot, not a guide to any price. The pounds are The House Desk's arithmetic on the rates in SDL's own worked examples; the fee on a real lot is listed on that lot.

Read the range rather than the low end. On that £150,000 lot the gap between the two ends is £5,400 of a bidder's budget, which is why the buyer fee on your lot is a seller's question as much as a buyer's. Bond Wolfe and Allsop both charge a flat fee instead, which loads a cheap lot harder and an expensive one much less.

Can the reserve be higher than the guide price?

Yes, at SDL. Clause 9.5 of the January 2026 bidder terms of Eddisons Commercial Limited states that the reserve price can exceed the guide price.3 The same terms say a guide price is not a guarantee or an indication of minimum value, is not set with the help of a chartered surveyor, and that both the guide and the reserve can change at any time before the auction.3 Guide price and reserve price explained covers the advertising rules on how far a reserve may sit from the guide.

What their terms say about price, and where that leaves you

  1. The reserve can exceed the guide price Where that leaves you: A guide is a marketing figure, not a floor. Agree your reserve in writing and keep a copy.3
  2. A guide is not set with the help of a chartered surveyor Where that leaves you: Do not treat it as a valuation. Set your own view of value from sold prices first.3
  3. Both can change before the auction Where that leaves you: Ask who can change your reserve, and confirm it cannot move without your agreement.3
  4. A separate buyer fee applies to each lot Where that leaves you: Ask what it is on your lot, because bidders subtract it from what they will pay.5

Guide prices have advertising rules of their own: the regulator has set out how they must be presented so they are not misleading.12 A complaint that SDL's brochure guide prices were misleading was reported as not upheld in January 2018. We could not find the ruling on the regulator's own site, so that outcome is reported at second hand and is not treated as a finding.10

Unconditional and conditional sales

Eddisons Commercial runs both kinds of sale under the SDL Property Auctions name. In an unconditional sale contracts exchange when the hammer falls. In a conditional sale the winning bidder signs a reservation agreement and pays a non refundable reservation fee, which is not a deposit and does not come off the price.5 The two give a seller very different certainty on the day. What the conditional version commits each side to is explained where we cover the modern method of auction.

Ask which one your lot would be sold under before you sign, because the marketing looks the same either way. One firm that runs conditional sales, usually through your own estate agent, is iamsold.

Which company a complaint would name

The Property Ombudsman's register returns Eddisons Commercial Limited, company 03280893, and states the business is registered with the service.8 That is the route for a complaint the firm does not resolve itself. The site also says the firm is regulated by RICS, whose auctioneer standard sets out what terms, guides, reserves and published results must do.111 We could not confirm that regulation on the RICS firm search.

Auctions' share of residential sales against their share of complaints, 202513

  • Share of sales (just over) 2%
  • Share of sales complaints 9%
From the Property Ombudsman's May 2026 auctions report, on complaints resolved in 2025, across all auctioneers.

Across all auctioneers, 68 per cent of the auction complaints the ombudsman resolved in 2025 came from buyers rather than sellers.13 Those figures cover every auctioneer, and none of them is a finding about SDL.

SDL Auctions reviews, now under the BTG Eddisons name

Reviews of SDL Auctions now sit on a Trustpilot profile for the SDL website that carries the name BTG Eddisons Property Auctions, so the reviews and the brand have already parted company.9

  • 4.8 of 5 Trustpilot score for the SDL website9
  • 1,114 Reviews in total
  • 88% At five stars
Displayed on 23 September 2026.

The profile is an invited one: Eddisons Commercial Limited asks customers to review, and Trustpilot labels the results accordingly.914 A high invited score on an auction firm tends to reflect buyers and sellers who completed. It cannot tell you what an unsold lot cost its owner, and the firm does not publish that figure either.

What we could not confirm

Questions people ask

What do buyers pay at an SDL auction?

A non refundable buyer fee listed on each lot, which does not come off the price. Their own examples run from 1.2 per cent with a minimum of 1,500 pounds including VAT up to 4.8 per cent with a minimum of 6,000 pounds including VAT, plus a buyer contribution usually of 1,650 pounds including VAT.

Whether this is the right room for your lot

Before choosing SDL's room, get its seller fee in writing and decide whether you want an unconditional sale or a conditional one, since it runs both. Auction pays its way on a lot a lender will not touch, which can include a house affected by subsidence, or for a seller working to a fixed date. For a standard house in a busy area, the agent route usually ends at a better price. Selling at auction sets out when it works, and the three ways to sell weighs it against an agent and a direct buyer.

Find the route that fits you

Three questions, about 30 seconds. Your answers stay in your browser.

Sources

(14)

Numbers in the text link to these. Each was read on the date shown. How we research

  1. Contact us, footer company details SDL Property Auctions. Company's own published information. England and Wales. Read 23 September 2026.
  2. SDL Property Auctions BTG Eddisons Property Auctions. Company's own published information. England and Wales. Read 23 September 2026.
  3. Bidder terms, January 2026 BTG Eddisons Property Auctions. Company's own published information. England and Wales. Read 23 September 2026.
  4. Property auction fees for sellers SDL Property Auctions (Eddisons Commercial Limited). Company's own published information. England and Wales. Read 23 September 2026.
  5. Guide to auction fees for buyers SDL Property Auctions. Company's own published information. England and Wales. Read 23 September 2026.
  6. EDDISONS COMMERCIAL LIMITED, company 03280893 Companies House. Official register. England and Wales. Read 23 September 2026.
  7. SDL AUCTIONS LIMITED, company 07719474 Companies House. Official register. England and Wales. Read 23 September 2026.
  8. SDL Property Auctions entry on the register of businesses The Property Ombudsman. Redress scheme. United Kingdom. Read 23 September 2026.
  9. SDL Property Auctions reviews, displayed as BTG Eddisons Property Auctions Trustpilot. Review platform. United Kingdom. Read 23 September 2026.
  10. Property auction guide prices are not misleading, says advertising watchdog The Negotiator. News report. United Kingdom. Read 23 September 2026.
  11. Auctioneers selling real estate (incorporating Common Auction Conditions), RICS professional standard, UK, 7th edition Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Regulator or enforcement body. England and Wales. Read 14 September 2026.
  12. Guide prices in ads for property auctions Advertising Standards Authority and Committee of Advertising Practice. Regulator or enforcement body. UK. Read 14 September 2026.
  13. Property auctions, insight report The Property Ombudsman. Redress scheme. United Kingdom. Read 23 September 2026.
  14. Trustpilot's review labels Trustpilot. Review platform. Not applicable. Read 14 September 2026.