Auction.com

Auction.com is an online marketplace for distressed residential real estate: foreclosure sales, bank-owned (REO) homes, and private-seller listings, sold on behalf of lenders, servicers, and other sellers. Homes and land are both listed.

Buyers open an account, complete a purchase profile that governs how many properties they can be approved to bid on, then bid online. Foreclosure sales that would normally require attendance at the courthouse can be bid through Remote Bid. Auctions can carry a reserve the seller does not disclose, bidding uses set increments, max-bid proxy bidding is supported, and end times can extend. Buyers may work through their own agent. On the sell side, SmartSale lets an owner choose an auction or a direct-offer path with no upfront fee, and the company says it takes about seven days from a signed marketing agreement to a live listing.

The company reports more than 15,000 properties available at a time, more than 15,000 auctions a year in all 50 states, more than 500 employees, 8.3 million registered accounts, 565,000 properties sold to date, and $72 billion of residential property sold. Customer service runs Monday to Friday, 5am to 5pm Pacific, on (800) 793-6107, and it operates as a licensed brokerage under California DRE #01093886.

The help center is organised around the questions to settle before bidding: whether an asset is cash only, what the reserve means, how to run due diligence, and what happens on a cancelled or postponed sale. Inventory is overwhelmingly residential, so buyers looking for commercial product should confirm availability before registering.