Offers Over vs Auction:
Which Campaign Works Best?

One of the most common questions I get from sellers — after "what's my home worth?" — is: should we go to auction or do a private treaty campaign?

It's a great question, and the honest answer is that it depends. But if you want my read of what's actually working on the Gold Coast right now, across the majority of properties and price points I'm working with: offers over campaigns are consistently outperforming everything else.

Here's my thinking — and when each approach actually makes sense.

Why offers over campaigns work so well right now

An offers over price — say, "Offers Over $850,000" — does two things simultaneously that neither auction nor standard private treaty can replicate.

First, it gives buyers a clear price anchor. Buyers want to know whether a property is in their range before they invest time inspecting and researching it. An offers over figure tells them roughly where they need to be. This attracts serious, pre-qualified buyers and filters out time-wasters who were never going to be in the running.

Second, it sets a psychological floor. Buyers know they need to be above that number to be competitive. This protects you from the low-ball offers that a private treaty campaign almost always generates in its early stages, while still keeping the final price open and competitive.

The result is a campaign that creates genuine urgency — buyers know there are others looking, they know roughly what they need to spend, and they act. That urgency is what drives strong results.

The real risk with auction

Auction works brilliantly when conditions are right — strong buyer demand, a property with broad emotional appeal, and genuinely competitive bidders in the room. Under those conditions, a well-run auction is hard to beat.

But here's the risk that doesn't get talked about enough: a passed-in auction is one of the most damaging outcomes for a seller.

When a property passes in, it's immediately visible to every buyer and every buyer's agent in the market. The property is now publicly labelled as one that didn't sell. That perception is almost impossible to shake. Subsequent offers come in from a position of buyer strength — they know you've been in the market, they know you didn't get your price, and they negotiate accordingly.

In a market where buyer pools in the $1M–$1.5M range are more selective — which is exactly where we are right now — the risk of a passed-in auction is real. For most properties in this bracket, it's a risk I don't think is worth taking when offers over campaigns are delivering consistent results.

What about standard private treaty?

A standard private treaty listing with a fixed asking price removes one of the most powerful forces in a property sale: competition between buyers.

When a single buyer knows they're the only one enquiring, there's no urgency to act. They take their time, they find reasons to negotiate downward, and the final price reflects that dynamic. Offers over campaigns create a sense of competition — real or perceived — that standard private treaty simply can't replicate.

For properties at the lower end of the market where demand is genuinely high, a fixed price can work. But in the mid-range and above, it often leaves money on the table.

"The goal of every campaign is to create the conditions for competition. Offers over campaigns do that better than anything else in the current Gold Coast market."

Getting the offers over price right

The number you put in an offers over campaign is one of the most important decisions of the entire selling process. Get it wrong in either direction and you'll pay for it.

Price it too low, and you attract buyers who aren't in your real range — you'll generate enquiry, but the offers won't reflect the property's true value, and you may end up in a difficult conversation.

Price it too high, and you cut off demand entirely. Buyers who would have inspected and made strong offers never enquire because they assume it's out of their range.

The right number is specific to your property, your suburb, and the current buyer pool. It requires genuine local knowledge and an honest read of the market — not a guess, and not an inflated figure designed to make you feel good about the appraisal.