upset price

American  

noun

1. the lowest price at which a person is permitted to bid for something being sold at auction.

---

upset price British  

/ ˈʌpˌsɛt /

noun

1. another name (esp Scot, US, and Canadian) for reserve price

---

Etymology

Origin of upset price

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

upset price

After some slight competition, the allotment, put up, I think, at the upset price of 300 pounds, was bought by Mr. Edmund Westby for 344 pounds.

From Personal Recollections of Early Melbourne and Victoria by William Westgarth

The lowest upset price of crown lands in the colony is £1 per acre.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by P. L. Simmonds

The staple commodity of Ceylon being coffee, I will assume that a purchase is concluded with the government for one thousand acres of land, at the upset price of twenty shillings per acre.

From Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon by Sir Samuel White Baker

And finally any person or company was empowered to purchase land not exceeding 640 acres in one block for mining purposes, other than for coal or gold, at the upset price of 20s. per acre.

From Our First Half-Century: A Review of Queensland Progress Based Upon Official Information by Queensland

There were no takers at the upset price; and the highest bid was less than half of the asking.

From The Quickening by E. M. Ashe