Upset Price
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
The price at which goods sold by auction are first offered for competition. If no advance is made they fall to the person who made the unset price. Reserved bid is virtually the same thing.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Upset Price” mean?
The price at which goods sold by auction are first offered for competition. If no advance is made they fall to the person who made the unset price. Reserved bid is virtually the same thing.
Is “Upset Price” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.