The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 3 plus 4 letter word EAST AND WEST
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
E
A
S
T
A
N
D
W
E
S
T
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Two points/partners at auction" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case two points/partners at auction = east and west.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.