Letters perhaps auctioned off (9)
I believe the answer is:
education
'letters perhaps' is the definition.
(letters is a kind of education)
'auctioned off' is the wordplay.
'off' is an anagram indicator.
'auctioned' is an anagram of 'EDUCATION'.
(Other definitions for education that I've seen before include "Work of master" , "Schooling, instruction" , "an answer to all clues, initially" , "Knowledge acquired by learning and instruction" , "Blair's triple mantra" .)