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TERMS & CONDITIONS

 

BUYERS:

All bids whether entered online by the bidder or by proxy are legal and binding. All won lots are subject to 18% buyers commission with no vat on the auction hammer/buy now price.

All lots are sold as seen. The auctioneer & staff will describe the lot to the best of their ability and include condition reports where necessary and possible. The onus in on the buyer to read the full description, dimensions, condition reports and view the entire gallery of a lot, ask for further information if required prior to bidding. The buyer is bidding on the Lot Number & Title. For long distance buyers our staff will assist you as much as we can with further information or observations to help you decide if you want to bid. All lots remain the possession on the vendor client/estate until payment is received and cleared in full.

Payment Terms: We accept cash, debit/credit cards or via bank transfer to our clients’ account.

Collection: All lots must be collected within 6 working days of the auction end. . We are happy to liaise with agents or courier re collections, so long as written permission has been given by the buyer and the items is paid for in full. Proof of payment will be required prior to any release of goods.
Should you require storage, please request a quote. One of our network of removals teams with quote and charge you direct for storage as per their own terms and conditions.

Perpetual offenders of buyers t&cs will be blocked from bidding

The saleroom reserves the right to re-offer items to redeem any unpaid debts or losses, in compliance with current laws.

 

VENDORS (PRIVATE, TRADE OR CLEARANCES) :

Ownership: All lots forward from vendors are put forward for public auction or sale and therefore must be their free/unencumbered property. By consigning to auction you confirm that the item belongs to you/the estate you instruct for and that the goods are free from hire purchase, ownership disputes etc. From deceased estate clearances, instruction must be sent in writing from the acting agent, solicitor or executor, prior to the clearance commencing, to ensure we have the correct official instruction to proceed. All lots remain the possession of the client/estate with the saleroom acting as an agent on a commission only basis. We currently do not accept goods for auction that are the possession of a vat registered owner.

Reserves: All lots forward will be sold with no reserve unless instructed otherwise. (For clearances, if no specific reserve instruction is received, then the auctioneer will use her discretion on setting the reserves/offered with no reserve as seen fit) The auctioneer and network or removal teams reserve the right to reject any items upon presentation or withdraw any items on later closer inspection, should they feel it is over reserved for the current market or the condition standard required for that reserve. All reserves are subject to the auctioneer’s discretion of 10%. No reserves are accepted under £50 and any reserve must be the bottom end of the auctioneer’s estimate.

If unsold the lot/s will be offered for a second time with no reserve unless the vendor instructs the lot to be withdrawn and makes arrangement for return/collection by appointment. The saleroom reserves the right to re-offer with no reserve/charity donate/dispose of any items not collected after 2 months.

Commission & Safety Charges: The commission rate is currently 15% with no vat, with a minimum of £2 per lot for vendors. The auctioneer may group lower value items, where possible into a ‘job lot’ in an attempt to reduce the chance of minimum lot fees. This is solely at the auctioneer’s discretion. Electrical safety test checks are made on all electrical items at the fee of £3 per plug and £6 for a hardwired item such as a plug-less cooker. Replacement plugs are charged at £1.50 for supply & fit. These electrical charges are payable even if the lots is unsold and has to be collected. Do not cut off the plugs, it will not save you money, as your item will be rejected or incur the extra charges to fit a replacement. Items with the cable cut off will be rejected. Only items such as high end lamps with ALL WIRING completely removed may be accepted, if it is seemed worthwhile to a buyer to pay to have it completely re-wired.

Transportation Charges: All labour costs for transporting items to the saleroom are to be borne by the vendor. Please remember that if it takes an hour to load a batch it also takes and hour to unload it at our end. The labourers will be working and charges commence from starting at the collection point to finishing unloading at the saleroom. Travel expenses to longer distance locations for pick-ups may incur extra charges for time and fuel getting there, but will be quoted in advance and payable direct to the sub-contracted man & vans or removal company booked as per their own T&Cs.

Waste Charges: We are registered & licensed Trade Waste Brokers & Carriers and we take waste seriously! Waste is expensive! Whether part of a lot left behind by a buyer, an unsold leftover lot from a vendor or a quantity of waste from a clearance property. It all has to be sorted, correctly recycled &/or disposed of and above all paid for! This all costs money whether in time sorting or dumping fees. We sort potential waste where we can both on site at clearances and at our premises afterwards in order to reduce the waste as much as possible. Metal goes to scrap, with any credit balance, although minimal, going to the client direct. Recyclables such as some plastics, cardboard, usable wood, bottles, in date foods, disability aids etc are recycled were possible. Inert and general waste are sorted to try to reduce the waste charges as much as possible, whilst finding a happy balance between extra labour time. The amounts charged at the waste center, for both general waste and individual items are passed to the client to pay direct with the exception of the lager removal firms who may incorporate the waste into their own billing. Up to date waste centre charges are available at any time, please ask for a copy of the current rates. The individual items can be very expensive such as fridges/freezers/mattresses etc, a member of our team can advise you on how to reduce those costs, correctly and safely.

Additional Charges: we do not charge any fees for lotting, catalogue, photographing, research, advertising (unless an entire dispersal sale with specific requirements or exceptional circumstances after prior agreement)
Additional charges may incur for excessive storage times, unusual requests, double manual handling, increased insurance etc. These would all be discussed and agreed in advance via your removal team and are rarely applicable.
Unsuitable or Illegal Items: All furniture items must comply with current laws. We will reject items with foam in that do not comply with Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 Pre 1945 does not need a fire label. (for 1945s-1980s items please send over images as we may be able to advise you of the best options) For furniture entries it is recommended that you either speak to a member of the team or email pictures prior to loading and hauling items to the saleroom, as depending on type/unsuitability, we may turn some items away. Furniture is often falling into the brackets of ‘highly saleable’ or ‘not saleable at all’ with very little middle ground. So please check before, so you don’t waste your time loading or paying someone to bring it in. It is amazing how many people get angry with our staff because we won’t accept items they have transported in. We will be brutally honest and you may need to be prepared for that.
As from May 2023 waste centers now charge extra for POPS (domestic seating/soft furnishing etc) we therefore now no longer accept any such items unless they are from one of our client booked house clearances.

We do not accept main gas items as we cannot corgi test them. But may accept LPG/bottle gas fed items but will turn all canisters away unless virtually full.

We also do not accept faulty goods or electrical items with the cables cut off. See charges above for more information re electricals.

We reserve the right to reject or even confiscate items that fall into illegal brackets! Yes it has happened on many occasions… bomb squad, firearms dept etc. We sell a lot of antique flintlock and percussion weapons as well as other sporting collectables. PLEASE send images or speak to us before transporting any weapons to the saleroom if you are unsure if it is legal to do so! Some items such as ivory or endangered species taxidermy on CITIES are illegal to be sold, unless licensed etc. if you are unsure please check with us as to the current laws.

Settlement of Vendors Accounts: all vendors reports are raised 14 days after each sale, with some vendors chosing to have a running account until all lots are sold. Payment method is by bank transfer & timing will be discussed and agreed with each vendor individually  as some lots may sell quicker than others, depending on whether Buy Now or Auction lots. Auction lots will be settled in the normal above mention manner and timescale, providing the buyers have paid, collected confirmed they are happy with the goods and the funds are cleared in the Clients’ account.

House clearance accounts will normally be settled once all lots are sold and any waste/labour bills are confirmed as settled with the sub-contractors.  The selling of all lots may take a couple of sales especially is specialised auctions are scheduled. Payment of invoices in stages can also be arranged by request. Payments are by bank transfer, cash is by arrangement only for small amounts.
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Unsold/Unsuitable/Reserve Not Met/Withdrawn Lot
All lots that have not sold, are unsuitable to offer, have not met their reserve and specifically requested not to re-offer or have been withdrawn must be colected within 14 days. The saleroom does not offer free storage facilities. The saleroom reserves the right to send uncollected lots to charity within 2 months or can arrange professional storage at the vendors cost, payable as per the independent storage firms own terms & conditions. The saleroom will not re-imburse any funds for items disposed of and reserves the right to charge for any dumping fees or short term storage costs incurred.

Timed Online Auctions: Items deemed suitable for our timed online auctions,, will be presented with multi-images, dimensions, condition reports etc. These lots are chosen by the auctioneer. S0me may have reserves and some may be offered with no reserves at all. Reserves can’t be changed, added or  withdrawn once the bidding opens. Bidders may place progressive bids and follow the progress accordingly, they may place their maximum bid and allow the system to thereafter bid for them in their absence, or they may choose to take their chance on bidding in the final minutes or seconds and therefore the saleroom accepts no responsibility for delays in internet speed, devices etc. It is up to the client to ensure that their bid is in place and confirmed prior to the auction end.

Buy Now Lots: Items deemed by the auctioneer to be not suitable for auctioning may be offered in the room or online as ‘Buy Now’ lots for reservation. These lots are mostly general household or items with a small estimate margin, deemed in the vendor clients best interest to approve an acceptable offer.  Auction lots with no bidders may be offered as buy now lots to all subscribers. The best collection dates for appointments is the week following an online auction.

 

 

For your information: Please note that we do not accept boxes of mixed items/miscellaneous , such as ceramics & glassware or low end items from privates or trade unless they are extremely good for their type!

You may happen to see some of these at the saleroom, but these will be from house clearances where we have got to remove it all and we try to reduce waste. Anyone  dumping items at our gateway will be reported to the authorities for fly tipping and backed up via our extensive cctv systems.

If you are really lovely by kindly offering really good donated items that will be snapped up quickly and benefit a charity greatly, then of course we will accept them, with thanks to be sold on the charities behalf.. The definition of really good will be at the auctioneer’s & removal teams’ discretion.