How to sell at Auction - Whittons Auctions

FREE VALUATIONS

If you are thinking of selling at auction, it is essential to get your items valued, and Whittons offer free valuations for this purpose. We are happy to visit you at home or at the address of the property, whichever applies, if you are unable to come to the saleroom, or the item is too large to move. It may be possible for us to give you an idea of value if you send us a photograph of the item by email at info@whittonsauctions.co.uk but to provide a more accurate valuation, it will always be better for us to see the item properly. Please call either 01404 517000 or 01392 345454 for advice or to arrange an appointment for us to visit you, or call in to the saleroom anytime.

CONSIGNMENT

Once we have established a prospective valuation of the item, it will be necessary for you to leave the item with us, for which we will provide a receipt. Should you need assistance in delivering the item to the saleroom, we can arrange a courier to collect it for you at your expense. The Auctioneer will then decide into which auction the item will be entered for sale, and if it is to be held back for a specialist sale, then the item will be stored by us free of charge until that date. He will agree with you a minimum price for that item which you are prepared to accept, known as setting the reserve price.

ADVERTISING

All our sales are advertised in the Antiques Trade Gazette, and on our website. From time to time, we will, at our discretion, choose to publish certain items for sale individually in local newspapers or other advertising magazines. Should any unusual or rare items appear for sale which we believe require special advertising, we may photograph them separately and use them specifically in such marketing campaigns. Client confidentiality is always maintained unless you request otherwise, such as where items are sold for a specific bequest or from a well-known estate, and knowledge of such information may increase the value and desirability of such items.

CHARGES AND COMMISSION

We will charge a seller’s commission on all items we sell for you, which is 15%, with a minimum of £5 being charged per item. Should any item require electrical testing, then a charge of £3 per item will also be made per item. All charges are subject to VAT at the current standard rate. We do not charge for items that fail to sell, but they will be offered into two more sales where a £5 charge will apply if it fails to sell a third time. All unsold items must then be removed from the saleroom withn 7 days of the final sale or storage charges will apply.

We do not charge for advertising, illustrations or catalogue fees, but should an item warrant special advertising in addition to our usual marketing strategies, we will discuss this with you, and charge accordingly.

RESERVES

It may be important to you that we only sell your item at a minimum price. We will, however, only accept items with reserve, which, in our opinion are likely to realise at least £20.00 or more. Any item worth less than this value will be deemed to be entered for sale without reserve, and a sellers’ commission charge of a minimum of £5.00 charged. Any items which are taken with a reserve price will be accepted on the basis that the Auctioneer will have discretion to sell that item for 10% less than the reserve if a buyer at that price exists on the day.

AFTER THE AUCTION

The results of all items sold will be published on our website the day after each sale, but we will contact you by email the next day to advise you how much each of your items realised. Payment for these items will only be made to you once we have received cleared funds from the purchase, but as soon as we have been paid for your items, we can calculate the net figure that will be owed to you, and a cheque sent will be forwarded to you, usually within 28 days of the sale.