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Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd: Terms of Consignment for Sellers in Public Auctions
The sale of goods at our public (including online) auctions and a Seller’s relationship with us are governed by our Auction Terms and Conditions including these Terms of Consignment for Sellers in Public Auctions and our Conditions of Sale for Public Auctions (Conditions of Sale). Any particular auction and/or any particular Lot in an auction may be subject to different or additional terms which will be published in our auction catalogue or separately announced prior to the auction. If you, or another person acting on your behalf, provide goods to us to sell on your behalf at one of our auctions this signifies that you agree to and will comply with our Auction Terms and Conditions including these Terms of Consignment for Sellers in Public Auctions and our Conditions of Sale.
In these Terms the words ‘you’, ‘yours’, etc. refer to the Seller and if the consignment of goods to us is made by an agent or otherwise on the Seller’s behalf we assume that the Seller has authorised the consignment and that the consignor has the Seller’s authority to contract.
All obligations that apply to the Seller under these Terms of Consignment for Sellers in Public Auctions shall apply to the owner of the goods and their agent jointly and separately. Similarly the words ‘we’, ‘us’, etc. refer to the Auctioneers.
Terms used in this document shall have the same meaning as defined in the Conditions of Sale.
2.1 The Seller warrants to us and the Buyer that possession in the Lots can be transferred to the Buyer with good and marketable title, free from any third party right and encumbrances, claims or potential claims.
2.2 The Seller warrants to us and the Buyer that it/he has provided to us all information concerning the item’s ownership, condition and provenance, attribution, authenticity, import or export history and of any concerns expressed by third parties concerning the same.
We reserve the right to use our discretion to refuse any Lot for sale.
4.1 Commission is charged at £10 per Lot plus VAT. This includes all commission, insurance, illustration and any advertising costs.
4.2 If applicable, Haulage charges will be dealt with between Auctioneer and Seller on an individual basis. Artist Resale Rights charges are paid for by the Seller (see clause 8).
5.1 Items for sale must be consigned to the saleroom by any stated deadline and at your expense.
5.2 We may be able to assist you with this process but any liability incurred to a carrier for haulage charges is solely your responsibility.
6.1 Loss and Damage Warranty – Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd is not authorised by the FCA to provide insurance to its clients, and does not do so. However Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd for its own protection assumes liability for property consigned to it at the lower pre-sale estimate until the hammer falls.
6.2 The liability assumed by Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd shall be limited to the lower pre-sale estimate or the hammer price if the Lot is sold. Parker Fine Art Auctions is not liable for damage to gilded picture frames, plaster picture frames or picture frame glass; if the Lot is or becomes dangerous, we may dispose of it without notice to you in advance in any manner we see fit and will be under no liability for doing so.
6.3 If the owner of the goods consigned instructs us in writing not to take such action, the goods then remain entirely at the owner’s risk unless and until the property in them passes to the Buyer or they are collected by or on behalf of the owner, and clause 1 is inapplicable.
The cost of any illustrations or photographs is included in the commission unless specific instructions provided by the Seller has been agreed. The copyright in respect of such illustrations and photographs shall be the property of us, the Auctioneers, as is the text of the catalogue.
8.1 From 1st January 2012 all UK art market professionals (which includes but is not limited to; auctioneers, dealers, galleries, agents and other intermediaries) are required to collect a royalty payment for all works of art that have been produced by qualifying artists each time a work is re-sold during the artist’s lifetime and for a period up to 70 years following the artists death.
8.2 This payment is only calculated on qualifying works of art which are sold for a hammer price more than the UK sterling equivalent of EURO 1,000 – the UK sterling equivalent will fluctuate in line with prevailing exchange rates. It is entirely the responsibility of the Seller to acquaint himself/herself with the precise EURO to UK Sterling exchange rate on the day of the sale in this regard, and the auctioneer accepts no responsibility whatsoever if the qualifying rate is different to the rate indicated. For all items in this category,the royalty charge will be applied if the hammer price achieved is more than the UK sterling equivalent of EURO 1,000. The royalty charge will be paid by the Seller.
8.3 All royalty charges are passed on to the Artists’ Collecting Society (‘ACS’) or the Design and Artists Copyright Society (‘DACS’), no handling costs or additional fees with respect to these charges will be retained by the auctioneers.
8.4 The royalty charge that will be applied to qualifying items which achieve a hammer price of more than the UK sterling equivalent of EURO 1,000, but less than the UK sterling equivalent of EURO 50,000 is 4%. For qualifying items that sell for more than the UK sterling equivalent of EURO 50,000 a sliding scale of royalty charges will apply – for a complete list of the royalty charges and threshold levels, please see artistscollectingsociety.org or dacs.org.uk. There is no VAT payable on this royalty charge.
Lots will normally be offered subject to a reserve agreed between us before the sale in accordance with clause 10. We may sell Lots below the reserve provided we account to you for the same sale proceeds as you would have received had the reserve been the hammer price. If you specifically give us a “discretion” we may accept a bid of up to 10% below the formal reserve.
10.1 You are entitled to place, prior to the auction, a reserve on any Lot consigned, being the minimum hammer price at which that Lot may be sold. Reserves must be reasonable and below bottom estimate and we may decline to offer goods which in our opinion would be subject to an unreasonably high reserve (in which case goods carry the storage charges stipulated in these Terms of Consignment).
11.1 Please assist us with accurate information as to the provenance, lawful import etc. of goods where this is relevant prior to the auction.
11.2 There is strict liability for the accuracy of descriptions under modern consumer legislation and in some circumstances responsibility lies with sellers if inaccuracies occur.
11.3 We will assume that you have approved the catalogue description of your Lots and that your Lots match those descriptions unless informed to the contrary. Where we are obliged to return the price to the buyer when the Lot is a deliberate forgery under Condition 17 of the Conditions of Sale, and we have accounted to you for the proceeds of sale you agree to reimburse us the sale proceeds and in any event within seven days of our written notice to do so.
12.1 If an item is unsold it may, at our discretion, be re-offered at a future sale.
12.2 Where in our opinion an item is unsaleable you must collect such items from the saleroom promptly on being so informed.
12.3 Otherwise, daily storage charges may be incurred. Any storage charges accrued must be paid by the Seller to Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd prior to the release of any stored Lots.
13.1 The Fee for cancelling a sale or for withdrawal of goods prior to a sale once the lot has been catalogued is 25% of the lower estimate (+VAT), plus any costs incurred. Lots cannot be withdrawn once the sale is in progress.
13.2 Any charges accrued under clause 13.1 must be paid by the Seller to Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd prior to the release of any stored Lots.
We accept no liability for any cancellation/postponement/default of a Sale. We reserve the right to withdraw any Lot from a Sale at our discretion and no liability will be accepted should we, at our discretion, withdraw a Lot for Sale.
15.1 You agree that all goods will be sold in accordance with our Conditions of Sale for Public Auctions. In particular you undertake that you have the right to sell the goods either as owner, or agent for the owner, with good and marketable title and free and clear of any third party rights or claims.
15.2 You undertake to indemnify us and any buyer or third party for all losses liabilities, costs and expenses suffered or incurred arising out of or in connection with any breach of this undertaking (and shall pay such sum to the relevant indemnified party on demand).
15.3 We will also, at our discretion, and as far as practicable, confirm that an item consigned for sale does not appear on the Art Loss register, which is administered by an independent third party.
16.1 Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd are required by UK Law to adhere to legislation aimed at the prevention of money laundering. The Company has a continuing obligation to conduct due diligence on all customers with whom we transact, including beneficial owners of corporate bodies, and this will include verification of identity and proof of address, and in the case of a purchaser, confirmation of source of funds. Sellers who are unable to, or refuse to, supply required identification documents and proof of address will be unable to consign to Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd. Copies of customer due diligence checks will be retained for as long as is necessary to satisfy legal requirements, and will be retained in an appropriate storage facility, which for the avoidance of doubt may include storage solely in electronic form.
17.1 You authorise us to deduct commission at the stated rate and all expenses incurred for your account from the hammer price and consent to our right to retain beneficially the premium paid by the buyer in accordance with our Conditions of Sale for Public Auctions and any interest earned on the sale proceeds until the date of settlement.
17.2 In case of Lots unsold at auction you authorise us, at our discretion, to reoffer such Lots and negotiate a sale, in which case the same charges will be payable as if such Lots had been sold at auction and so far as appropriate these Terms apply.
18.1 We disclaim all liability for goods delivered to our saleroom without sufficient sale instructions and reserve the right to make minimum warehousing charge of £10 per Lot per day.
18.2 Unsold Lots are subject to charges if you do not remove them within a reasonable time of notification. If not removed within twenty one days we reserve the right to sell them and defray charges from any net proceeds of sale or at your expense to consign them to the local authority for disposal.
19.1 Subject to clause 19.2 the ‘net sale proceeds’ received from the Buyer in cleared funds will be forwarded to the Seller no later than 21 days after the auction.
19.2 Where the Buyer makes a payment more than 14 days after the auction Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd shall send to the Seller the ‘net sale proceeds’ within five working days of receipt of cleared funds from the Buyer.
19.3 The ‘net sale proceeds’ are the Hammer Price less commission and expenses set out in the Property Receipt. You must note the liability to reimburse the proceeds of sale to us as under the circumstances provided for in Condition 11 (as above) and Condition 17 of the Conditions of Sale. You should therefore bear this potential liability in mind before parting with the proceeds of sale until the expiry of 21 days from the date of sale.
19.4 The Seller waives any right to interest that may be earned during the period from payment by the Buyer to receipt of the ‘net sale proceeds’ by the Seller. For the avoidance of any doubt, the Seller shall have no recourse to Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd where payment is not received by Parker Fine Art Auctions Ltd from the Buyer.
