1. Mews Auction Rooms Limited [hereinafter referred to as ‘MARL’] will be open for trading during the following hours and days: 

 

 

2. Entries for sale will only be accepted and subsequently sold subject to these Terms & Conditions. 

 

3. Sellers warrant good title to any and all goods presented for auction, free of any bill of sale, hire purchase or leasing agreement or any other third party rights and indemnify MARL against any and all claims against them in respect thereof. 

 

4. MARL reserves the right to decline to sell any item for any reason. 

 

5. Lots described by MARL rely on the information provided by the Seller. Where no information is provided by the Seller, MARL will use its best endeavours to accurately describe and attribute every item offered for sale, but accepts no liability for any inaccuracy, discrepancy, error or omission inadvertently made by MARL and/or the Seller. Every Lot is sold with all faults and errors of description and MARL disclaims, for themselves and for the Seller, all responsibility for authenticity, attribution, age, origin, provenance, date, condition, quality or estimated selling price. All statements on such matters, whether printed in the catalogue or made orally, are statements of opinion and not representations of fact. Buyers are deemed to have satisfied themselves on authenticity, condition, quality and is/are genuine, etc., before bidding and no-one in MARL's employment has authority to make any representation of fact. 

 

6. All Lots are sold ‘as seen’ and the maxim 'caveat emptor' applies to all and every Lot offered for sale. Prospective Bidders are encouraged to thoroughly inspect any Lot before bidding. On the fall of the Auctioneer’s gavel, a Civil contract is made that is not subject to the Consumer Protection Rights applicable to normal Retail Sales and no change of mind will be entertained. Any latent dispute over the item's condition or description is a matter which must be resolved between the Seller & the Buyer. 

 

7. In the Event that any Lot is found and proved not to be as purported by the Seller. i.e., that it is not working when the Seller has declared that it is, or that a so-called 'genuine' item is a fake or reproduction, MARL reserves the right to refund the purchaser despite the Seller's claims or insistence otherwise and by so doing MARL may preserve it's goodwill and reputation as a safe trading platform. However, it is implicit that this 'guarantee' only applies to items which have NOT been removed and transported and/or used elsewhere before the Buyer asserts any defect, damage or non-function. MARL cannot and will not be held liable for any damage or defect which may have been caused to any item during the transportation and/or installation at a 3rd Party's premises. MARL also reserves the right to charge the Seller MARL's commission at the current rate based on the hammer price achieved to thus reimburse MARL for its costs in offering the Lot for sale and compensate MARL for its losses caused by the Item taking up the space in the Sale thus depriving a saleable item from being sold. 

 

8. Lotting up of items will be at MARL’s sole discretion. 

 

9. Entries which are sold are subject to the Terms and Conditions herein stated and the deduction of MARL’s selling commission which is currently 20% plus V.A.T., or £3 whichever is the greater. 

 

10. Every Lot consigned to be entered will incur a Lotting Fee of £2 inclusive of VAT. 

 

11. Every unsold Lot and every Lot sold will be subject to a minimum selling commission of £3. MARL's 20% Sales Commission will apply to these Lots over the £3 minimum.  

 

12. Seller Commission and any other relevant charges will be deducted from the Seller’s accounting. 

 

13.No Lot will be offered with a Reserve less than £50. Sales Commission on any Reserved and subsequently unsold Lot will be charged at the flat rate of £10 regardless of the size of the Reserve. 

 

14. Lots may have Reserve Values for one sale only, thereafter the item[s] should be removed by the Seller/Owner within 48 hours or offered for sale at the next available auction without Reserve and Seller's commission may be charged on each offering and the eventual sale price in accordance with Clauses 10 & 11 above. 

 

15. Once a Lot has been entered for Sale, the Seller may withdraw the item, but if such withdrawal is after the item has been Lotted and advertised as being for sale, MARL is entitled to charge an Administration fee equivalent to MARL's standard Commission pertaining at that time, based upon either the Seller's Reserve amount, or MARL's pre-Auction estimate of the expected Hammer Price, or £10 + VAT per item, whichever is the greater. 

 

16. All prospective Bidders must complete a Customer Registration form in full before they are provided with a Buyer number and permitted to bid. By bidding, the Bidder is accepting these Terms and Conditions. 

 

17. All Bidders must possess and show the auctioneer a Bidding Number or their bid will not be recognised or accepted. 

 

18. The fall of the Auctioneer’s gavel will be final and create a formal agreement for the purchase/sale and ownership of the item will transfer, subject to the winning Bidder’s cleared payment. Bidding on any Lot will not be re-opened for any reason other than a mistake or error by the Auctioneer. 

 

19. Some Lots may be offered for sale with the option to purchase other similar or identical Lots at the same hammer price. The Auctioneer will announce such ‘Option’ Lots before opening the bidding and at the fall of the hammer the winning Bidder will be asked if they wish to ‘stand on’ the Option Lot[s]. 

 

20. No Lot will be sold at less than £5. 

 

21. Bids on Lots will be advanced as follows: 

 

 

22. Bids are made subject to the addition of MARL’s Buyer commission which is currently 20% inclusive of V.A.T. of the hammer price, subject to a minimum sum of £3 and the 20% commission will apply on the hammer price above the minimum, which will be added to the winning Bidder’s account. 

 

23. Ownership of any item/Lot by winning bid[s] will not pass to the Buyer unless and until the Buyer’s account is paid in cleared funds. No item may be removed from the Auction Room until a cleared payment has been made. 

 

24. Any Bidder reneging on the contract of sale of any item[s] will be prohibited from attending any future sales unless they pay a cash deposit to be held by MARL to ensure their future probity. The amount of any such deposit will be at MARL’s sole discretion and is not negotiable. 

 

25. Any person/Buyer/Bidder who removes any item which is not theirs or is not scheduled on their Buyer Summary, whether or not such removal is inadvertent, by error or by mistake, will be required to return the item in the same condition as it was removed. All such items will be subject to an Administration Charge of £10 + VAT. In the event that any Item so wrongly removed is not capable of return for any reason, the person so removing the item will be required to pay the Hammer price of the item plus Commission charge and VAT in addition to the Administration Charge. Any person who has so acted in accordance with this Clause will be prevented from Bidding in any future sale until the Administration Charge[s] has/have been paid. 

 

26. Any Buyer will be prohibited from bidding at any future auctions until their current Buyer accounting has been paid in full. 

 

27. Unsold items must be removed by the Owner/Seller by 6 p.m. on the next Tuesday following the auction date. 

 

28. Bought and paid for items must be collected by the Buyer/Owner by 6 p.m. on the next Tuesday following the auction date. 

 

29. Unless otherwise agreed in advance, any and all unsold items not removed by the Tuesday following the date of sale will be subject to £5 + VAT a day storage charge in respect of each item. Items will be stored for 7 days only and they will then be disposed of at a cost of £10 + VAT per item. The storage/disposal/re-sale costs will be deducted from the Seller’s account for this and/or other/future items. This will not limit MARL’s right to recover costs by other legal actions. 

 

30. Unless otherwise agreed in advance, any and all sold items not collected by the next Tuesday following the date of sale will be subject to £5 + VAT a day storage charges in respect of each item. Items will be stored for 7 days only and they will either be disposed of at a cost of £10 + VAT per item or offered for re-sale at auction. Refunds will not be made. The storage/disposal/re-sale costs will be deducted from the Buyer’s account for this and/or other/future items. This will not limit MARL’s right to recover costs by other legal actions. 

 

31. No charge is made for any entries to a sale which has been delivered to MARL at the cost of the Seller. If the Seller requests MARL to collect any item[s] for sale, MARL will arrange and monitor the collection and the present cost thereof is £30 an hour for one man and a van, or £45 an hour for 2 men and a van. The Collection Charge is calculated from door to door to door and includes all loading/unloading time. The Seller can then opt to reimburse MARL for those costs or MARL will deduct the incurred costs from the proceeds of sale before accounting and paying the net proceeds to the Seller. If the cost of collection and the Seller commission exceeds the net proceeds of sale, the Seller is liable to repay MARL the outstanding balance. This will not limit MARL’s right to recover costs by other legal actions. 

 

32. MARL accepts no responsibility or liability for any items or Lots stolen or damaged after entry for sale. Insurance against such damage or loss is available at 1% sales Commision including VAT. Insurance is NOT mandatory. 

 

33. Sellers will be paid instantly in cash or within 48 hours of the Sale into a Bank Account PROVIDED there are no unsold Lots to be collected. In the event there are unsold Lots, the Seller will be paid by 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday following the Sale, except that the sum of £10 in respect of each such unsold Lot will be deducted from any payment. If the unsold Lots are collected, the £10 per item Charge will not be deducted. If the unsold items are not then collected within 7 days, the Lot will be disposed of and the £10 charge will not be refunded. 

 

34. No Lot should be removed by a Buyer until it is paid for. All Lots MUST be collected [and paid for] by 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday following the Sale. A Daily Charge of £2 will be added to the Buyer's Account in respect of each and every Lot collected later than 6 p.m. on the Tuesday following the Sale. 

 

35. MARL reserves the right to amend and/or waive Commission Rates and/or Charges, based on Quantum Meruit and/or the volume of Entries from individual Sellers. 

 

36. MARL is registered for VAT at the prevailing rate set by HMRC. MARL is not a party to, nor does it apply V.A.T. in accordance with the Antiques 'Scheme' established by HMRC. 

 

37. CCTV is in operation; we have 48 Cameras covering every inch of the Trading Area and recordings are kept on hard disc for review, training and theft interrogation. 

 

35. Theft will not be tolerated. Anyone caught stealing any item will be banned from future auctions for life and will also be reported to the police. 

 

36. Anyone seen mixing Lots, placing an item already lotted up in one Lot into a box with a different Lot number, removing Lot numbers or switching Lot numbers will be required to leave and will be banned for life. 

 

37. Payments may be made by cash, cheque [subject to clearance], BACS, Credit/Debit Card. 

 

38. No one under the age of 18 will be permitted to bid. No one under the age of 25 will be permitted to purchase bladed items or guns. If purchasing firearms or shotguns, relevant Certificates empowering possession must be shown in advance, or Bids cannot be accepted. 

 

39. The Auction process is a serious business with many expensive and fragile items and the Saleroom is not an appropriate place for the entertainment of Children. No Children under the age of 16 Years are permitted. The riding of bikes and scooters in the Saleroom is not permitted. 

 

40. Dogs are permitted so long as they are on a leash and well-behaved. Nuisance dogs will be asked to leave. 

 

41. Bidding paddles are issued to all Bidders in the Saleroom. They may not be taken home and must be returned to the Office when a Bidder leaves. Any paddle so issued which is lost will be subject to a replacement charge of £25 + VAT. 

 

42. Only food and drink purchased on the Premises may be consumed on the Premises. 

 

43. LIve telephone Bids are not available on any Lot not expected to reach £100. Live telephone Bids are offered on the Condition that the bidding opens at £100 or more. 

 

44. Uncollected Purchases by Winning Bidders is a conflated problem and that is why Late Collection Charges apply where items are collected late. Storage space is at a premium and it impacts on the business' operation. The associated problem is late payment for the items. If an item is uncollected it is logically unpaid. If an item is removed from the Saleroom without payment it is unpaid. Unpaid purchases impact on any Business' cashflow thus accordingly from Monday 7th November 2022 any and all outstanding sums for purchases and other Charges must be paid within 7 days of the point of sale or Charge and if still unpaid 7 days later will be subject to the addition of interest at the same rate as an unauthorised overdraft lending by the National Banks which presently is at 26.4% per annum. 

 

45. Any Item/Lot which gets broken by a Customer is deemed as sold to that Customer. The Item/Lot value will be assessed by MARL at MARL's sole discretion, based on a number of influences such as, experience, Reserve, condition, Commission Bids, historic sale of similar Items/Lots. MARL's decision and appraised value is not negotiable. Payment for the Item/Lot is due immediately and subject to MARL's Commission + VAT. Upon payment the Item/Lot becomes the immediate possession of the Customer so breaking it. 

 

46. MARL reserves the right to vary any of these Terms & Conditions individually and privately with any person, firm or Corporation for any reason. Such variation to one or more people, firms or Corporations does not automatically entitle every customer to claim the same Terms & Conditions variation.