Conditions of Sale
STANLEY GIBBONS AUCTIONS ("SG AUCTIONS")
Standard Terms and Conditions of Sale
(Applicable to all items offered in this auction)
These terms and conditions (the "Terms and Conditions") set out vendors' and purchasers' rights and obligations (each of whom is a "Client") and those of Stanley Gibbons Limited and its affiliates ("SG") in relation to the auction services provided by SG.
If a Client uses the auction services available on SG's web site (the "SG" Auction Web Site") such use shall be subject to the Terms and Conditions together with SG's Web Site Terms of Service and SG's Privacy Policy. Clients using the SG Auction Web Site agree to click on the link to, and familiarise themselves with SG's Web Site Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
In the event that these Terms and Conditions conflict with SG's Web Site Terms of Service and/or SG's Privacy Policy then the following priority will apply; (i) the Terms and Conditions
(ii) SG's Web Site Terms of Service (iii) SG's Privacy Policy (hereinafter referred to collectively as the
"Conditions").
1. Definitions
"Buyer's Premium" means SG's buyer's premium from time to time in force as set out in the Information Page;
"Postage and Packing" means SG's postal and packing charges:
"Storage Charges" means SG's storage charges from time to time in force as set out in the Information Page;
"Price" means the hammer price and Buyer's Premium, Storage Charges and Postage and Packing (where applicable):
2. The Vendor's Obligations
2.1 The Vendor warrants to SG and to the purchaser that he/she is the true owner of the property or is properly authorised to sell the property by the true owner and is able to transfer good and marketable title to the property free from any claim by a third party. The Vendor will indemnify
SG, its servants and agents and the purchaser against any loss or damage suffered by either in consequence of any breach of the above warranty on the part of the vendor.
2.2 A vendor who sends for sale by auction any chattel(s) which is an asset of his/her business must disclose to the auctioneer whether or not he/she is a registered person for Value Added Tax purposes. The Vendor must also disclose if any of his lots are to be offered using the VAT margin scheme. This information must be supplied on or prior to the delivery of the goods. The Vendor and purchaser acknowledge that all copyright, trademarks and other intellectual property rights in and relating to SG's publications, or other artistic or pictorial representations of the subject matter of this agreement are owned by SG. No part of such publication, artistic or pictorial representation shall be reproduced without the prior written consent of SG.
3. Bidding
3.1 Subject to these Conditions, the highest bidder for each lot shall he the purchaser thereof.
3.2 Each lot is put up subject to any reserve price imposed by the vendor. Written instructions as to reserves (if any) must be received by SG at the latest on the day before the date of sale.
3.3 In the event of any reserve price not being reached SG is empowered to sell by private treaty after the auction any lot at not less than the reserve price as long as the goods remain on SG's premises. In the event of such a sale these Conditions will apply.
3.4 Every bidder shall be deemed to act as principal unless there is in force a written acknowledgement by SG that he/she acts as an agent on behalf of a named principal.
3.5 The bidding and advances shall be regulated by and are at the absolute discretion of SG who shall have full discretion to refuse any bid, to divide any lot, to combine and offer lots as one lot and to withdraw any lot or lots from the sale without in any case giving any reasons. SG reserves the right to bid on behalf of purchasers, but shall not be liable for errors or omissions in executing instructions to bid.
3.6 "Buy" bids without upper limit are accepted at the sole discretion of SG.
3.7 If any dispute arises as to the highest bidder, SG shall have absolute discretion to determine the dispute and may, without any obligation to do so, put up again and re-sell the lot in respect of which the dispute arises.
3.8 SG acts as agent of the vendor save only in respect of collection of the Buyer's Premium, where applicable, which SG shall be entitled to retain irrespective of and in addition to such remuneration as it may receive from the vendor, and where SG is stated to act as principal in any individual sale.
3.9 In the event that the purchaser makes a successful bid for a lot on which Buyer's Premium is chargeable then in addition to the hammer price the purchaser shall also pay the Buyer's Premium on the following basis:
3.9.1 For taxable lots which are prefixed with letters "T" or "F" in the sale catalogue the Buyer's Premium is subject to the addition of VAT at the prevailing rate. For non-taxable lots, which are sold using the auctioneers' VAT margin scheme the Buyer's Premium shall be inclusive of VAT
4. Payment
4.1 Purchaser
4.1.1 The Price shall be paid by purchaser to SG within in seven working days on acceptance of his/her bid save that purchasers located overseas shall pay within fourteen days of the date of sale or such longer period as shall be agreed in writing between SG and the purchaser (the onus for such prior arrangements lies with the prospective purchaser).
4.1.2 If any purchaser fails to pay the Price within the time stated in clause 4.1-1, such lot may at any rime thereafter at SG's discretion be put up for sale by auction again or sold privately in which event the purchaser undertakes to make good any reduction in the Price to the vendor together with the costs of re-sale, which shall become a debt due from him to the vendor to the extent that any increased price on re-sale does not fully cover the amount of such debt.
4.1.3 Interest at the rate of 2% per month or part thereof shall he payable by the purchaser on any overdue account, but SG shall have discretion to waive payment of such interest by notice in writing.
4.1.4 Purchasers paying for lots by credit card shall be liable to a surcharge equivalent to the percentage charged by the credit card company to SG on the day of payment.
4.1.5 Postage and packing will be charged unless the purchaser indicates, prior to the Auction closing, that he will collect his lots. In the event that the purchaser collects his lots having indicated otherwise on [he bidding from Postage and Packing will not be refunded.
4.2 Vendor
4.2.1 The Vendor shall pay SG the Commission calculated on the hammer price of each lot.
4.2.2 Subject to clause 4.2.3, the net proceeds of sale, less the Commission will become due and payable to the vendor by SG on the latest of the following events:
(i) thirty five days after the final date of the auction sale; or
(ii) seven days after SG's receipt of the Price in accordance with Clause 4-1; or
(iii) where a purchaser has served a notice to reject a lot pursuant to Clause 6.1, seven days after SG's receipt of the certificate referred to in clause 6,2 confirming that the lot is genuine and/or correctly described.
4.2.3 In the event that a purchaser is entitled to reject a lot pursuant to Clause 6.3 then SG's sole liability to the vendor shall he the return of the lot in the same condition as received from the purchaser.
4.2.4 Lots bid on and bought by the vendor will be regarded as sold and vendor shall be liable to pay the Commission and the Price.
4.3 Each lot shall remain the property of the vendor until payment of the Price is received in full by SO, but such lot shall be at the purchaser's risk from the auction closing time,
4.4 Where an agent purchases on behalf of an undisclosed purchaser such agent shall be personally liable for payment of the Price to SG and for safe delivery of the lot to the said client.
4.5 Unsold lots which have not been cleared by the vendor will be sold after the expiration of three months from the date of sale to defray the Storage Charges.
5. SG's Warranties and Liability
5.1 SG warrants the description and genuineness of all lots comprising three or less items as:
5.1.1 genuine, unless otherwise described in the sale catalogue or by SG; and
5.1.2 correctly described, including where applicable the date of any certificate forming part of the description of the lot.
5.2 Except as expressly stated in these Conditions SG excludes all other warranties and conditions with regard to the information, lots and services whether express or implied or statutory (including all implied warranties and conditions of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
5.3 The Vendor and purchaser agree that SG will not be liable to them either jointly or severally, or to any third party for:
5.3.1 loss of items received inadequately packed, mounted or arranged; and
5.3.2 any indirect or consequential loss or damage including loss of profits, revenue or business howsoever caused (whether arising out of any negligence or breach of these Conditions or otherwise) even if that loss or damage was reasonably foreseeable by, or the possibility of it was brought to the attention of SG.
5.4 Save where the purchaser is entitled to reject a lot pursuant to clause 6.3, in which case that shall he the purchaser's sole remedy, the liability of SG under these Conditions (whether arising in negligence or otherwise) will not exceed the greater of 125% of the amount of any relevant successful bid or if no successful hid, the reserve price if any (whichever is applicable to the circumstances) regardless of the cause or form of action.
5.5 Nothing in these Conditions shall limit SG's liability for death or personal injury resulting from SG's negligence. The Vendor and purchaser (respectively) agree to indemnify SG against all liability, claims and expenses that may arise from any breach of these Conditions by either of them.
6. Right to Reject Lots
6.1 Subject to Clause 6.5 and 6.6 the purchaser shall be at liberty to reject any lot comprising three or less items if he/she has paid the Price and if he/she: 6-1.1 gives SG written notice of intention to question the genuineness or as the case may be the accuracy of description of the lot within twenty one days from the date of sale; and
6.1.2 proves that the lot is not genuine or was incorrectly described; and
6.1.3 returns to SG within twenty eight days from the date of sale the lot in the same condition as it was at the time of sale PROVIDED that SG may, at its discretion on receiving a request in writing from the purchaser, extend for a reasonable period the time for return of the lot to enable it to be submitted to expertisation.
6.2 Where a lot has been submitted to expertisarion the costs of such expert assessment shall be paid by the person (which term shall include any company) who returns the certificate and item(s) to which such certificates relates. The onus and cost of proving a lot to be not genuine or incorrectly described is on the purchaser. The inability of any recognised expert or expert committee to express a definite opinion shall serve to discharge the onus on the purchaser and shall be a ground for rejection of the lot concerned.
6.3 Where the purchaser of a lot discharges such onus of proof and complies with the provisions of clause 6.1 SG shall set aside the sale and repay to the purchaser the Price paid by him in respect of the lot.
6.4 Any lots comprising four or more items, or miscellaneous lots containing items which are undescribed shall be taken by the purchaser with all (if any) faults, lack of genuineness and/or errors of description and/or numbers of items in the lot and the purchaser shall have no right to reject any such lot; save that, notwithstanding the foregoing where before a sale a person intending to bid at the sale, gives notice in writing to and satisfies SG that any such lot contains any item or items undescribed in the sale catalogue and that person specifically describes that item or those items in that notice then that item or those items, shall, as between SG and that person be taken to form part of the description of the lot for the purpose of clause 5.1 and clauses 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3.
6.5 No lot shall be rejected if subsequent to the sale, it has been damaged and/or marked or treated by any process whatsoever unless SG's permission to subject the lot to such marking or treatment has first been obtained in writing.
6.6 No lot illustrated in the sale catalogue or on the SG Auction Web Site shall be rejected on the ground of characteristics apparent from its illustration. Whilst care has been taken to-show colour illustrations as accurately as possible, reprographic and printing processes cannot always guarantee true reproduction of colour images. Therefore, no lot illustrated in colour shall be rejected on the grounds that actual colour differs from that of the illustrations.
These Conditions together with any special conditions, notices, descriptions, statements and other matters in the sale catalogue and elsewhere, including the SG Auction Web Site, concerning any lot are subject to any statements modifying or affecting the same made by the auctioneer from the rostrum prior to any bid being accepted for the lot.
7. VAT
SG operate an auctioneers' VAT margin scheme for the auction of lots which are eligible. Lots prefixed by the letters "T" & "F" in the sale catalogue are subject to VAT at the rate then prevailing on the hammer price. If such a lot is exported, outside the EU, and the purchaser produces proof of export in the correct form, the VAT on the hammer price is refundable by SG.
8. General
8.1 SG shall not be liable for any delay or failure to perform its obligations under these Conditions caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control.
8.2 SG reserves the right to vary these Conditions with immediate effect from time to time without notice.
8.3 In the event that these Conditions are held by any competent authority to the invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the remaining terms shall not be affected.
8.4 These Conditions and any sale organised by SG shall be governed by English law and shall be
subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
Ref. SGA/TAC/08.01