| HOW POSTAL AUCTIONS WORK...
We are all used to seeing prices in the high street, and may be forgiven for thinking that the price on the ticket is the price you must pay. But auctions, including postal auctions, work rather differently...
Postal auctions attempt to emulate "real" or "saleroom" auctions. The price you see against each item is not in fact a price, it is the auctioneer's best estimate (normally a fairly conservative one) of that item's worth.
When you place a bid for an item, you are saying "that's the most I'll pay for that item". But if your bid is the winning bid, that isn't the price you'll pay. Just like a saleroom auction, you will only pay an increment over what the next highest person bid.
Let's say an item is estimated at £50, but you think it's worth a lot more than that (to you at least). You place a postal bid of £100. Four other bids are received on the item, at £30 (automatically discounted because it is less than 10% below the estimate), £50, £60 and £62. You've won the item! But how much do you pay?
Well, if it was a saleroom, with an auctioneer calling out to the room, the bids would have gone up a bit at a time - £30, £40, £50, £55, £58, £60, £62 ... Finally, you bid £64. The room goes quiet - the auctioneer sweeps his eyes round the room one last time, raises his gavel, going ... going ... gone. Sold to the gentlemen at the back for £64.
It's just the same in a postal auction - except this little scenario is re-enacted in the auctioneer's mind. The point is, you win the lot for £64.
The general rule is this: the winning bid shall be a standard increment above the next highest bid.
There are a few exceptions to the rule - for instance if you are the only bidder, the price will be the estimated value.
You should now read the full Conditions Of Sale as set out below.
| CONDITIONS OF SALE
Healey and Wise, the auctioneers, exercise all reasonable care to ensure that all statements as to cancellation, conditions, date of issue or of postal marking, gum quality, watermark, etc., in lot descriptions are reliable and accurate and that each item is genuine unless otherwise stated. However the statements are not intended to be statements of fact. They are statements of the opinion of the auctioneers.
|
| 1. | (a) | Each lot is offered subject to any reserved price imposed by the vendor. |
| | (b) | Subject to this reserve the highest bidder for each lot shall be the purchaser thereof. |
| 2. | | The bidding and advances shall be regulated by and at the absolute discretion of Healey and Wise, and they shall have the right to refuse and bid or bids. |
| 3. | | Healey and Wise reserve the right to bid on behalf of clients and vendors, but shall not be liable for errors or omissions in executing instructions to bid. |
| 4. | (a) | Each lot shall remain the property of the vendor until payed for in full, but shall be at the purchaser’s risk from the time of sale. Each lot shall be paid for in full before delivery by a purchaser in the United Kingdom within 7 days from receipt of invoice and by a purchaser overseas within 14 days from receipt of invoice, or such longer time as shall be agreed in writing between Healey and Wise and the purchaser. |
| | (b) | If any purchaser fails to pay within the time stated, such lot may at any time thereafter at Healey and Wise’s discretion be put up for sale by auction again or sold privately. The purchaser shall make good any difference in price, reduction in premium and costs of re-sale which shall become a debt due for him to the extent that any increased price on re-sale does not fully cover the amount of such a debt. |
| | (c) | Interest at 2% per month shall be payable on any overdue account, but Healey and Wise shall have discretion to waive payment of the interest. |
| 5. | (a) | Each lot is sold as (i) genuine unless otherwise described in the sale catalogue or by the auctioneer, and (ii) correctly described. |
| | (b) | A purchaser shall be at liberty to reject any lot if he (i) gives Healey and Wise written notice of intention to question the genuiness or, as the case may be accuracy of the description of the lot within seven days (or, in the case of an overseas purchaser, thirty days) from the date of the sale, and (ii) proves that the lot is not genuine or was incorrectly described, and (iii) retums to the auctioneer within 30 days from the date of sale the lot in the same condition as it was at the time of sale, provided that Healey and Wise at its absolute discretion, on receiving a request in writing from the purchaser, extend for a reasonable period of time for retum of the lot to enable it to be submitted to expertisation. N.H. The onus of proving a lot to be not genuine or incorrectly described is on the purchaser. |
| | (c) | Where the purchaser of a lot discharges the onus and acts in accordance with sub-clause (b) of this clause, Healey and Wise shall rescind the sale and repay to the purchaser money paid by him in respect of the lot. |
| | (d) | No lot shall be rejected if, subsequent to sale, it has been immersed in water, marked by an expert or expert committee or treated by any other process unless Healey and Wise’s permission to subject the lot to such immersion, making or treatment has first been obtained in writing. |
| 6. | | By making a bid the Purchaser acknowledges and accepts these Terms, Conditions and Notices and any special items stated by Healey and Wise to apply to any lot. |
|