Buying

Catalogue

Buying at a Charterhouse auction is a very simple process. You have the following options;

1) Bid online. We run two bidding platforms at auctions – Easy Live Auctions allow you to bid online through their website here, and charge you an extra £3 per antique auction, or 3%, which you choose on registering for the auction. Our other buying platform is the-saleroom.com, you can access our page here. They will charge you an extra 4.95% per auction. Please note these are in addition to our usual buying charge below. Using these online platforms you can either bid live while the auction is taking place, listening to the auctioneer and watching them sell, or you can leave bids online. The advantage of leaving bids online is that we the auction house do not see the bids – we have no idea what you would bid up to, so some bidders can feel more secure using this bidding method.

2) Come along to one of our auctions, view the lots, speak to the helpful and friendly staff, register for the auction with the accounts department, and stay to bid in person. The advantage of this is you will get to see what you are buying! You can look at the lot, make sure you are happy, and speak to the staff. If you decide to come along in person please bring two forms of identification – ideally a driving licence, and a debit card that you can also pay with. We need proof of who you are, and where you live, so bear this in mind when you come and see us. We will take copies of your identification, and keep these securely so that we can demonstrate at a later date that we carried out due diligence in relation to money laundering.

3) Come along to the auction, as above, but don’t stay to bid – tell us how much you want to bid up to, and we will do it for you. The other people at the auction don’t know who is bidding, and you may find it less stressful. Please bring your id, exactly as above.

4) If the lot is of sufficient value, with the lower end of the estimate being more than £100, and we have enough staff available (they may already be doing other phone bids) you can choose to have a telephone bid. We do ask for a covering bid in this situation. With a telephone bid, you can hear some of what is happening in the saleroom, speak to your member of staff, and be sure that you do not miss your lot.

So, what do we charge? If you bid at one of our auctions, full charges are in our terms and conditions. But, to summarise, we will charge you the hammer price of the lot – this is the number the auctioneer calls out before putting down his hammer or gavel. On top of this, we charge you buyer’s premium. This is 25% of the hammer price, which is worth bearing in mind before you bid. On top of that, we have to charge 20% VAT, but this is only on the premium, not the hammer price, so the premium and the VAT together are an extra 30% on top of the hammer price in total. (If you are a VAT registered dealer you will know that you can choose to pay VAT on the total price and that this is the only way the government says you can claim the VAT back.)

After the sale is over, you will be free to take your lots once you have paid in full. Staff will be available to help you where necessary, we can usually help you load items into vehicles. We also offer an in-house postal service. We charge £15 for packing, plus the cost of postage and insurance, all plus VAT, and we do ask you to confirm you are happy for parcels to be sent at your own risk. We are happy to post the majority of items – only excluding alcohol, and fragile items that need a specialist shipper.

We aim to make the whole process of buying transparent and easy. If we can help you in any way do please ask. We have been doing this for a long time, so we understand that what seems clear and obvious to us may not be so to you, and we are happy to help in any way we can. Please be aware that bidding creates a legally binding contract – make sure you are happy about what you are bidding on, and we will do the rest.