selling guide
Any lot offered for sale at Beccles Auctions, whether it be a piece of jewellery, a Chinese vase or an item of military, is presented to a global audience via our online bidding platform, Easy Live Auction. This gives prospective purchasers the ability to bid with a click of a mouse from anywhere in the world as if they were in the room.
Our opening hours are Monday-Friday between 9.00am-4.00pm plus every Saturday morning between 9.00am-12noon.
If you would specifically like to see a Valuer to potentially sell your items we recommend you make an appointment with us first, otherwise, we can book in your items for auction, but only if they are saleable.
If you are unable to come in to see us, you can e-mail through your images or even send them via WhatsApp. Please see our Contact Us page to find out our contact details and where to find us.
Yes, we will ask you to complete a Vendor Submission Form with your contact details i.e. address, phone number and e-mail address, we will then give you a copy of this form which will list your items for auction.
We will also ask you to complete a bank transfer form so we can make a bank transfer after the auction. Please note that we only pay out via bank transfers, we are unable to pay out Vendors by cheque or cash.
Our Vendor’s commission is 17% plus VAT (20.4% inclusive of VAT) and will be charged on every Lot. In addition, each Lot will be subject to a lotting fee of £2.50 plus VAT (£3 inclusive of VAT) which is payable whether the items sell or not. The lotting fee includes the cataloguing of your item, any research that may be carried out, photographing and uploading to Easy Live Auction.
When booking in your items, the auction date will be written on the top right-hand side of the Vendor Submission Form.
You will receive a Pre-Sale Advice once the auction is online, this will show the auction end date. The Pre-Sale Advice will be e-mailed to you (if you have provided an e-mail address) or it will be sent in the post.
This will list all of your items in that particular sale e.g. the lot number, description, reserve (if you have already placed one) and the estimate.
You can place a reserve by either letting us know when you bring your items in, or you can send an e-mail or phone once you have received your Pre-Sale Advice. The reserve that you place will be for one auction only. To find out our contact details please see our Contact Us page.
It is your responsibility to ensure that we have received your reserves. If you have sent your reserves by e-mail and we haven’t responded, please call us. All reserves received will be confirmed by e-mail or we will post another copy of your Pre-Sale Advice showing your reserves.
Reserves can only be placed at the lower end of the estimate or below. All reserves are fixed.
Vendors will receive proceeds of sale approximately 10 working days after the auction end date, however, we do reserve the right to hold payment until we have received a settlement from the purchaser.
A few days after the auction has ended, you will receive a Post-Sale Advice which will list all of your sold/unsold items along with the total hammer price for that particular auction. Lotting fees, commission and VAT will be deducted from the amount shown.
When the payments are processed, you will then receive a Statement with all the deductions shown.
The Post-Sale Advice and Statement will be e-mailed to you (if you have provided an e-mail address) or it will be sent in the post.
If you haven’t contacted us already after the auction, we will contact you with regard to re-entering your unsold Lots. If you do not wish to re-enter your items please let us know and we will put them to one side ready for you to collect. On some occasions we will not be able to re-enter your items, if this is the case, you can either collect them, we will donate them to charity on your behalf or we will dispose of them.
If a Lot with no reserve hasn’t sold in the first auction it is entered into, the auctioneer’s discretion will be applied to the reduction of the estimate. If a Lot with a reserve hasn’t sold, we will reduce the reserve price by 20% for each sale thereafter until the item has sold. In addition, a Lot fee will be paid on each Lot for each time it is re-entered for auction.
If you do have any other questions about auctions, please contact us and we will be happy to guide you through the auction process.
Please see our Terms and Conditions for further information.