An Eastern figural chess set in carved natural and stained bone, in wooden fitted games board box [

General
1. These Terms of Business form the basis upon which we, Preston Traders Limited (Company Number 4570810) trading as Bainbridges, conduct auctions. Any reference to “we”, “our” or “us” shall mean Preston Traders Limited.

2. By entering any lot for sale or bidding at one of our auctions you will be deemed to accept these Terms in their entirety. Any variation must be in writing and agreed with us prior to the commencement of an auction.

3. You (and all buyers, sellers and other members of the public) accept that you enter onto our premises, or any premises from which we are conducting an auction, at your own risk and you must familiarise yourself with the appropriate layout and security or safety arrangements. We shall have no liability for your security or safety whilst on our property, or any other property from which we conduct an auction, other than for death or personal injury arising as a result of our negligence. We may occasionally record CCTV footage at our premises prior, during and after an auction and you consent to our holding and processing any images of you we may acquire.

4. We reserve the right in our absolute discretion to refuse admission to any of our premises or other premises from which we conduct an auction, or to require any person to leave such premises at any time, whether before, during or after an auction.

Description and Condition of Lots

5. We make every reasonable effort to ensure the accuracy of advertisements, catalogue descriptions or other publicity relating to lots but any such statement or representation about the attribution, genuineness, origin, date, age, value or condition of a lot is a statement of opinion only and does not form part of any contractual statement or obligation between you and us. You must rely on your own opinion and discretion and we will have no liability to you in relation to such matters.

6. All lots are available for inspection prior to an auction and are sold with all faults imperfections or errors of description and in their actual state. We accept no responsibility for any errors of description and offer no warranty to you or any buyer in respect of any lot and any express or implied warranties or representations are excluded. You must satisfy yourself as to the condition of any lot and whether it accords with its description prior to an auction. We strongly advise you to examine any lot prior to bidding for it.

7. We act as Agents for the seller of any lot and if you are successful in bidding for a lot the contract of sale is between you and the seller and not with us. We are not responsible to you for any breach of contract or other default by the seller. These terms govern your separate contractual relationship with us.

Conduct of the Sale

8. All lots are sold subject to any announcement, notice, change or alteration of description made by us at the auction prior to the invitation of bids.

9. We have an absolute discretion without giving any reason whatever to refuse any bid, to divide or combine any lot or to withdraw any lot. We shall also have an absolute discretion to put any unsold or disputed lot up for auction again.

10. Any items entered for sale by bailiffs are marked accordingly.. All stated quantities in respect of any lot are approximate only.

11. The highest bidder for a lot shall be the buyer at the hammer price and shall also be liable for any VAT or other tax or levy due on the lot. Any dispute will be settled at our absolute discretion and we expressly reserve the right to bid on behalf of the seller up to the amount of any reserve.

12. For online bidding you must register through our online bidding portal prior to bidding at any auction. By bidding at one of our auctions online you accept that you do so on these Terms.

13. You acknowledge that any bid you attempt to make online is subject to appropriate and operational internet and website facilities and we accept no liability for any failure or delay in placing or executing bids caused by any failure, delay or interruption in the availability of online bidding services or functionality.

Payment

14. You agree to pay to us in full the purchase price for any lot for which you are the successful bidder (being the hammer price plus any VAT or other levy due). You also agree to pay to us in full a premium of 25% of the hammer price (subject to a minimum of £5.00 per Lot or such other sum as may be set out in the catalogue for the auction and/or sale room notices) together with VAT on such premium at the prevailing rate. You acknowledge that we may also receive the seller’s commission due to us.

15. You must also pay to us in full and on demand any expenses that may be due from you to us including our charges for packaging, postage, transport or disposal of a lot, together with any relevant VAT thereon.

16. All payments to us must be made in the currency in which the sale was conducted and must be made without any set-off or deduction whatsoever. All bank charges and exchange rate fluctuations are your responsibility and must not be deducted from the sums due to us.

17. Ownership of a lot shall not pass to you until you have paid to us (and we have received) the total amount due in cleared funds (including the hammer price, buyer’s premium, expenses and any VAT or other tax due).

18. All lots will be at your sole risk from the fall of the hammer and you will be entitled to take away any purchased lot, at your own expense, at the times specified by the auctioneer, but strictly providing you have paid to us, and we have received, the total amount due in cleared funds.

19. In order to bid at an auction we will require you to give to us your full name and permanent address (together with any evidence of such details as we may reasonably request). If you fail to do we reserve the right to refuse any bid you make or to refuse you access to an auction. If you are the successful bidder for a lot you will be obliged to promptly pay to us the total amount due in full cleared funds. If you fail to do so we may, at our discretion, put the lot up for re-sale.

Collection of Lots

20. You are responsible for any loss or damage to purchased lots from the time of sale (i.e. when the hammer falls) and we will not be responsible for any loss or damage of any kind, whether caused by negligence or otherwise while any lot remains in our custody or control.

21. You will be responsible for any removal, storage and insurance charges on any lot and any unnecessary, negligent or wilful damage that may be done by you or your agents in the removal and collection of any lot from us or from any property where such items are stored. You will fully indemnify us for any loss or expense we may suffer or incur in relation to such matters. All items forming part of a lot must be collected by you and not some only.

22. If you do not collect a purchased lot by the deadline stated in the relevant auction catalogue or notified by the auctioneer we will charge you a storage fee of £1.00 per day per lot for non-furniture lots, and £5.00 per day for furniture lots until you collect the lot or it is disposed of.

23. If you fail to pay any sum due to us in full by the due date (time being of the essence) we will be entitled (without further notice to you) to: (i) retain possession of the lot; (ii) take legal proceedings against you for payment of any sums due to us and/or damages for breach of contract; (iii) be paid interest on any monies due to us at the annual rate of 5% per annum above the base lending rate of [Lloyds Bank Plc]; (iv) sell the lot at our discretion by auction or any other means; or (v) refuse to allow you to register for any future auction and/or to reject any further bid from you.

24. You agree to fully indemnify us against all loss, liability or expense we may suffer as a result of any breach by you of your obligations in respect of an auction or under these Terms.

25. If during a period of seven days after the auction, but before we remit the sale proceeds of any lot to the seller, you give us notice that a lot is a forgery or imitation and we, acting reasonably, accept this to be the case, then we are entitled to rescind the sale and to refund to you sums paid by you (limited to any amount paid in respect of the relevant lot) and subject to you returning the lot to us in the same condition as it was at the time of the auction. The benefit of this clause is not assignable and will rest solely and exclusively with you (which for the avoidance of doubt shall mean the person to whom our original invoice was issued in respect of the lot).

Our Liability

26. We will not be liable to you whether in negligence, tort, breach of contract or statutory duty or under the Misrepresentation Act 1967, or in any other way for lack of conformity or inaccuracy, mis-description or omission in relation to any lot made by us on our behalf or on behalf of the seller.

27. Our duty to you while the lot is at your risk and in our custody or control is to exercise reasonable care in relation to it. We will not be responsible for damage or loss caused by third parties or matters outside of our responsibility or control.

28. We will not be liable to you for any loss of business, profits, revenue or income or for loss of reputation or disruption or wasted time or for any other indirect or consequential loss or damage of any kind.

29. Nothing in these Terms will be construed as excluding or restricting our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence.

Miscellaneous

30. We are obliged to offer all electrical goods as scrap, and to remove plugs, to comply with trading standard regulations. Soft furnishings and upholstery that does not comply with current fire regulations may be disposed of at our discretion and any charges we may incur passed to the seller or their agent. Alternatively we may choose to exclude any such items from a lot. We will not be liable for breakages or damage to any glass or marble items. We will recycle all packing and jewel boxes unless specifically asked in writing to retain the same. The buyer’s premium due on the sale of any books is subject to VAT at the same rate as all other lots.

31. You may not assign either the benefit or the burden these Terms or any contract for sale.

32. Any failure or delay on our part in enforcing or exercising any power or right under these Terms will not be deemed to operate as a waiver of our rights nor affect our ability to enforce any obligation or liability.

33. If any Term or any part of any Term is held to be unenforceable or invalid, this will not affect the enforceability or validity of the remaining Terms or the remainder of the relevant Term.

34. These conditions and all matters connected with them will be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and you agree that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle all disputes arising in connection with any aspect or matter relating to these Terms or any transactions to which they relate, except that you agree that we retain the right to bring proceedings in any other court of competent jurisdiction insofar as permitted by the laws of the relevant jurisdiction.

35. All UK art market professionals are required to collect a royalty payment on re-sale of all works of art that have been produced by living artists and recently deceased artists in accordance with certain conditions as set out in the Artists Re-sale Right Regulations 2006 as subsequently amended. This payment is only calculated on qualifying works of art which are sold for a hammer price more than the UK sterling equivalent of €1,000.00. The royalty charge will be invoiced to all relevant buyers and should be paid before items can be collected. The charge must be paid before the items are sold on again. All royalty charges are passed on to the Design & Artists Copyrights Society (DACS). The royalty charge that will be applied to qualifying items which achieve a hammer price of more than the UK sterling equivalent of €1,000.00 but less than the UK sterling equivalent of €50,000.00 is 4%. For qualifying items that sell for more than the UK sterling equivalent of €50,000.00 a sliding scale of royalty charges will apply. Please see www.dacs.org.co.uk for further details.

36 Where we obtain any personal information about you, we shall only use it in accordance with the terms of our Privacy Policy (subject to any additional specific requests or consents you may have given at the time your information was disclosed to us). A copy of our Privacy Policy can be found on our website www.bainbridgesauctions.com or requested from us by post or email