Tigoni

[Tigoni]

Has anyone else been stung by selling an item though Bonhams Auctioneers? I had my mums two Rolex watches valued by them and asked if they sell them in their next jewellery and watches sale. They valued each watch at £300 and put this as a reserve on each watch. The didn't sell in the first sale in January 2012. Then I got a letter informing me they would put them in the next similar auction in March, but with a variety of stipulations at the discretion of the Auctioneer, of which I wasn't too sure which route they were going to follow. I finally got a letter in March informing me that they both did sell, but at £50 each and that they would take £48 in charges and only leave me with £52, which I thought pretty bad, but when I finally got the cheque it was for the princely sum of £8.50 and that Bonhams had taken a whopping £84.25 in charges, £7.25 in vat. I can't believe they went ahead and sold the watches so low and took such an exorbitant amount in charges, I feel totally cheated and if I wanted to give these lovely watches away I would have done so to the family, they were in beautiful condition, quite old, but both working well.

[assisted blonde]

If an item dosnt sell at auction it is quite usual for the auction house to put them in the next auction but without reserve or at the auctioneers discretion, if you would not sell them at less than x amount it was for you to tell them this.

Auction houses do have quite high charges for sellers so I cant see that they have done anything wrong

Was this in a regional saleroom? did you have any illustrations in the catalogue? unsold lots are charged for? if the auctioneer is just using his discretion a lot can be sold for approx 15 -20 % below the reserve price, however they may not have been a reserve at the second auction in which case the auctioner would sell to the highest bidder.

There is a minimum commision charge for each lot sold depending on where, and this varies from 20-60 per lot + VAT + charge for non sale in first auction so they are probably right. Query it with them if you are not happy and ask for a full breakdown if you havent already got one.