Selling At Auction

The Spink Experience

When you ask Spink to sell your property, you are taking advantage of the global reach and international reputation of the company, which was established in 1666. There are many different tools Spink can put to work for you, to ensure peak returns for your property, including our extensive contacts with potential specialist buyers around the world, our attractive catalogues that are created for every sale and mailed to thousands of clients and the promotion of sales on our web site and as iPad and iPod applications. Over the years we have regularly achieved significant auction results including a number of world records.

Consignment

The procedures for selling at Spink are simple. Firstly, contact the Spink specialist in the appropriate field, such as the person who valued your item. For further details on how to arrange a valuation, click here.

You can either bring your property to Spink yourself, arrange with your own shipper to deliver it, or ask for Spink to organise the shipping. We ask for property to arrive at least three months before the sale. You will be given a contract to sign, setting forth terms and fees for services we can provide. All lots offered for sale are subject to the Terms and Conditions for Sellers published on this site.

Every item consigned to Spink is closely examined, researched, described and assigned an estimate in the sale and if appropriate suggested reserve price - at no further cost to you other than pre-agreed commission rate and handling fee.

The reserve price is the minimum price for your item. Your item will not be sold below this price. We reserve the right not to accept reserves on lots with the low estimate or GBP500 or equivalent in other currencies.

Approximately three weeks prior to the sale you will be sent a pre-sale advice with a payment instructions form and a copy of the catalogue (if the sale is subject to a printed catalogue), notifying you of the lot numbers given to your items in the catalogue. The payment instructions and the signed pre-sale advice should be received by us before the sale.

Sold

After the auction, you will receive the results of the sale, listing the prices at which your items sold.

Ordinarily, the payment for all sold lots is made 35 days after the sale date, provided that all lots have been paid for by the buyer and extensions on philatelic items have cleared. With the payment you will also be sent a settlement statement showing the amount due to you after the charges. Auction fees include a vendor's commission on the final selling price plus VAT where applicable, as well as any expenses for shipping property to our sale rooms and a handling fee. You may also incur charges for customs clearance, and testing and authentication by outside experts, if required.

Prior to sale dates prospective buyers in stamp auctions may request extensions on individual lots. These lots will be identified to you on the results of sale advice. The length of time involved in obtaining these certificates is beyond our control; however we will endeavour to ensure that this is kept to the minimum. Payment to you will be held until certificate of authenticity has been obtained.

Storage

Spink is able to arrange long-term storage at competitive prices, should you require it.