The auction team at John Goodwin would be very pleased to offer guidance and advice at all stages of the selling process in the hope that you will find the whole experience to be both enjoyable and rewarding.

Valuations

We are very pleased to offer free pre-sale valuation advice.

• Small items can be brought to the saleroom by appointment and left with us for assessment.
• We will then provide you with a schedule of the items with suggested auction estimates These estimates are usually conservative and, of course, we endeavour to achieve the best prices that we can on your behalf.
• By appointment, one of the auction team can visit your property to value larger items through to complete house clearances.
• In many instances we may be able to offer valuation advice by email.  All you would need to do is provide us with high resolution images and a detailed description including measurements and any background information that you might have on the item.

How can I get an item to John Goodwin sale room?

We can help to arrange collection of your items.

• This is dealt with by an independent haulier and we usually advise clients to offer to pay the haulier direct, alternatively haulage fees can be deducted from sale proceeds.
• If you are able to arrange delivery then please contact us to arrange a mutually convenient time.  If items are delivered prior to sale then we are able to provide limited storage facilities without charge.

What does it to cost to sell an item at auction?

Our vendor auction charges are extremely competitive and, combined with our low buyers premium rates, something often overlooked, and truly worldwide exposure to buyers, we are very confident of achieving the very best net returns for our vendor clients

1. Commission: this is based on the hammer price achieved and is calculated at a rate of 15% plus VAT. The commission charge is also inclusive of insurance and items are insured at the auctioneer’s mid-estimate figure.
2. Lotting Fee: a lotting fee or entry fee is charged for each lot in our various sales.  This fee includes all aspects of pre-sale advertising and marketing, specialist advertising, internet listings together with all sale day activities.
   • For our general collective sales the charge is £2.50 plus VAT.
   • For our fine art and collectables sales, which includes jewellery, silver and plated ware, the charge is £5 plus VAT and this includes colour photography, illustration in an online sale catalogue and live internet bidding.
   • For our specialist toy and transport sales and other specialist sales the fee is calculated at £3.50 plus VAT and includes colour photography, online sale catalogue and live internet bidding.
3. Storage: for items collected by our approved hauliers, storage facilities are provided pending auction sales without charge.  For larger items there is a charge for transportation from the store to the sale room and for transportation of items back to store should they fail to achieve their reserve price.
4. Electrical testing: we are able to accept some electrical items for auction sale.  In order to comply with current legislation these items must be PAT tested (portable appliance testing) to ensure that they are safe.  This is something that we arrange to do immediately prior to the auction sale at a cost of up to £5 plus VAT per item.  Typically, the costs are lower than £5 depending upon the quantity of items to be tested for any particular sale.

How do I check sale results?

We endeavour to contact all vendor clients on sale day or the following day by email. If you do not have an email address notification will be sent by post.

All sale results are posted on the Easy Live Auction and the John Goodwin website and are available immediately following the sale

How soon will I be paid?

We endeavour to send out a detailed statement and make payment directly to your bank account within 21 working days, assuming all payments have been received. Sometimes it is much quicker.

Your money is protected through the RICS client money protection scheme and will be held in a designated and regulated client account

What happens if my items remain unsold?

Our sales are very genuine auction sales with few reserves however we do exercise discretion to ensure that items should achieve a sale price generally in line with our pre sale estimates and expectations. Happily, items often significantly exceed our cautious estimates. In the event that items struggle to achieve their estimates then we would contact you following the sale and there are a number of options:

• The items can be re-offered with a lower reserve in a future auction, typically estimates are reduced by 50% to give them the very best chance of selling second time around. Of course, they may do much better.
• Items can be collected.  We would normally require some notice of collection.
• For low value items, typically those with a low estimate of £20 or less we would usually suggest that there is very little point in re offering them for sale and we would either encourage you to collect or we would donate them to St.Michaels Hospice who collect from us on a regular basis.