Terms and Conditions
GENERAL SALES CONDITIONS
Any participation in the bidding at DVC auction house (Antwerp or Ghent) involves the unconditional acceptance of the following terms and conditions of sale:
1. The public auction takes place by 'live raised bid', bid by telephone or written bid, against cash payment (maximum 3000 euro), bank cheque with a guarantee of the bank, wire transfer or debet card. All costs charged by the bank related to bank cheque or wire transfer are the responsibility of the buyer. If payment method selected would be a cheque without bank guarantee, the purchased goods will only be released by DVC when the cheque is cashed. The hammer price will be raised by 26 % to cover costs (when using "live-bidding", the price will be raised with another 4 or 5 % depending on the system one uses) and with an administration cost of 3,00 euro per lot.
Live-bidders or online-bidders are bidders who follow the auction 'live' at home from behind their computer and they bid by computer. They need to be fully registered on the Friday before the auction on Saturday, or latest on Sunday at noon before the auction on Sunday or latest on Monday at noon before the auction of Monday evening.
Written bids and telephone bids need to reach DVC the Friday before the auction of Saturday or Sunday, and on Monday at noon for the auction of Monday evening. The potential bidder must give all his contacts details (name, address, telephone and mobile telephone numbers) to DVC auction house, this latter being entitled to ask to the Buyer his bank details, recent invoices and personal references. DVC is not responsible or liable for mistakes made by the Buyer in the telephone number or for a false indication of the number of the lot, for problems during the telephone communication (busy line, transmission problems, bad mobile telephone network, and interruptions), communication problems with "Live-bidding", etc. The possibility to provide a written bid as well as a bid by phone and or 'live-bidding' is a service that DVC nv provides without any liability on itself.
All costs as a result from payments executed by the customer other than banktransfers are for the buyer.
2. According to the law of 30 June 1994 on authors' rights, the Buyer shall pay in addition to the hammer price an Artist Resale Right (droit de suite). This is only due for art by contemporary artists, I.o.W. masters who are still alive or who have deceased for less than 70 years. The Resale right is 4% calculated on hammer prices from 2000 € till 50.000 €. The Resale Right is 3% calculated on hammer prices from 50.000,01€ till 200.000€.
3. The buyers are considered having sufficiently examined and looked upon the goods before the sale. Consequently, bidders/buyers themselves have to check the nature of the lots and their material condition during the exhibition before the auction. The goods are sold in the condition in which they are found, regardless the description in the catalogue and foremost regardless what the auctioneer says during the auction. DVC does not need to be liable after sale for a lot's description which has been orally altered during the auction. Any difference in nature, quantity and/or denomination established after the sale does not bring along the nullity of that purchase. The buyer is free to verify or audit the goods themselves or to appoint an expert during the exposition days to verify and audit one or two lots. Though we do our best to give as good information as possible during the exhibition, any condition reports given by the staff of DVC are without guarantee. When we are talking about plastic works (i.e. paintings, sculptures, aquarelles, graphics), DVC gives the buyer 8 days to get these works approved. If written confirmation can be provided that the art works do not comply with the authenticity named by the auctioneer during the auction (I.e. date or signature of artist), then DVC will pay back the art work if it is returned in the same conditions as before the sale. The refund however will only be for the hammer price augmented with valid sales conditions. This doesn't apply to the "Everything-must-go" items (auction)!
4. Once allotted, the goods are charged to the buyer; nor the bailiff, nor the public notary, nor the auctioneer are responsible for possible accidents or damages.
5. Purchased goods will only be delivered when paid, which is possible immediately after the auction sale (on Saturday/Sunday this is around 6pm; on Monday around 11pm) or on Tuesday from 2pm till 5pm or on Wednesday from 10am till 8pm after the auction.
6. When the buyer does not collect the acquired goods at the times mentioned above, once this time limit has passed (and the purchased goods are not collected on time without prior agreement with DVC), DVC auction house reserves the right, without prior formal notification, either to put lots which have been paid for but not removed, back on sale, or to have them transferred to a storehouse at the purchaser's expense (3 euro per lot per day) and risk.
7. In case of non-payment the principle of "smart money" will be applied, I.o.W. the goods that are not paid, will pass again in auction and the initial buyer will pay the minus difference, but he cannot claim an eventual plus difference. The costs from this will be charged to the negligent buyer.
8. Every buyer is considered to bid/to act for his own account and is personally responsible for the bids and/or purchases he does for a third party.
9. The Auctioneer is entitled to withdraw lots, as well as to refuse bids from defined persons without having to give any justification for these deeds. The acting bailiff and the auctioneer are allowed to modify the sequence of the sales and also bring modifications to the manner of selling, assemble, separate or drop lots.
10. In case of dispute during the auction, only the acting bailiff is qualified to judge; no appeal is tolerated against this decision.
11. ATTENTION: whenever lots are joined during the auction, these lots will be sold by lot multiplied by the number of lots, which are on sale. (which means hammer price multiplied by the number of lots joined)
12. DVC can deliver goods at home when the agreed transport cost is paid. It is also possible to request goods to be sent by postal package or through a transport company (see list for contact details of several companies) when the agreed administrative and shipping costs are paid. In both cases this will happen on expenses and risk of the buyer; DVC is not liable for potential damage to the goods that occurred during transport/shipment.
13. Bidding will happen as follows:
till 300 euro with 20 euro
From 300,01 euro till 700 euro with 50 euro
From 700,01 euro till 2.000 euro with 100 euro
From 2.000,01 euro till 5.000 euro with 200 euro
From 5.000,01 euro till 7.000 euro with 500 euro
From 7.000,01 euro till 20.000 euro with 1.000 euro
14. After that, with around 10%.
15. DVC can help you with the shipping of your purchases.
Here is a list of firms, specialised in transport in- and outside Europe :
- ActiMovers, www.actimovers.be , tel.: +32 2 420 50 50 en/of +32 477 92 19 25, email: info@actimovers.be
- Magnus Movers, www.magnusmovers.be , tel.: +32 478 78 60 80 en/of +32 471 06 57 82 , email: info@magnusmovers.be
- Embelco, www.embelco.be , tel +32 2 725 09 69 , email: embelco@embelco.be
- ART on the MOVE, www.art-onthemove.be, tel.: +32 2 333 24 11, email: art@art-onthemove.be
- Edet International (Paris), www.edetinternational.com, tel.: +33 1 48 59 11 73, email: info@edetinternational.com
- CrossTainer nv, www.crosstainer.com, tel.: +32 3 325 18 74 email: forwarding@gosselingroup.eu
- The British Shop, www.thebritishshop.co.uk, tel.: +44 1895 444 877, email: sales@thebritishshop.co.uk
- Eagle NV, www.eaglezeebrugge.com, tel.: +3250558855, email:warehouse@eaglezeebrugge.com
16. Concerning CITES-certificates:
As regards ivory and all species included in the international VN-treaty dated from 1975, the buyer needs to adhere that by transporting and/or selling of each item to or in a non EU-country, an official CITES-certificate is mandatory. This document can be requested by the buyer themselves at the relevant authorities (FOD - Public Health department). DVC can also request this document on demand of the buyer, however in this case 50 EURO of administration costs will be charged to the buyer/requester, inclusive the 30 EURO which are due to these relevant authorities. The Auction House cannot be held responsible in case of a negative CITES-finding by the relevant authorities here above. Transport and/or sale of items, included in the international VN-treaty, are, when all legal requirements fulfilled free within EU. For US the rule is that only those items that are marked as antique, by a certified expert, may roam free within the country.
17. In the event of a dispute, the Antwerp or the Ghent courts will have sole jurisdiction (depending on where the auction took place), regardless the residence of the parties. In case an appeal is done on these translations of sales conditions the Dutch language version prevales.
