Buyers

Buying at auction is an extremely simple, exciting and rewarding process. When you buy through Cuttlestones, there’s always a friendly member of the team on hand to offer help and advice. Simply follow our step-by-step process to buying at auction and you’ll soon be bidding with confidence:

Browse the catalogues

Our catalogues are uploaded onto our website for you to peruse and download. Paper catalogues can of course be purchased directly from our auction rooms.

Lots are arranged by category, i.e. silver, furniture, paintings etc... and each lot has a description. In the case of our Fine Art and Specialist Collectors’ sales, most lots also have photos and condition reports and a guide price to give you an idea of what the auctioneer expects them to sell for. Decide which lots you’re most interested in and mark them to take a closer look at during viewing.

Come to Viewing

Viewing takes place on the day prior to every one of our auctions from 10am – 7pm, and offers the chance to see lots up close. We strongly recommend that, where possible, you attend the viewing and examine lots you are interested in. However, if you are unable to attend viewings the condition report and descriptions in the catalogue should give you a good idea of what you’re buying and you can always call or email us with any questions you have. You can then make an informed decision on the amount you’re willing to spend – bear in mind you’ll be charged a buyer’s premium on top of the hammer price at 16% + VAT.

Register as a bidder

This will mean that you are assigned your own bidding number against which which all lots you purchase will be logged for collection. If registering in person, you will need to bring along a recognised form of ID (driver’s licence or utility bill).

Registration can also be made by telephone or online at www.the-saleroom.com (the latter for our specialist sales only).

Place your bids

Bidding in the room

If you are attending the sale in person, you simply need to find a good spot in the auction room on the day of the sale. As a general rule if you can clearly see the auctioneer, they will be able to see you. When making a bid, clearly raise your hand – and don’t worry about scratching your nose, it won’t be taken as a bid! If you are the successful bidder, the auctioneer will ask for your number – simply raise your card so that they can see it and make a note.

Bidding if you can’t attend

If, for whatever reason, you are unable to attend the auction there are other ways to bid. You can lodge commission bids in advance with the administration team; the auctioneer will have your bid ‘in the book’ and take account of this during bidding – if yours is the highest, you win. You can also take advantage of telephone bidding whereby you have a live telephone conversation with a member of the Cuttlestones team who is in the room when the lots you wish to bid on are being sold; you instruct them when to bid and how much on your behalf. By far the most popular means of remote bidding is our live online bidding option via the-saleroom.com. You register online and bid live, with the option to watch a streamed live video of the sale as it happens. Over the years, we’ve built a strong following of online bidders and regularly sell to an international audience.

Collect & Pay

Once the sale is over you can collect and pay for your lots. You can do this on the day of the sale, or collect and pay later. To pay you will need to go to the main desk and give your number; you will then be presented with an invoice listing all the lots you have purchased alongside the hammer price and a total with buyer’s premium added on. You can then pay by cash, or debit card. We also take credit cards in person but not over the phone. A charge of 2½% is made for credit card payment.

Shipping & Delivery

You can pick up your own items or, alternatively, delivery can be arranged via Mailboxes of Wolverhampton.  Please see our specialist shipping and packing page for more information.