Poulin's Conditions of Sale
Estate Auctions - Buyer Terms & Conditions - Please Read
1. We have attempted to make a consistent effort in cataloging and correctly describing the property to be sold. Should the need arise we will make verbal corrections and provide additional information at the time of sale. This however is not to be interpreted as any form of warranty or guarantee, as to age, condition or authenticity. All statements on such matter, are to be considered opinions only and are not representatives of fact. Note: It is the sole responsibility of the purchaser to satisfy themselves on the age, authenticity, condition, description and value of each lot before bidding. This includes all absentee & phone bidders. 2. We at Poulin's Antiques & Auctions, Inc. would like to make your bidding experience as pleasant as possible. Whether you are bidding live, online, absentee or by phone. We ask that before you bid in any manner that you satisfy all your questions, so that you may feel confident in placing your bids with us. All the items we offer have been pre-owned, loved, handled & used. Keeping this in mind, we suggest you call us with your inquiries. Please call prior (at least 48 hours) to the auction to get any questions and/or damage reports available on the items that you are interested in. 3. The auctioneer is the sole determinant as to who is the successful bidder and at his discretion may re-offer and resell the article if a dispute arises. Auctioneer's sale recording shall be conclusive as to who were the purchaser and the purchase price. If there is no apparent interest in an item (an appreciable opening bid) the item will be passed from the block by the Auctioneer and will not be re-offered again until possibly a later date. 4. A 5% sales tax must be charged to anyone from Maine who cannot present a valid ANNUAL RESALE CERTIFICATE at time of registration. NO EXCEPTIONS. If you are from out of state we still require a copy of your sales tax accompanied with an affidavit (proof of your business, such as business check or card, etc.). Under Maine state law, items shipped within Maine will have tax applied. Items shipped out of state will not be charged tax. 5. A Buyers Premium of 13% will be applied to all property sold to be paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price and is therefore subject to applicable state sales tax. A 3% discount will be given to those paying by Cash, Bank check or pre-approved check. 5a. ARTFACT bidders. Artfact.com is a bidding service that is provided by a separate company that hosts our auctions live. They charge 3% to the buyer who utilizes their services. There is a tutorial on their website to show you how to use their services.
6. Auction staff may bid competitively on items offered. Occasionally an item may carry a conservative reserve. Therefore the auctioneer retains the right to bid on behalf of the owner. We will tell you if an item carries a reserve should you inquire. Auction staff has the right to bid on items at auction for their own purposes. 7. Names of consignors are considered confidential and will not be given out unless we have prior approval from the consignor to do so or if auctioneer deems necessary. 8. Payment: All items are to be paid for in American Funds the day of the sale. Checks are to be pre-approved by auctioneer prior to the auction (at least 2 business days before auction). The auctioneer reserves the right to hold merchandise purchased by checks that have not been pre-approved, until we can see that the check has cleared the bank. All items must be paid for in full before being removed from our facility. We accept cash, pre-approved checks, Visa, MC, American Express, Discover & wire transfers. Must have valid drivers license when paying by charge cards & checks. Third party checks are not accepted. If you are registering or executing a bid for someone else, please bear in mind that you are responsible for the settlement of that account with us regardless of whether the person you're executing or registering for pays you or not. If you reside in a foreign country then payment for purchases must be in the form of a wire transfer. 9. A title passes upon the fall of the Auctioneer's hammer. It will then be the responsibility of the buyer to make full payment prior to removing the items from the premises. It is both the buyer's risk and expense for removal and must be made at the conclusion of the sale unless other arrangements are made with Poulins Antiques & Auctions, Inc. Please note any lots we might make arrangements for moving or storing are solely at the risk of the owner and any damage or loss occurring after the fall of the hammer becomes that of the buyer. If an article(s) cannot be removed on sale date, storage may be arranged for an agreed amount of time. A fee of $20 a month per item will be charged for any item(s) being left in our facility longer than 60 days from auction date. ANY ITEMS left will be at owners risk. Once the item is sold it will be tagged with the buyers bid number and can be claimed upon presentation of paid receipts only. All items to be packaged by the purchaser, unless the items are to be shipped. IF CONTACT CANNOT BE MADE WITH THE BUYER TO MAKE ARRANGMENTS FOR PAYMENT AND SHIPPING WITHIN 15 BUSINESS DAYS AFTER THE AUCTION THE AUCTIONEER RESERVES THE RIGHT TO OFFER THE ITEM TO THE UNDERBIDDER .
10. We reserve the right to withdraw any property before the sale and shall have no liability for such withdrawal.
11. Absentee bids are accepted at Poulin's. We accept Absentee & Phone bids with the condition that bids are written clearly and that a lot number & brief description of each lot is written out. (I.E.: Lot 101 - Wedgwood teapot - $350.00.). At times people tend to write just the lot number & amount. We try to check the information before placing your bids, so it is necessary that you write a brief description on the lots you are interested in bidding on. (See example). Poulin's Antiques & Auctions, Inc. shall not be held responsible for any failure to properly execute an absentee or phone bid whether it be due to equipment failure, lack of description on bid form, loss of connection or failure to hear or understand the bidder's directions, etc.. Absentee & Phone bidders must review their bids for correctness prior to submitting their bid(s). The auctioneer cannot be responsible for errors in absentee bids. Any advice or opinions provided by Poulin's Antiques & Auctions, Inc. or its employees are given strictly as a courtesy and are not a warrant of condition, authenticity, age, attribution or description of said property. All absentee and phone bids must be accompanied by a credit card for 20% deposit on bids placed. NOTE: If for some reason the invoice is not paid within 19 business days of the auction date the credit card will be charged the full purchase amount. Bidding on items shows that you agree with this term & condition of bidding. 11a. Absentee bidding: A staff member will competitively bid for the absentee bidder. We let the audience start the bidding unless there is more than one bid at the book. If there is more than one bid then the bidding will be started above the under bidders. In the case of two bids being the same amount the bidding will start at that amount and the winner shall be the person who left the bid first. Please note: Absentee bids are a service provided to our customers for free. We do our best to execute all bids correctly, however, errors are made at times. In the event of an error of omission or failure to properly execute a bid, the auctioneer shall not be held liable. All left bids are considered confidential, and as such the names of the absentee bidders and the bid amounts will not be given out. Please call prior (at least 48 hours) to the auction to get any info or damage reports pertaining to the items.
12. Phone bidding is allowed, when available, only under pre-arranged conditions determined by and discussed with the auctioneer prior to the auction. All requests for phone bidding must be made before 5:00 PM EST 48 hours prior to auction. The closer to the sale we get the less likely a phone line will be available. All bidding by telephone is solely at the risk of the bidder. We reserve the right to reject bids on items that we feel may be too difficult to explain by phone. To be a Phone Bidder you must be willing to start an item for ½ of the low estimate or $100.00, whichever is the greater.
12a. Phone Bidding Procedure: An appointed staff member will confidentially bid for the Phone bidder. (Note: There are limited phone lines available). Please call in advance (at least 48 hours) of the auction if you need conditions or descriptions of the items. Staff members who are calling to handle your phone bids will not be able to answer questions pertaining to condition or description during the auction. Phone bidding will commence when the live floor bidding starts to slow a bit. It is simply moving to quickly to ask for an amount when bids are flying.
12b. Cover Me Bids: To help insure that you don't miss out on an object, some people like to place a cover me bid at the time they make phone bid arrangements. No system is perfect and sometimes it is impossible, for one reason or another to get through to the client on the telephone. A "Cover Me Bid" is a bid left only with your phone agent. If he/she cannot get through to you on the phone, they will bid up to that amount on your behalf. The only way they execute this bid is if they cannot get through to you.
12c. Stop Point Bids: A staff member will contact you within 3-5 items prior to the item that you are interested in bidding on. We ask that you consider a "Stop Point". This is a designated amount you wish the staff member to bid up to on this item for you. Because of the noise level that occurs during an auction, this creates less confusion on the phones for us and our customers. Once they reach this "Stop Point" amount they will then query you for the next desired amount that the auctioneer is asking for. A simple YES or NO will suffice. 13. Notification Of Success: Only successful bidders are contacted. To expedite the process we ask that you fill out and send in the "Payment & Shipping" Forms along with your bid sheets. If you are paying by Credit Card for your purchase, please make sure you check the appropriate box for this. If you have checked this box, and included your shipping form your items will then go right to shipping and be at the "TOP" of the shipping list. Otherwise successful bidders will be notified in one of the following manners: A. If an email address is provided we will email your invoice along with the shipping and payment
forms for you to fill in.
B. If a fax number is provided we will fax your invoice along with the shipping and payment forms for
you to fill in. C. If no email or fax number provided, then an invoice will be mailed to the address you provided.
14. Interest &?Default: Payment is expected immediately. Any items not paid for within 21 days of the auction, Poulin's Antiques & Auctions, Inc retain the right & will charge the buyers credit card for the total amount due. Interest will be charged on all balances not paid at the rate of 1 1/2% monthly ( 18% APR) effective 21 business days from the date of purchase/auction. Should the buyer not comply with any of the Terms & Conditions of Sale, the damage recoverable from the defaulter shall include any loss arising on the resale of the lot, together with the charges and expenses in respect of both sales as well as any legal or collection fees incurred. Poulin Antiques & Auctions, Inc. shall hold any money deposited in partial payment on account of any liability of the defaulted item.
Note: We pay our consignors within 20 business days of the auction. You must notify us within 18 business days of the last day of the auction if you find some major discrepancy or all possibility in a return is null and void. Delay in payment, means delay in shipment to you. Delay in shipment to you could mean you lose all possibility of a return, so please make a prompt payment. Speediest form of payment is Credit Cards, Bank Checks or wire transfer. Personal or Business checks will hold the shipment up for 10 business days until checks have cleared the bank.
For live bidders it is expected that you have examined the items before you purchased them and that as you pick them up, you will re-examine them one last time. If there is a problem regarding condition, it is expected that you would notify us immediately before leaving the auction facility. Once you leave the facility all possibility of a refund is null & void.
15. Phone Inquiries regarding your success cannot be answered until the third business day after the final auction day. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CALL US IN THE 3 DAYS FOLLOWING THE AUCTION. I apologize, but we have quite a few customers that are here picking up merchandise on these days and all our personnel are handling them so consequently they are not able to answer the phones. 16. Shipping: Please refer to the information pages pertaining to shipping, insurance and payment choices in our printed catalog or online under the shipping tab. We will be pleased to assist you by shipping items which you purchase. Multiple winning bids will be combined to save buyer money. A charge for this service includes labor, packing materials, shipping cost & insurance. All shipping charges are by credit card. (Shipping can take 10 to 14 days depending on shipping department work load & purchase payment type). We reserve the right to not ship an item if we feel an item is too fragile or bulky for us to handle. We will, at buyers request, take items to the UPS store to have packaged, if so buyer is responsible for all shipping expense accrued there. Please call us if you are from out of the country and would like to set up shipping. Note: We will not declare an item as something other than what it is and we will not declare an item to be of lesser value than what was paid for it. We will not break the law in description or value so that an item can get through customs. 17. Any legal disputes arising from this auction shall be settled in the court system in the State of Maine. The Maine Uniform Commercial Code, Title 11, Section 2 - 328 applies to this auction sale. 18. Maine Auctioneer Rules and Regulations are regulated by the Maine Board of Licensing of Auctioneers, 35 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333. 19. Listing subject to omissions and errors.
20. Stephen Poulin Auctioneers License Number 1115. 21. Bidding on article(s) indicates your acceptance of all of the Terms & Conditions to the Buyer. All sales are final and under no circumstances will partial or full refund be made. IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PURCHASER TO SATISFY THEMSELVES AS TO THE CONDITION, AGE, AUTHENTICITY, AND VALUE OF AN ITEM BEFORE BIDDING ON IT.
