Terms and conditions of the auction
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE AUCTION
1. LIABILITY OF THE AUCTION HOUSE
Blindhouse (with the name “Blindarte casa d’aste”) acts as the exclusive agent of the seller, who shall have all the rights and bear all the obligations arising from the sale finalized on his/her behalf.
Therefore, Blindhouse shall not be held responsible towards the purchasers or third parties except for those liabilities arising from its role of agent and shall not be held responsible for the defaults of both the seller and the purchaser, who shall bear all the effects of the sale.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE LOTS IN THE CATALOGUE
All items are sold with their defects and imperfections and, in any case, as they are at the moment of the sale.
The references to the state of preservation of the lots, although they are made in good faith and comply with the proper standards of diligence of an auction house, shall not be deemed as having expert value in absence of a specific professional survey.
The indications given shall not imply the absence of further defects; also the absence of such indications shall not imply that a lot is not showing alterations from its original conditions.
The descriptions included in the catalogue only aims at identifying the lots and are only mere opinions subject to further reviews.
The operation and safety of electrical or mechanical items are not checked before the sale and are purchased by the highest bidder at his/her own risk.
Information about the marking of metals, carats and weight of precious items, resulting from mass measurement, are to be deemed as an indication and approximate, and shall not be construed as statements of guarantee.
3. DISPLAY OF THE LOTS
The auction is preceded by a display aiming at permitting a careful evaluation of the items on sale.
Therefore, before taking part in the auction, all the people who are interested in purchasing a lot undertake to carefully examine the item, if necessary with the advice of an expert or trusted restorer, in order to check all the characteristics before bidding.
No liability shall be ascribed to Blindhouse or its staff, collaborators or directors for the errors and omissions contained in these descriptions, neither in case of counterfeit since no implicit or explicit guarantee is released for the lots on sale.
4. TAKING PART IN THE AUCTION
In order to guarantee the greatest privacy and normal procedure of the auction, all the people who intend to take part in the sale shall – during the days of the display and, in any case, before entering the room – fill in a registration form with their personal data (attaching a copy of their ID card) and mention the bank details selected to make the payment or other suitable financial references, which can be verified.
All the participants will be assigned and delivered a numbered card, to be used for bidding and raising during the auction, and in any case necessary for the validity of possible awards.
By subscribing the above-mentioned form, the participants agree about the terms and conditions of sales mentioned herein and, by bidding, they personally undertake to pay for the award price including the commission for auction rights and any existing taxes or duties.
Blindhouse, at its own discretion, reserves the right to refuse admittance to its premises and to the auction to whoever, as well as to reject bids of unknown purchasers unless they pay for a deposit covering the whole value of the desired lot or give any other proper guarantee.
Blindhouse shall also be entitled to annul the award of a lot in case the personal data are clearly untrue or incomplete or bank guarantees are inadequate. Subsequent to default or delayed payment by a purchaser, Blindhouse shall have the right to refuse any bid from that purchaser or his/her representative during following auctions.
5. WRITTEN AND PHONE BIDS
Potential purchasers, who cannot take part in the auction directly at the room, but already registered during the display period, shall fill in the form inside the catalogue in order to:
a) send written bids to purchase single lots by indicating – for each of them – a maximum amount.
In this case the bidder, who will make raisings through the auctioneer in competition with the public taking part in the auction, shall purchase the desired lot at the most convenient price allowed by other bids.
In case of identical bids, the written bid shall prevail on the one made in the room.
In case of two identical written bids for the same lot, which turn out to be the highest bids, the lot shall be awarded to the bidder who sent the bid form earlier.
In any case, Blindhouse shall not be held responsible for the non performance of a written bid or for errors and omissions relating to that bid.
b) make phone bids.
In this case, when a lot is knocked down, the Blindhouse delegate shall get in touch with the potential purchaser, preregistered as mentioned above, in order to allow him/her to bid by phone. Blindhouse reserves the right to record the phone call and rejects each and any liabilities towards the caller in case of non contact or errors and omissions during the phone call.
6. CONDUCTION OF THE AUCTION
Lots are offered with a reserve price, agreed with the seller, which represents the minimum sale price below which the lot shall not be sold.
For each lot the auctioneer shall start the bids below the reserve price with an offer on behalf of the seller (auction base value).
The auctioneer shall continue to bid both on behalf of the seller until the reserve price is achieved and on behalf of those people who have presented written bids, in reply to the bids of the participants to the auction.
The auctioneer is entitled to reject any raising which is not higher than the previous one by 5% or any other percentage that he/she deems proper.
In case of error or dispute between several highest bidders, the auctioneer is entitled to make his/her final decision to put the item on sale again during the same auction session starting from the latest bid received before the dispute and award it again.
During the auction, the auctioneer is entitled, at his/her own discretion, to change the order of the sale, to combine or separate lots, to withdraw the lots whenever the bids do not achieve the reserve price agreed with the seller.
In case of dispute subsequent to an award and lacking evidence to the contrary, the documents kept by Blindhouse shall be final.
7. EFFECTS OF THE AWARD
Items are awarded to the highest bidder; the auctioneer shall hammer the highest bid and the relevant sales contract between seller and purchaser shall be deemed as finalized.
The purchaser undertakes to pay for the award price, the commission for the auction and the existing applicable taxes and duties to Blindhouse.
The commission for the auction amounts to 23% of the hammered price for each lot up to Euro 110,000.00 and to 18.5% for the portion of price exceeding such amount.
The margin regime will be applied on the commission for the auction of Blindhouse.
Should the principal be a “VAT subject”, the sale of its lot – duly marked as (**) on the catalogue – shall be subject to the tax on the hammered price to be borne by the purchaser.
The payment of the whole amount shall be due by the purchaser immediately after the award.
8. DELIVERY OF THE LOTS
The purchaser shall not be entitled to collect the lot until Blindhouse has received all the amounts due.
When Blindhouse confirms that the amount has been fully cashed, the purchaser shall promptly collect the lot.
The Buyer is entitled to collect the purchased lots personally or to decide to organize the shipment of the lots on his/her own account.
The Auction House does not transport items on Buyers' behalf; nevertheless, upon request, it can make an offer and organize the shipment through primary specialized companies, expert in this field, or it can deal with the packing of the purchased lots and their delivery to couriers.
Packing and shipment fees shall be borne by the Buyer, who assumes all the relevant risks.
The Auction House does not assume any responsibility for any event relating to the transport of the items; the Buyer shall address the forwarding agent directly.
Purchased lots are insured by Blindhouse for 7 days from purchase date, deadline to collect the items. A possible further insurance shall be made only upon specific request by the Buyer.
After this term, Blindhouse shall be exonerated by any responsibility towards the Buyer as concerns the custody, possible wear and tear of the items.
Should an awarded lot not be collected within seven days from the date of the sale, even if it has been duly paid, Blindhouse shall have the right to charge the warehouse and insurance costs to the purchaser for the lots awarded and not collected, based on the value and size of the items, according to the rates available to the public at its premises.
In case of default or delayed payment - in full or in part - of the amount due by the purchaser, Blindhouse shall be entitled at its choice either to request fulfillment or cancellation of the contract, without prejudice to its right for damage compensation, as well as the faculty to have the lot sold on behalf and at the cost of the purchaser, pursuant to art. 1515 of the Italian Civil Code.
The indications about a lot and relating to its attribution to an artist, a school, a country or period, are to be deemed as opinions, since due to the kind and number of sales it is not possible to make investigations for each lot comparable to those of academicians, historians and professionals of each sector, whose opinions can change because of the development of sciences and of historical investigations.
In case of well-grounded disputes, and accepted by Blindhouse, for skilfully falsified items, provided that written notice is sent to Blindhouse within one year from the auction date, Blindhouse shall decide – at its own discretion – to cancel the sale and disclose the name of the seller, giving him/her prior notice, to the purchaser who requests it.
10. MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ARTS
As concerns the works of the 20th and 21st century, the sale is carried out based on the documents and certificates issued by reliable subjects at the moment of the purchase, expressly mentioned on the relevant descriptions in the catalogue. No other certificates, reports or opinions presented after the sale shall deemed as valid reasons for a dispute about the authenticity of such works towards Blindhouse.
11. CULTURAL HERITAGE
Should the item of a lot be the object of cultural interest from the Ministry of the Cultural Heritage and Activities, Blindhouse shall give notice before the auction.
The purchasers shall be bound to comply with all the provisions and regulations in force about the sale of “cultural heritage”, pursuant to the Legislative Decree no. 42/2004, which is subject to the pre-emption right by the Italian Government and other bodies listed therein. In case of award, the seller shall promptly notify the sale to the competent Ministry pursuant to the provision of art. 59 of the mentioned Legislative Decree no. 42/04. The sale shall be suspended and subject to the waiver of the preemption right to purchase the item by the competent Ministry within 60 days from receipt of the notice. The lot shall not be delivered to the purchaser before the expiration of this deadline. Should the preemption right be exercised, the purchaser shall only be entitled to the refund of the price paid in advance, if any, and the item of the lot shall be transferred to the competent authority at the hammered price, increased by the commission for the auction and the VAT, if due.
12. EXPORT LICENSES
The export of the item of a lot by purchasers either living or non living in Italy may be subject to the release of free circulation certificates or licenses, which shall have to be requested by the purchaser, who is obliged to comply with all the relevant provisions of law and regulations in force.
The default or delayed release of a license shall neither cause the cancellation or annulment of the sale, nor it justifies the late payment of the amount due by the purchaser.
Blindhouse shall be held responsible by the purchaser neither about possible restrictions to the export of the hammered lots, nor for licenses or certificates to be obtained by the purchaser of a lot pursuant to the Italian law. In any case, the purchaser shall not be entitled to be refunded by Blindhouse or the seller for the interests accruing on the already paid amounts.
13. PAYMENTS
The following methods of payments are accepted:
a) cash for amounts below Euro 999,00;
b) non-negotiable bank drafts issued in favour of Blindhouse srl, subject to check with the issuing bank;
c) non-negotiable personal cheques issued in favour of Blindhouse srl, subject to agreement with the management;
d) bank transfer to Monte dei Paschi di Siena – Agenzia 1 – Napoli IBAN IT22J0103003401000000573406
e) cash card at our office
14. APPLICABLE LAW AND COMPETENT JURISDICTION
These Terms and Conditions of Sale are tacitly accepted by those people who want to take part in this auction. Should one of the provisions of these Terms and Conditions of Sale be deemed invalid or void by any Court, it shall be deemed as non existing without prejudice to the validity and effect of the remaining provisions.
By bidding to the auction, even in written or by phone, the participant accepts the exclusive competence of the Court of Naples to settle any possible dispute.
13. PRIVACY POLICY
Pursuant to art. 13 of the Legislative Decree no. 196/2003 (Regulation about the protection of personal data), Blindhouse – as responsible for the processing of such data – informs that personal data will be used, in written or electronically, to perform fully and integrally the sales contract finalized with our company in order to:
a) fulfil contractual obligations;
b) manage the relationship between sellers and purchasers;
c) carry out controls and evaluations on the auction procedures and to the related risks;
d) comply with tax, accountant, legal requirements and/or provisions of public bodies.
It is not mandatory to provide data, but it becomes strictly necessary to perform the purchase and sales contracts.
For more details about the mentioned procedures and to exercise the rights provided by art. 7 of the mentioned Decree, please address to the registered office of Blindhouse s.r.l., for the attention of the Sole Director, Via Caio Duilio 4/d – 10 – Napoli.
