Packing charges and insurance
The packing charge
Some sales charge for packing and handling: the box, the filler and the time it takes to pack your lots safely. It is a set amount per box, and the lot page says what it is beside the buyer's premium and the tax, before you bid. If a lot page doesn't mention packing, that sale doesn't charge for it.
When your postage is priced, the packing charge is added as its own line on your invoice: one charge for each box your lots travel in, not one per lot. Lots that share a box share one charge. If your lots end up in more boxes than we planned after you've been billed, the extra box is on us.
The shipping estimate on a lot page is postage only, so the packing charge is on top of it.
Packing is taxed only on a sale that taxes postage, and then at the same rate.
Insuring your parcels
When the auction house offers it, you can insure your parcels against loss or damage in transit. The option appears on your invoice's payment page after your postage has been priced, because that's when we know which box each lot is in.
- What it covers: what you paid for the lots in that parcel, the hammer price plus the buyer's premium.
- What it costs: shown per parcel before you choose, for example "covered to $460.00, $6.90". It's one line per parcel on your invoice.
- It isn't taxed, and it's optional.
- Changing your mind: you can remove it on the same page until you've made any payment and until we've bought the label.
- Very valuable parcels: a parcel worth more than our insurer's limit can't be insured online. The page says so; contact us to arrange cover.
The cover is bought with the shipping label from our carrier's insurer. A few kinds of goods are excluded by the insurer. If a parcel of yours can't be covered when we buy the label, it ships without insurance. We take that parcel's insurance charge off your invoice and, if you've already paid it, refund it: a card or PayPal payment goes straight back to where it came from, and we arrange anything you paid another way. The email telling you the parcel has shipped says it isn't insured, and so does your invoice.
If an insured parcel arrives damaged, or doesn't arrive
- Keep the box and all the packing, exactly as they arrived.
- Take photos of the outside of the box on every side (label showing), the packing inside, and the damage.
- Tell us within 5 days of delivery, with your invoice and lot numbers.
We make the claim with the insurer for you. Antiques and art carry a 25% excess under the insurer's terms. The sale's own terms, which you accept when you register, are what govern.