Conditions of Sale
Duane Merrill and Company offers a variety of methods to make it easier for you have a chance to purchase that special item at our auction. All of our items are sold live at public auction, and you are free to come join for bidding us at our gallery in Williston on the day of the sale. No matter what your interests are, our staff are here to assist you with accurate descriptions, information, help contacting shippers, e-mailing photos, payments, or simply reserving you a chair for sale day. Previewing a sale in person is recommended as all items are sold AS IS, WHERE IS. Any condition report written or verbal is a statement of our opinion and makes no warranty of age, quality, merchantability or authorship. Please preview before hand and if you are not completely satisfied as to an items authenticity or origins please do not bid on that lot. Previewing will give you the opportunity to examine the lots prior to sale and to determine your level of interest in the items offered. Open previews are always the day of the sale immediately prior to commencement, or as advertised. If you cannot attend at these times, private previews are welcome by appointment. Our knowledgeable staff can also provide descriptions and images via phone or e-mail. In person: Come to our auction gallery at 137 J. Brown Drive in Williston, Vermont or at an on-site sale location. Register upon entry at the counter with our bookkeepers the day of the sale to get your bidding number paddle, and enjoy a classic live auction experience. New bidders should bring their photo ID, and new dealers should be equipped with their tax numbers. Absentee/Left Bids: If you cannot attend our sale in person, you are free to leave an absentee bid in any amount. Please contact us to make arrangements or come and preview prior to the sale and fill out the absentee bidder cards provided in our gallery. Leave the maximum you are willing to pay, with consideration for the buyer's premium in the sum. The auctioneer will execute your bid against the audience in a competitive manner as though you were bidding on the lot in person. We do NOT start your bid at the top amount. If no bid is offered from the audience, the auctioneer will generally start your absentee bid at 50% of the stated amount. In the event that we receive two identical bids, the first bid received will take precedence over the second left bid. Phone Bids: As a convenience to our buyers, we offer limited phone lines for bidding, at our discretion, on a first come-first served basis. Due to staff constraints, it is our policy to start phone bids at $200. If you wish to bid on an item for less than that amount, please leave an absentee bid. We encourage phone bidders to leave a backup bid in the event that our staff cannot reach you, especially in the case of international bidders. While we make every reasonable effort to execute phone bids, we are not responsible in the event of a missed bid, lost or dropped calls, wrong numbers, or busy signals. We require a credit card for security purposes to secure a phone line. Internet bidding: During our catalog sales we offer real time bidding via your computer. Allowing you to view the images, descriptions, and bid from your home or phone whether you are across town or overseas. Register and leave a bid prior to the sale, or bid in real time. Visit our current auction page to link to a catalog. Pre-registration through those systems is required, and authorization to bid may be required by one of our staff. While we strive to be accurate with our online reporting our book keepers in house record will serve as the final record of the sale in the event of a dispute. Picking up your purchase/ Shipping: Unless otherwise noted all lots will be available to pick up at our gallery in Williston VT. For local bidders we ask that you pay for and remove your items within one week of the auction. For Absentee and online buyers we ask that you make arrangements to remove your lots within one week of the auction. We can make reasonable arrangements with third party shippers to have items delivered outside of our area. Duane Merrill and Co do not ship, nor can they offer shipping quotes or insurance. Any lots left longer than 14 days without prior arrangements may be subject to a storage or insurance charge. Buyers Premium A buyers premium of 15% for in house sales or 23% for online sales regardless of payment method will be applied to all purchases. By bidding in our auction you are agreeing to abide by all terms set forth herein. If you have any questions about these terms, please contact our staff. We prefer wire transfer for any purchases over $6000 total, if you wish to use a credit card for purchases of this amount or higher we reserve the right to charge 2% reflecting our banking fees. We likewise reserve the right to charge cards left on file if payment is not made in a timely manner.
Condition
All Items we sell are considered antique and are sold AS IS WHERE IS.
These items are not free from the effects of age, wear, use, environment etc. Our staff makes all reasonable effort to describe lots accurately, but as opinions will differ even among experts all statements written or verbal are considered our opinion and are not to be taken as definitive or as statements of fact. We encourage all bidders to review photos and descriptions carefully prior to determining their level of interest and bidding.
Flat Art: Assume unless otherwise stated that paintings are presented in frames. We do our best to present paintings in the manner which they appear, however due to the vagueries of photography occasionally paintings may appear more vivid, or colors will appear differently when viewed in person than when viewed online. We likewise will do our best to handle all items carefully but cannot be held accountable for losses or damage to frames. Any noted size in our catalog description refers only to Canvas or Image size of a work and will be presented as H x W. Assume that your painting may be up to 7 inches larger per side when figuring for shipping. If you have other questions feel free to contact our staff.
Firearms
All post 1898 Firearms are to be sold in accordance with federal law. We cannot sell any firearms to buyers outside of the United States. We are not responsible for compliance with gun laws within your state. Please check your local laws before bidding on firearms with us. If you wish to pick up firearms from our gallery we will conduct a NCIS FBI background check. We will only ship to a licensed Federal Firearms Licence holder at the buyer's expense. Our gallery assumes no liabilty for failure of background check or failure of transfer for out of states buyers. If you have any questions about these policies please contact us before bidding.
Payment
PAYMENT: Paypal, Major Credit Card, Cash, approved check or wire transfer ( with $30.00 service fee) . At our discretion we may ask new bidders to use wire transfer for purchases of over $1,000. All purchases must be paid for within one week of the sale. All purchases must be paid for in full before the removal of any item from the sales room. We allow no charge accounts. Canadian funds will be accepted at our banks current exchange rate. Bad checks will be prosecuted to fullest extent of the law. The auction house may at its discretion hold property until funds have cleared. Any items picked up at our gallery in Williston Vt are subject to Vermont sales tax unless a current Vermont SUT number is provided. We cannot accept other state's tax numbers at this time due to current Vermont tax regulations.
Shipping
Duane Merrill and Company DO NOT ship in house nor can we provide shipping estimates. Our preferred Shipper is Pack and Send Plus of Waterbury VT, upon successful paid bid they will pick up small and midsized items and make shipping arrangements through a variety of carriers they are available by phone at 802-560-4111 or email at [email protected]
For furniture and larger items we like Wendy Buckus of Northwind Transport her phone is 1-603-491-5199 . or Ken Arthur for hauling in the northeast 802-384-5090
We will make other reasonable arrangements upon request.
Buyers Premium
A buyers premium of 23% applied to online purchases will be added to the successful bid price and is payable by the purchaser as part of the total purchase price.
