CELLAR AUCTION ESTIMATES
In the first instance, you will want to know what we think your Wine Collection could make in auction with Brightwells. We have an extensive knowledge and experience, lead by Brightwells' Head of Wine Sales, Paddy Shave, who has over 30 years' experience in the Fine Wine industry.
Your wine & spirits are in demand and we have the facilities to sell them in a safe and responsible manner. Brightwells offer free, no obligation auction estimates for anything from a single bottle to an entire cellar collection. Our knowledgeable specialists will use their expertise to appraise your item and give you a realistic auction estimate.
Virtual Auction Estimates
We can provide Auction Estimates via email or video link such as Skype or Teams etc. Please call 01568 619719 or email paddy.shave@brightwells.com for further details.
Online Auction Estimates
You can use our online form to request an auction estimate.
Request a Valuation
VENDOR FEES & MARKETING
Our fee structure is uncomplicated with no additional or hidden charges:
- Vendor Commission: Once sold, we will charge from the proceeds 18% of the hammer price
- Catalogue and Illustration Charge, known as the Entry Fee: £3 per lot. An Insurance Charge is also incurred at 1% of the hammer price
All of the above charges are subject to VAT.
Our pre-sale marketing encompasses the best descriptions alongside the highest profile promotion in the industry. Your wines and spirits will be professionally photographed for our catalogue; we provide full condition reports to ensure our buyers can purchase in confidence.
We promote the auction lots through our web site, which attracts huge numbers of visitors from all over the world for each auction. For media advertising, we place auction notices in UK broadsheet newspapers, across several platforms of social media and on specialist industry web sites.
We have an extensive database of buyers, built over the 18+ years’ experience we have in the Fine Wine market. Our mailing lists are ever growing and contain a national and international buyer base.
This combination of marketing streams produces a highly successful result, with us achieving a 90%+ success rate of selling for our clients in the last six months, which we believe is unrivalled in the industry.
SUBMIT AN ENTRY
Our Wine, Port, Champagne & Whisky Department will accept most types of well-cellared and collectible investment wines and spirits. You can submit your entry by contacting us. We will then organise with you an idea of auction estimates and discuss how to get your parcel of wine to our auction rooms, which we are delighted to help make a really easy process.
Once we have received your consignment, we will begin the process of a full investigation of it’s provenance, condition and the story behind it, because these are the selling points which mean so much to collectors and investors.
The lots which sell best are marketed without a reserve price, but it is not a requirement that we will only accept wine without reserve. The reserve price is the value a seller would like the item to make at the least.
You will be asked to sign an Auction Sale Agreement, if you haven't already signed one for the company, and we will keep you informed about sale dates and marketing.
COLLECTION AND DELIVERY
Our auction centre is based at Easters Court, Leominster, Herefordshire HR6 0DE. We own this site, so can accept your wine anytime during the hours of 9am – 4:30pm, Monday – Friday, except for Bank Holidays and in between Christmas and New Year.
Our cellarage is fully alarmed and insured, with 24-hour security monitoring. We are located on the main A49 at Leominster and our ten-acre site has strongly secured access.
Furthermore, we store the wine in perfect conditions for temperature and humidity, with a stock management system that means very little handling once the bottles are on site with us.
No matter where you live or what you want to have transported, we know someone who can do it. Cellar transportation is all about timing, safety, storage and price. Often, we collect your wine if the collection warrants a visit from our specialists for inspection. but we have also been involved with companies who can provide a professional service of door-to-door delivery. We can also arrange delivery for international sellers from most parts of the globe, let alone the UK.
Of course, the alternative is that you are more than welcome to deliver or drive your consignments to our site yourself. There is a train station conveniently located within a ten-minute walk of our site, with links to the rest of the UK.
AUCTION DAY
All our sales are now conducted in an online format, with buyers submitting their bids through the internet pages we have. Brightwells owns and maintains it’s own auction software, so we do not charge buyers for the privilege of using a 3rd party auction site, which undoubtedly improves sale prices.
In the days before the auction, we will have arranged bespoke appointment viewing for buyers, who have expressed interest in the lots they are after. Where possible, we will have safely introduced them to the lot for viewing, shown them paperwork for the lots and talked them through the bidding process. Other clients who do not come for viewing are often spoken to about how the process works.
We often speak to the sellers on sale day, to discuss the bids that are coming in and what sort of interest we are getting from the buyers. These processes all lead to a successful result for our sellers, with our auctions achieving a 90%+ sale conversion rate over the last 18 months.
POST-SALE PAYMENT & PROCESSES
We pay the proceeds from sale to sellers 21 days after the sale.
We can pay by cheque or by bank transfer and we will send to you a full statement of the sale price, our deductions and the proceeds of sale.
There are other elements to the whole auction process, but these are the main points. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions and see our conditions of sale on our auction pages for full information of our trading terms. We also post some terms in the auction catalogue, which may apply only to the lots being offered in their particular auction.
