FAQ

MY BIDS ARE NOT PROCESSED

Are you logged into your user account? 

You can only submit a bid when you are logged into your user account. Click on "Login" and enter your email address and password. The data entered must be identical to those used when you created your account. 
Once you have successfully logged in, you will see the "My Account" tab.

Has your registration request been validated? 

Check that your registration request is not pending validation by our team. If you have not received a registration confirmation email, you will not be able to login to your user account or place bids. Registration validations are carried out during our office hours: Monday to Friday from 09:30 to 18:00. If you register outside of these hours, it may take more time to validate your account. 

Is your bid high enough?

Each bid you submit must be high enough to be accepted by the system. Each lot has a "minimum price" below which it is not possible to bid. Moreover, if someone else has already placed a bid (which becomes the "current price"), you must submit a higher bid. 

Here is an example of how bidding works:

A ring is on offer for €500 and no bids have been submitted. The first bidder is called Antoine, who is willing to bid up to €1,000 so enters this amount. He then becomes the highest bidder by up to €500. The second bidder is called Martine, who sees the current price at €500 but does not know the maximum of €1,000 submitted by Antoine. She decides to offer €600. The bidding contest (600 against 1,000) results in €650 in Antoine's favour. Martine must offer more than €1,100, in order to exceed Antoine's bid. 

  • Remarks: If two exact same bids are submitted for the same item, the website gives priority to the first bid received
    For example: Antoine has offered €1,000. If Martine had offered the same amount a few days later, the result would be €1000 in Antoine's favour. 

Two messages will appear on any lots you have submitted a bid for: 

  • "You are the highest bidder": When you have placed the highest bid.
  • "You are no longer the highest bidder": When someone places a bid higher than yours.

 

The bid increment is the amount between two bids. It is pre-defined depending on the current bid and increases by thresholds. The bid increments are set as followed:

Between 0 and 500 €, increments of 20 €

Between  500 and 1 000 €, increments of 50 €

Between 1 000 and 2 000 €, increments of 100 €

Between 2 000 and 5 000 €, increments of 200 €

Between 5 000 and 10 000 €, increments of 250 €

Between 10 000 and 20 000€, increments of 500€

Above 20 000€, increments of 1 000€

 

Exception for the online sale of Vin & Spiritueux (Wine & Spirits) :

Between 0 and 200 €, increments of 10 €.

Between 200 and 500 €, increments of 20 €

Above 500€, usual increments as listed above

I WANT TO PAY FOR MY PURCHASES

Payment conditions

Payment cannot be made immediately after you win a lot. In accordance with the law, our office must prepare an official report for the auction, which can only be done the day after the auction. Our accounting team will then issue an invoice that will be sent to you, which will state the amount excluding and including all taxes.  

Payment methods

You have two payment options:

  • Online payment: https://www.aguttes.com/paiement-en-ligne  (for amounts below the maximum limit of €10,000).
  • Payment by bank transferof the exact amount stated on the invoice; bank charges shall not be borne by our office. 
  • Banque de Neuflize, 3 avenue Hoche, Paris 75008 
    Account holder: Claude AGUTTES SAS 
    Bank Code 30788 – Sort Code  00900 
    Account no. 02058690002 – Control key (RIB) 23 
    IBAN FR76 3078 8009 0002 0586 9000 223 – 
    BIC NSMBFRPPXXX 

Warning: online payment and payment by bank transfer are not immediate. A paid invoice confirming that your payment has been received in our accounts will be sent to you within 24 to 48h, allowing you to pick up you lot.

Payment by cheque (However, the lot will be delivered after 20 days. Therefore, we suggest that you use one of the previous payment methods). 

HOW DO I RECEIVE MY LOT?

Pick up at the office

Once your payment has been received and only after receipt of the paid invoice, you will be able to come and pick up your purchases at the location they are stored in. This location is mentioned in the sale information and in the lot description. It is always better to take an appointment with our team before coming to pick up your lots.

Delivered by courier: Our provider

Your lot can be shipped by courier. We work with the company The Packengers.

It is now possible for you, even before the sale ends, to estimate the delivery fees by clicking on the “estimate my delivery fees” button when you are on a lot page.

When you have received your invoice, please contact The Packengers. A quote with an estimated delivery time will be communicated to you, which you are free to accept or not. If you wish to go through another provider, please feel free to let us know. If we do not deliver the lots ourselves using our courier, we remain at your disposal to facilitate shipping with the company of your choice.  

CAN I WITHDRAW OR LOWER MY BID?

It is not possible to change your bid

It is NOT POSSIBLE to retract or lower a bid on the website. Your offers are considered public and definitive bids. Our auctions are remote public auctions and are subject to specific texts of the French Commercial Code. It is not possible to practice the right of withdrawal in relation to remote auctions; these fall under the French Consumer Code and the so-called "unregulated" market. 

The difference with the unregulated market

Each bid corresponds to an amount that you chose in a specific field for this purpose. A confirmation message appears showing a summary of your bid. Once you validate this message, your bid becomes a public bid and cannot be withdrawn. Therefore, always make sure you take your time to carefully review your bid amount, even in the last few moments of the auction.  

CAN I VIEW THE LOTS?

Remote presentations

You can contact the specialist or the contact person of the sale by phone or email (details available on the header of the sale) and request condition reports for lots, additional photos, etc.

WHAT IS THE BEST TIME TO BID?

It is possible to place a bid at any time

As soon as an auction is made available online, you can place a bid at any time. If someone outbids your offer, you will receive a notification email. This email is no longer sent in the last half hour of the auction due to the number of bids placed in this time slot. It is important that you anticipate if you wish to buy several lots. You can also wait for the last minutes to bid. The precise ending bidding time is displayed for each lot of the sale. Warning: Any bid submitted in the last 60 seconds will restart the auction timer by adding 2 minutes; this is to allow the initial bidder to be able to respond if they so wish. 

During those last seconds it is recommended to set a maximum amount to avoid having the timer ending before the validation of your last bid.

WHO SHOULD I CONTACT IF I HAVE A QUERY?

Our contacts

For any question about the sale or the lots, you can reach out to the contact person of the sale. Details are available on the header of the sale.

ARE BIDS ANONYMOUS? 

Confidentiality of your data

Internet users cannot see your name as a bidder. Your bids are completely anonymous

Only we can access your user data and make changes if requested by you. We can see who bids on a lot; however, we cannot determine your maximum bid amount. Only you know this maximum. 

 

HOW DO I KNOW THE MAXIMUM BID AMOUNT OF OTHER BIDDERS? 

How bidding works

Once you have submitted your bid, the website will factor in any other bids submitted for the lot. Your bid is the maximum amount you are willing to pay.  

Several situations may arise, depending on the ongoing bids submitted

  • If no other bids are submitted: You become the highest bidder, even if you enter an amount higher than the minimum price. For example: A ring is on offer for €500 and no bids have been submitted. Antoine is willing to bid up to €1,000 and enters this amount. He then becomes the highest bidder by up to €500. Antoine's bid will only increase if another user bids against him.
  • If another bid is submitted: You must submit a counterbid in response to the other bid submitted. Initially, you will not know your opponent's maximum bid. You will only determine this when you exceed your opponent's bid.
    For example: Just like the first example, a bid of €1,000 has been submitted for a ring with a minimum price of €500. Martine sees the current price at €500 but does not know the maximum of €1,000 submitted by Antoine. She decides to offer €600. The bidding contest results in €650 in Antoine's favour. Martine must offer more than €1100, in order to exceed Antoine's bid. 
  • Remarks: If two exact same bids are submitted for the same item, the website gives priority to the first bid received
    For example: Antoine has offered €1,000. If Martine had offered the same amount a few days later, the result would be €1000 in Antoine's favour.

Two messages will appear on any lots you have submitted a bid for: 

  • "You are the highest bidder": When you have placed the highest bid.
  • "You are no longer the highest bidder": When someone places a bid higher than yours.

ARE THERE ANY ADDITIONAL FEES?  

Sales fee

The sales fee are usually 22% but can vary, it is important to verify this point by checking in the conditions of sale for the specific auction you are interested in. Your bid amount excludes taxes and does not include this fee. The price including all taxes is displayed next to your bid. If you win a lot, you can view the final price – excluding taxes and including all taxes – under "My winning bids" from your account page. 

Delivery fee

If you wish to receive your lot by courier, an additional shipping fee shall apply. We work with an external company called The Packengers which can provide you with a shipping quote on request.

It is now possible for you, even before the sale ends, to estimate the delivery fees by clicking on the “estimate my delivery fees” button when you are on a lot page.

When you have received your invoice, please contact The Packengers. A quote with an estimated delivery time will be communicated to you, which you are free to accept or not. If you wish to go through another provider, please feel free to let us know. If we do not deliver the lots ourselves using our courier, we remain at your disposal to facilitate shipping with the company of your choice.  

HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM THE HIGHEST BIDDER? 

With the current price 

To determine if you are the highest bidder, simply compare your bid with the "current price" displayed. In fact, the website takes your bid into account and compares it to other bids. 

Here is an example of results with two bidders:

Antoine has placed a €1,000 bid on a ring with a minimum price of €500.  
The current price is then displayed at €500. Antoine understands that he is the highest bidder because no one has placed other bids. 
Martine sees the bid of €500 and places a bid of €600. 
The current price is then displayed at €650 in favour of Antoine. Martine understands that someone else's bid (Antoine) is higher than hers.  
Martine then places a €1,200 bid. 
The current price is then displayed at €1,100 in favour of Martine. Martine understands that Antoine's bid was €1,000 and that she is now the highest bidder. Antoine understands that he is no longer the highest bidder on this lot because the bid exceeds his maximum by a bid increment.

The bid increment is the amount between two bids. It is pre-defined depending on the current bid and increases by thresholds. The bid increments are set as followed:

Between 0 and 500 €, increments of 20 €

Between  500 and 1 000 €, increments of 50 €

Between 1 000 and 2 000 €, increments of 100 €

Between 2 000 and 5 000 €, increments of 200 €

Between 5 000 and 10 000 €, increments of 250 €

Between 10 000 and 20 000€, increments of 500€

Above 20 000€, increments of 1 000€

 

Exception for the online sale of Vin & Spiritueux (Wine & Spirits) :

Between 0 and 200 €, increments of 10 €.

Between 200 and 500 €, increments of 20 €

Above 500€, usual increments as listed above.  

With the relevant message 

Whenever you decide to place a bid on a lot, a message appears based on the result of the bidding contest: 

  • "You are the highest bidder": When you have placed the highest bid. 

"You are no longer the highest bidder": When someone places a bid higher than yours.