Art Werks

Art Werks (a subsidiary of Art Werks, Inc.) is a licensed and bonded auctioneer hereinafter known as “Auctioneer”. Auctioneer conducts online public sales and auctions. Participation including registering, bidding and/or purchasing items from any and all of Auctioneer’s online public sales and auctions by any individual or company (hereinafter known as “Buyer(s) or Bidder(s)”) is considered an understanding and acceptance of and an agreement to all of Auctioneer’s terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement regardless of whether Bidder is determined to be the successful Buyer/Bidder as to any individual lot item. (The terms “Party” or “Parties” hereinafter refer to both Buyer/Bidder and Auctioneer both separately and collectively.) INSPECTION OF PROPERTY- All prospective Bidders may, upon their request, inspect the property they wish to purchase prior to bidding. If a Bidder is unable to view an item in person, Bidder may request a condition report and/or additional photographs from Auctioneer prior to bidding to determine an article's condition, size, and degree of restoration. Condition reports are provided as a courtesy and are not a replacement for physical observation/examination of the item(s) bidders wish to purchase, and as such, bidders must assume the responsibility for any errors or omissions contained therein. Auctioneer endeavors to be fair and forthright with its descriptions and condition reports, however, Bidders must acknowledge that antique items often show normal signs of use and wear which might not be expressly specified by Auctioneer and may affect the assumed value. Further, Bidder acknowledges that any and all information provided in a condition report or any and all other oral and written statements provided to a prospective Bidder by Auctioneer or any other individual or entity shall not be deemed to afford any additional warranty or guarantee or by Auctioneer to Bidder above and beyond the Auctioneer’s Guarantee set forth in this Agreement. ACCEPTANCE OF PROPERTY- All sales are final, with no returns or refunds except as provided in the Auctioneer's Guarantee. All property is sold “as is” and neither Auctioneer nor any and all of its successors, assigns, subsidiaries, consignors, affiliates, associates, partners, insurers and representatives make any guarantees, warranties or representations, expressed or implied, with respect to the property or the correctness of the catalogue or other description of the authenticity, authorship, physical condition, size, age, quality, rarity, importance, provenance, exhibitions, literature or historical relevance of the property or otherwise, except where applicable under the Auctioneer’s Guarantee set forth in this Agreement. No other documents, statements or writings of any kind, whether oral or written, by any individual or business entity, including but not limited to: certificates of authenticity by artists or appraisers, whether provided before or after the purchase of any lot item which are not expressly stated in Auctioneer’s Guarantee set forth in this Agreement shall be deemed as any guarantee, warranty or representation by Auctioneer. AUCTIONEER’S GUARANTEE- Auctioneer hereby agrees to provide the following limited guarantee only to the original Buyer of record: Auctioneer makes a limited guarantee as to the “Authorship” of each lot for a period of 14 days from Buyer’s receipt of merchandise. If a Buyer is not satisfied with the “Authorship” of the lot purchased, the Buyer may, at his or her own expense, obtain the opinion of two recognized experts in the field of the disputed lot. Buyer and Auctioneer must mutually agree upon the experts. If it is determined to Auctioneer’s satisfaction that both experts agree and determine that the item's “Authorship” is not authentic, the Buyer's sole and exclusive remedy shall be at, Auctioneer’s sole discretion, the rescission of the sale and refund of the amount paid for the item. Auctioneer shall not be liable for any other incidental or consequential damages and costs incurred by Buyer due to any challenges to the “Authorship” of an item. Auctioneer in it's sole discretion reserves the right to reimburse Buyer for any unreasonable losses or damages incurred by Buyer due to a dispute of “Authorship”. It is specifically understood and agreed that the rescission of the sale and refund is conditioned upon the buyer returning the property in the same condition as at the time of sale. Buyer must notify Auctioneer within 14 days of the receipt date of the item as to any dispute of “Authorship”, otherwise all sales are considered final as set forth herein. Exclusions -- Not withstanding any other provisions of Auctioneer’s guarantee, Auctioneer maintains the following: 1) All other warranties of “Authorship”, express or implied, are hereby disclaimed and purchaser shall take each lot "as is" and with all faults and errors of description. 2) “Authorship” does not refer to any wear and tear, or faults with the item which may be determined to affect the item's value. 3) If a lot item cannot be properly Authenticated, this limited Guarantee does not apply and the sale is final and the item is sold “as is” as set forth in this Agreement. Definitions of statements made in this agreement and in descriptions of lot items: 1. "Attributed to" - work is of the period of the named artist and maybe the work of named artist, but not definitely so. 2. "After" - in our opinion, a copy of the work of the artist. 3. “Authorship" is defined as the creator, period, culture or source of origin. RESERVE PRICING- Lots offered may be subject to a reserve. The reserve is a confidential minimum price determined by the Auctioneer and/or it's consignors, below which the lot will not be sold. Auctioneer retains the right not to disclose reserve amounts to any individuals or business entities. PLACING BIDS- Bidders must place a separate bid for each and every individual lot item listed in Auctioneer’s catalogue. Bidders cannot place one bid for multiple lot items. Auctioneer reserves the right to reject any bid at any time if Auctioneer determines that the bid is not commensurate with the value of the property being offered. Auctioneer also reserves the right to withdraw any property or lot item before sale. Upon the close of bidding for any individual lot item, title to the offered lot shall pass to the successful Buyer and the Buyer immediately assumes full risk and responsibility for the lot. Auctioneer, at its sole discretion, may agree in certain situations to provide Buyers with refunds for damaged, lost or undeliverable items. PROXY BIDDING-Auctioneer reserves the right to place proxy bids on behalf of prospective Bidders as determined by a separate confidential agreement with Bidder. Prospective Proxy Bidders must contact Auctioneer prior to any auction to obtain a confidential proxy bid agreement and must agree upon terms of proxy bidding with Auctioneer. Auctioneer reserves the right to cancel any Agreement with a proxy bidder at any time before the commencement of the Auction. By allowing Auctioneer to place a proxy bid, Proxy Bidder agrees to all applicable terms and conditions also set forth in this Agreement. Any additional and separate proxy bid agreements made between Proxy Bidder and Auctioneer are confidential and will not be disclosed to the public. DETERMINATION OF SUCCESSFUL BIDDER- The highest Bidder, as determined by the sole discretion of Auctioneer, will be the Buyer. In the event of any dispute between Bidders, or in the event of doubt as to the validity of any bid, Auctioneer reserves the right to make the final decision to either determine the successful Buyer/Bidder or to reject the bids of all Bidders involved in the dispute and, can at its sole discretion, re-offer and resell the property in dispute. BUYER'S PREMIUM AND SALE'S TAX - A buyer's premium for each individual lot is 15% of the successful bid price up to and including $50,000, and 8% on any amount in excess of $50,000. This amount will be added to the successful bid price of each lot purchased by the Buyer, together with the applicable sales or use tax which is applied to the total cost of the purchase. At Auctioneer’s discretion, the Buyer’s premium may be reduced to 10% on winning bids under $50,000 (and waived completely on successful bids in excess of $50,000) if payment is received in full no later than the end of the following business day after the close of the auction. If the Auction occurs on a Saturday or Sunday, the end of the following business day will be considered as the Monday following the weekend. Auctioneer is located in California and all California Buyers will be required to pay all State of California sales and use taxes, if applicable at the time of payment unless the Buyer provides Auctioneer with a valid Tax Exemption Number and fills out the appropriate Exemption Certificate. Buyers located in Huntington Beach, California will also be required to pay county and/or district and local taxes applicable to that region. Auctioneer will not collect taxes from any out of state buyers. Any applicable taxes incurred by an out of state Buyer are the responsibility of the Buyer to declare and to pay and Auctioneer will not be liable for payment of any taxes or other applicable charges that are incurred by an out of state Buyer. PAYMENTS - Payments can be made with cash, money orders, cashier's checks, bank wires, personal or business checks, and/or credit card through Paypal. Purchases paid for with money orders, cashier’s checks, personal or business checks or international bank checks are not shipped and/or delivered and released until payment has cleared and been verified. Payments are due no later than 7 days following the close of the auction. AUCTIONEER’S REMEDIES FOR NON PAYMENT- If Buyer fails to make payment within 7 days; Auctioneer and Buyer agree that Auctioneer shall be entitled to do any or all of the following: 1) After 7 Days - Charge Buyer’s credit card of record provided to Auctioneer by the Buyer for the total purchase price due plus any applicable fees, including but not limited to: storage, administrative costs and fees, shipping, collection fees, and interest. 2) After 14 Days - Auctioneer reserves it's rights to pursue any and all available collection methods including legal actions in order to collect the balance due plus any and all other costs incurred by Auctioneer due to the non-payment by Buyer. If legal action or any other type of collection action is necessary, Buyer will be responsible to pay all original charges and in addition all re-sale, storage, administrative costs and fees, shipping, collection fees, attorney fees and costs and any and all other damages incurred by Auctioneer due to the non-payment by Buyer. All Buyers/Bidders agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in California. 3) Auctioneer can charge the legal rate of interest applicable per month throughout the entire time frame of non-payment by the Buyer until all payments and damages have been paid for by the Buyer or the matter is otherwise resolved between Buyer and Auctioneer. 4) After 30 Days – Auctioneer can re-offer the item(s) for sale, either publicly or privately, and collect any remaining balance owed after such sale from the original Buyer, including, but not limited to, total balance remaining, attorney and court fees, interest, storage fees, administrative costs (including those related to re-selling the item(s)) and any and all other related fees. 5) Auctioneer can, in its sole discretion, reject further bidding, purchases or consignments by the Buyer/Bidder at any and all future auctions. SHIPPING –Buyer is solely responsible to arrange for shipping for any property purchased by Buyer. Auctioneer will assist Buyer in facilitating the shipment of any and all purchased property. All Buyers must email artwerks@usa.com to provide instructions for shipping. Buyers may also telephone Auctioneer at (877) 411-7715 if necessary. Buyers can also contact Auctionee to receive information on shipping methods or to use Auctioneer’s shipping service on a fee basis. Auctioneer will endeavor to ship items as quickly as possible after Buyer has paid and payment has cleared and Buyer has provided Auctioneer with shipping arrangements. In no event will Auctioneer ship items later than 30 days from the date that confirmed shipping arrangements are provided by Buyer unless special arrangements are agreed to with Buyer. All items must be picked up or shipping arrangements made, within 10 days of the date payments are cleared, otherwise shipping will be handled on a COD basis at Auctioneer’s discretion. All COD shipments must be paid with either cashier’s check or money order. If COD shipment is not possible for any items still remaining 30 days after the payment date, Auctioneer can, in its sole discretion, consign the property to a future auction without any notice to the Buyer, and Buyer will be held responsible for any and all costs incurred by Auctioneer. The Buyer must pay for all shipping and handling expenses, including labor, materials, postage, and insurance fees for all shipments including COD shipments. Auctioneer is not liable for any incidental and consequential damages related to any and all shipments including but not limited to, any damages caused by shippers. If the property purchased is subject to any applicable import and export laws, taxes, regulations, treatises or any and all other applicable laws enforceable by any country it is the responsibility of the Buyer to pay any applicable costs and to comply with any applicable guidelines. For laws outside of the U.S. restricting imports into foreign countries, the granting of licensing for export and/or import of such goods is the responsibility of the Buyer. INDEMNIFICATION- Buyers/Bidders agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Auctioneer for any and all losses, claims, liabilities, and/or damages known or unknown incurred by Buyers/Bidders due to failure to comply with any and all terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement by either Buyers/Bidders for any and all other third parties. DISPUTE RESOLUTION- In the event of any dispute other than Auctioneer’s disputes for non-payment by any Buyer/Bidder, all Parties agree to resolve any dispute through binding arbitration in lieu of filing an action in any court in any jurisdiction. Buyer agrees that binding arbitration will be conducted solely in the County of Orange, in the state of California and the Parties will mutually agree as to an acceptable Arbitrator. If Buyer fails to demand binding arbitration and proceeds with a court action, Buyer shall be responsible to pay all attorney’s fees and costs and any other damages incurred by the Auctioneer because of the failure by Buyer to first demand binding arbitration. The rights and obligations of the parties pursuant to this agreement and any and all other disputes arising between the Parties shall be governed by the laws of the state of California. All Buyers/Bidders agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in California. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CHANGES TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Any announcement on the day of the auction shall take precedence over any previously distributed information or advertising. Listen to opening announcements as they are important. Auctioneer may announce and provide notice to Buyers/Bidders as to additional information or terms during the course of the auction, especially as it relates to certain specific items and removal times. If announcements or notice is given to Buyer/Bidders of any changes in these terms and conditions prior to or during the auction, Buyers/Bidders are assumed to have consented to any of changes in these terms through their continued participation in the auction.