The present general conditions apply to the relationship between Hôtel de Ventes Vanderkindere (hereafter referred to as “VDK”), having its registered office at 1180 Brussels, chaussée d’Alsemberg 685‑687, registered with the Banque Carrefour des Entreprises under number 0467.241.377 and any person or legal entity giving to VDK one or many goods in order to sell it/them by public auctions (hereafter referred to as the “Client” or the “Principal”) and any particular or legal entity participating to public auctions organised by VDK (hereafter referred to as the “Buyer”).
The Client agrees to the present general conditions by the delivery of the good and may not derogate to one or many clauses without the prior and written agreement of VDK. The Buyer agrees to the present general conditions by his presence at one of the publications organised by VDK.
The non application of any clause of the present general conditions cannot be considered as a waiver of VDK to apply them later.
If any provisions of this Agreement become invalid, illegal or unenforceable, this invalidity, unenforceability or illegality shall not affect the remaining provisions of this agreement. In this case, the parties will endeavour, in good faith, to agree to the terms of a provision which may be substituted for the invalid, illegal or unenforceable provision.
The present general conditions and generally the relationship between VDK and the Client and the Buyer shall be governed exclusively by the laws of Belgium. In case of a dispute or a claim, it shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Brussels courts.
The Buyer is the person to who a lot is auctioned. In case of protestation (which can only occur during the public auction and only after the sale by auction), sole the bailiff or the auctioneer present can decide that the lot will be resold. Any buyer is considered vis‑à‑vis VDK to act in his own name and for his own account, even if he acts as representative. The Buyer gives to VDK his name, address, telephone and mobile telephone number, as well as any information, namely banking information, asked by VDK.
The Buyer will pay to HÔTEL DE VENTES VANDERKINDERE S.A. the hammer price increased of
25% of commission for the auctions with catalogue (ventes cataloguées) and five Euros (+5€) more for each item and
30% of commission for the auctions without catalogues (ventes bourgeoises) and five Euros (+5€) more for each item and
30% of commission for the auctions "Art d'Asie" and five Euros (+5€) more for each item.
According to the law of 30 June 1994 on authors’ rights, the Buyer shall pay in addition to the hammer price an Artist Resale Right (droit de suite) of 4% on the part of the hammer price from 2,000 €.
The “droit de suite” is over when the artist died for more than 70 years.
In case of “live bidding”, the Auction House will charge the buyer an extra commission: 1.5% for Drouot Digital or 5% for Invaluable.
Once the lot has been awarded to a purchaser, the risk is transferred to them and they are obliged to pay the price. The payment is made in cash in Euro.
The HÔTEL DE VENTES VANDERKINDERE S.A. accepts payment in cash up to three thousand Euro (3,000 Euro).
If the total amount of the sale is three thousand Euro (3,000 Euro) or more, the purchaser may pay the amount of three thousand Euro (3,000 Euro) in cash and the balance must be settled electronically (Bancontact, Visa, Master Card and Union Pay) or by bank transfer.
In the latter two cases, the merchandise shall only be delivered after receipt of the remaining amount due. The request for invoicing must be made at the latest before the fifth day of the week following the sale.
VAT is included in the sale price but non-deductible, cf. Art.8.
The lots cannot be picked up after the public auction. They can be picked up within 4 business days after the auction and after complete payment of the Price. A non-picked up lot within this term will be stored at the Buyer expenses. The HÔTEL DE VENTES VANDERKINDERE S.A. will not be liable for the losses or damages occurred to the lot, even if it results from its fault or negligence. The transport of the lots must be paid by the Buyer and VDK is not and will not be liable for the losses or damages that may occur during the storage, the packaging, the handling or during the transport of the auctioned lots.
In case of payment default and/or of non picking up of the lot, the Buyer will pay, without prior summon, an interest of 2% per month as from the end of picking up period. Moreover, VDK will be entitled to take the following measures, discretionary and without prejudice of all other measures :
The lots are put up for auctions with their imperfections, their defaults and possible mistakes of descriptions. VDK is neither responsible nor liable for possible mistakes in the description of the lots, for their valuation, the author, the signature, the date, the origin, the attribution, the authenticity that are given indicatively, as well as for the state of the lots. The Buyer will make his own impression and appreciations on the lot(s) and no protestation will be admitted even if it is in relation with the description of the catalogue after the auctioning to the Buyer.
Accidents are mentioned with (*) and restoration with (**).
A Buyer may bid or participate to public auctions by telephone. In this case, the Buyer must ask to do so by letter, fax, e-mail and must give all his contacts details (name, address, telephone and mobile telephone numbers to VDK, this latter being entitled to ask to the Buyer his bank details and references.
The bidder undertakes to bid at least the low estimate of the catalogue.
VDK is not responsible or liable for the mistakes of the Buyer in the telephone number or for a false indication of the number of the lot, for problems during the telephone communication (busy line, transmission problems, bad mobile telephone network, interruptions, etc.). If two bids are made on the same lot for the same amount, preference will be given to the bid received firstly.
The HOTEL DE VENTES VANDERKINDERE S.A. undertakes to process its customer's personal data in accordance with the "General Data Protection Regulation" (GDPR)