Conditions of Sale


The Conditions of Sale set out below are the terms on which Mavin International Pte Ltd, as auctioneers, enter into agreements with Buyers. Any variation of these Conditions shall be binding on Mavin only if it is made in writing and signed by a duly authorized officer of Mavin.

1. Definitions

In these Conditions:

"Buyer" means the person with the highest bid accepted by the auctioneer;
"Buyer's Premium" means the charge payable by the Buyer as a percentage of the Hammer Price, at the rates set out in Clause 5(b);
"Forgery" means an item that is (a) made or substantially made with an intention to deceive as to authorship, origin, date, age, period, culture or source, (b) not shown to be such or possibly such in the description applied to it at the time of sale or in the catalogue, and (c) at that time it had a value materially less than it would have had if it had been in accordance with the correct description; accordingly, no item is capable of being Forgery solely by reason of any damage and/or restoration work of any kind including repainting, re-enameling or re-plating;
"Hammer Price" means the amount of the highest bid accepted by the auctioneer in relation to a Lot;
"Lot" means any item consigned to Mavin for sale by auction and includes the item described against any Lot number in a catalogue;
"Mavin" means Mavin International Pte Ltd;
"Purchase Price" means the Hammer Price plus the Buyer's Premium and GST;
"Reserve Price" means the amount below which Mavin has agreed with the Seller that the Lot cannot be sold;
"Seller" means any person who consigns any item to Mavin for sale by auction.

2. Mavin as Agent

All sales are made by Mavin as agents on behalf of the Seller. The contract is between the Buyer and the Seller. Notwithstanding this, Mavin is not obliged to disclose to the Buyer the identity of the Seller.

3. The Buyer

(a) The highest bidder for each Lot shall be the Buyer thereof. In the event of a dispute the auctioneer shall have absolute discretion to determine the dispute, including but not limited to re-offering the disputed Lot for sale.

(b) All Buyers must register with Mavin before bidding. Only registered bidders will be allowed to bid for any Lot. References, if required by Mavin, must be provided before the Auction.

(c) The Buyer of any Lot shall, if requested, immediately furnish to Mavin:

(i) bank or other credit facilities; and/or
(ii) pay the full Purchase Price, or a fractional deposit, as may be determined by the Mavin.


(d) When making any bid, the Buyer acknowledges that he is doing so as principal. Buyers accepting commissions from other parties do so at their own risk and will remain liable to Mavin for full settlement according to these Conditions.

4. The Auctioneer

(a) The auctioneer will have absolute discretion to divide any Lot, to combine any two or more Lots, or to withdraw any Lot from the auction without giving any reason.

(b) The bidding shall be regulated at the absolute discretion of the auctioneer. The auctioneer has the right to refuse any bid.

(c) The auctioneer acts solely as an agent and shall not be responsible for any default by the either the Buyer or the Seller or for any action or claim which may arise in respect of any Lot.

5. The Lot

(a) All Lots are offered for sale subject to any Reserve Price that may be put by the Seller.

(b) All Lots sold through floor bidding or written commission bids are subject to a Buyer’s Premium of 18%. All lots sold online through liveauctioneers.com or any other online auction service provider are subject to a Buyer's Premium of 20%.

(c) Lots are sold as shown with all faults, imperfections and errors of descriptions and lack of authenticity. Neither Mavin nor the Seller shall give any warranty to any Buyer in respect of any Lot or be liable for any fault or error of description or lack of genuineness or authenticity of any Lot.

(d) All statements as to Lots sold, whether made in catalogues, during the course of the auction or otherwise, are statements of opinion only and are not and shall not be taken to be statements or representations of fact or warranties of any kind.

(e) Mavin reserves the right in forming their opinion to consult and rely upon any expert or authority considered by them to be reliable.

(f) Notwithstanding the foregoing, except as provided in sub-clause (l) below, if any Lot should be proved by the Buyer to be a Forgery, or to have been wrongly described in any material respect, Mavin will rescind the sale and refund the Purchase Price at the request of the Buyer provided that he shall have given notice of his intention so to do within 7 days and shall have returned the same to Mavin within 14 days from, and in the same condition in its original, sealed and unopened container as at, the date of the auction. Proof of the inability of any expert to form a definite opinion shall not discharge the Buyer’s onus of proving that a Lot is a Forgery. Notwithstanding the above, no Lot may be returned for reason that it is a Forgery if it is expressly stated in the Lot description that it is or may be a replica, copy, counterfeit or forgery or that Mavin is not able to determine or warrant authenticity of the Lot. Lots sold ‘as is’ may not be returned for any reason including reasons of authenticity or lack thereof.

(g) The benefit of the foregoing is not capable of being transferred, and is solely for the benefit of the original Buyer to whom the original invoice was made out by Mavin in respect of the Lot and who, since the sale, has remained owner of the Lot without disposing of any interest to any third party.

(h) Regardless of whether the Lot has been wrongly described in any material respect, no Lot may be returned under sub-clause (f) by Buyers who have examined the Lot before the auction or by floor bidders unless the same has been proven to be a Forgery.

(i) The Buyer's sole remedy is rescission of the sale and refund of the Purchase Price. Under no circumstance will Mavin or the Seller be liable for any costs, expenses or damages incurred by the Buyer in respect of any Lot, including, but not limited to, loss of any kind of profit whatsoever.

(j) No Lot may be returned after 14 days of the auction.

(k) In the case of overseas absentee bidders, the time limits for giving notice to Mavin and returning the Lot is extended by a further 7 days.

(l) Notwithstanding the foregoing, all Lots that include one or more items certified by a third party certification service are sold as is, and may not be returned for any reason whatsoever, including reason of authenticity or lack thereof. The Buyer's remedy lies solely with the certification service.

6. The Bid

(a) By making a bid the Buyer acknowledges his acceptance of these Conditions and he shall be bound by them.

(b) Purely as a convenience to clients, bidding commissions for anyone unable to attend the auction in person may be carried out by the auctioneer without charge. "Buy" commissions will not be accepted.

(c) Bids must be in writing and signed.

(d) Mavin shall not be liable for errors or omissions in executing any bidding commissions.

(e) Where two absentee bidders bid identical sums for the same Lot, the first bid received shall take precedence.

(f) The auctioneer may give priority to an absentee bid over a floor or internet bid. In order to give priority to an absentee bid, Mavin may also at its absolute discretion increase an absentee bid by two or more increments instead of the usual one increment.

(g) Requests for telephone bidding may be accepted or declined at Mavin's absolute discretion. Mavin may at its discretion require a person who requests telephone bidding to make a firm bid that is at least equal to the high estimate on the Lots that he requests for telephone bidding.

7. After the Auction

(a) Each Lot shall be at the Buyer's risk from the fall of the hammer. However, title does not pass to the Buyer until payment of the Purchase Price in cleared funds is received in full by Mavin.

(b) Buyers must satisfy themselves as to the accuracy of their purchases at the time of the delivery. Mavin cannot be held responsible for any discrepancy which might be discovered after the Lot has been removed.

(c) Mavin will not be responsible for the safe custody of any Lot left for more than 7 days after the date of the auction. Mavin reserves the right to charge storage and to resell by auction or privately, without notice to the Buyer, any Lot not so removed from their premises within fourteen (14) days from the date of the auction.

(d) No Lot may be returned without the consent of Mavin.

(e) Lots purchased by absentee bidders will be forwarded at the risk of the Buyer who shall bear all costs incurred. Unless otherwise instructed by the Buyer, Mavin shall have full discretion in choosing the shipment method. It shall be the responsibility of the Buyer to provide Mavin with all relevant customs information.

8. Goods and Services Tax

(a) GST at the prevailing rate is payable by the Buyer on the Buyer's Premium.

(b) Lots marked with † in the catalogue are liable to GST on the Hammer Price. GST will therefore be added to the Hammer Price.The Buyer's Premium will be on the Hammer Price but not the GST.

(c) Lots marked with ‡ in the catalogue are inclusive of GST in the Hammer Price. The Buyer's Premium will be based on the Hammer Price inclusive of the GST.

(d) At the time of the printing of the catalogue, the prevailing GST rate is 7%.

9. Payment Terms

(a) No Lot may be collected or delivered until Mavin has received the Purchase Price in full.

(b) Any part of the Purchase Price left outstanding after the auction shall be paid in full, and in cleared funds, within 7 days of the date the auction.

(c) At least thirty (30) days must be allowed for the clearance of personal cheques before delivery can be made, unless prior arrangements have been made with Mavin.

(d) Late payment for any reason is just cause for revocation of all return privileges.

(e) Without prejudice to any other rights, Mavin reserves the right to charge interest on any overdue payment at the rate of 1.5% per month.

(f) Payment by credit card shall not be accepted.

(g) Acceptance of payment by online methods shall be at the discretion of Mavin and Mavin may impose a surcharge on such payments to cover fully administrative costs and any other service fees charged by the online payment service provider.

(h) All bank charges involved in wire transfers shall be borne by the Buyer.

10. Remedies against the Buyer

(a) If any Buyer fails to comply with any of these Conditions, the Lot in respect of which the failure is made may, at the discretion of Mavin, be put up again and resold.

(b) The damages recoverable from the defaulting Buyer shall include, but not be limited to, Mavin's expenses and commission in respect of the resale and the amount (if any) by which the price obtained on the resale is exceeded by that obtained on the first sale.

11. Copyright

The copyright in all images, illustrations and written material relating to any Lot is and remains at all times the property of Mavin and shall not be used by the Buyer nor anyone else without Mavin's prior written consent.

12. Data Protection

By bidding or registering to bid in Mavin’s auction, you agree to Mavin collecting and using your personal data for the following purposes:
(a) For the purpose of the auction and ancillary matters, including facilitating contractual rights and obligations arising from the auction by Mavin, Buyers and Sellers.
(b) Complying with the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, the Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act and other relevant laws, and to facilitate the compliance of the above laws by Mavin, Buyers and Sellers.
(c) Sending you catalogs and marketing material relating to Mavin’s future auctions, sales and other services. If you do not wish to receive such material, you may write in to Mavin or indicate so in your registration or bid form. However, we will not be able to send you our future auction catalogs if you choose not to receive such material.

13. Law and Jurisdiction

These Conditions of Business shall be governed by and construed in accordance with Singapore law and the Buyer irrevocably agrees to submit at Mavin's option to the jurisdiction of the Singapore Courts. This shall not limit Mavin's right to take proceedings in any other jurisdiction.