Terms and conditions

DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION

"Client","You" and "Yours" refers to you, the individual accessing this website and accepting Scotch Whisky Auctions Terms and Conditions.

"The Company","Ourselves",

"We", and "Us" refers to Scotch Whisky Auctions.

"The Buyer" is the person who has successfully bid on a Lot.

"The Seller" is the person who offers the Lot for sale.

"Lot" means any bottle of whisky, miniature or decanter consigned to us with a view to its sale by auction online. Where a Seller wishes two or more items to be sold separately these shall be deemed to be separate "Lots" for the purposes of these Terms and Conditions.

“Legal Age” Any alcohol may ONLY be purchased AND/OR sold by to persons who are at least eighteen (18) years old in the United Kingdom or such other minimum age as is required in foreign jurisdictions “Legal Age”.

“Courier” means the delivery company used by Scotch Whisky Auctions to fulfil delivery of Lots. This will vary according to location of delivery address.

LEGAL AGE OF BUYERS AND SELLERS

By accessing this website and registering to use the Website as a Buyer or Seller, you confirm that you are the Legal Age.

Any alcohol may only be purchased by persons who are the Legal Age. Any registered User who bids on Lots listed by the Company agrees that any alcohol received as a Buyer will only be consumed by persons who are the Legal Age.

Any alcohol may only be sold by persons who are the Legal Age.

At delivery to the Buyer, any shipment containing an alcoholic beverage will require the signature of persons who are the Legal Age. Proof of age may be required by the Courier. If this is not shown, delivery may be refused by the Courier at their discretion.

GENERAL TERMS

The laws of Scotland govern these terms and conditions. By accessing this website, and using our services/buying our products, you consent to these terms and conditions and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts in all disputes arising out of such access.

In the event that any of these terms are deemed invalid or unenforceable for any reason then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be severed from these terms and the remaining terms will continue to apply.

Failure of the Company to enforce any of the provisions set out in these Terms and Conditions and any Agreement, or failure to exercise any option to terminate, shall not be construed as waiver of such provision and shall not affect the validity of these terms and conditions or of any part thereof, or the right thereafter to enforce each and every provision

CONFIDENTIALITY

Client records are regarded as confidential and therefore will not be divulged to any third party. We reserve the right to do so if legally required by appropriate authorities.

Clients have the right to request sight of, and copies of any and all Client Records we keep, on the proviso that we are given reasonable notice of such a request.

Clients are requested to retain copies of any literature issued in relation to the provision of our services. Where appropriate, we shall issue Clients with appropriate written information, handouts or copies of records as part of an agreed contract, for the benefit of both parties.

We will not sell, share, or rent your personal information to any third party or use your email address for unsolicited mail, other than to inform your of upcoming auctions, relevant news or to seek feedback to improve our service to you. Any emails sent by this Company will only be in connection with the provision of agreed services and products.

EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS

The information on this web site is provided on an "as is" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, this Company:

· excludes all representations and warranties relating to this website and its contents or which is, or may be, provided by any affiliates or any other third party, including in relation to any inaccuracies or omissions in this website and/or the Company’s literature; and

· excludes all liability for damages arising out of, or in, connection with your use of this website. This includes, without limitation, direct loss, loss of business or profits (whether or not the loss of such profits was foreseeable, arose in the normal course of things or you have advised this Company of the possibility of such potential loss), damage caused to your computer, computer software, systems and programs and the data thereon or any other direct or indirect, consequential and incidental damages.

The above exclusions and limitations apply only to the extent permitted by law. None of your statutory rights as a consumer are affected.

SELLERS

Payment:

If you are a successful seller, we will not process your payments until the buyer has paid us, has received their bottle(s) and is satisfied that our descriptions were accurate. Payments will be completed within 21 days after the end of any auction. In the event of a dispute arising over the provenance or authenticity of any bottle, if it cannot be proved to be genuine, it will be returned to the seller and no monies will be due.

The Seller will be charged 0% of the hammer price as the commission rate. Additional fees are £8 per bottle or miniature (plus VAT) and £10 reserve per lot if required (plus VAT). For more information on selling with SWA please follow this link.

Payment can be made via bank transfer. International bank transfers may incur an additional fee which will be deducted from the Seller’s payment. Payment can also be made via credit to your MySWA account to be used against future purchases. Should you wish to withdraw credit from your MySWA account to the bank account you have registered with us as a seller, please note this must be for the total amount of credit on the account, partial payments of credit are not permitted.

We may require further information from you prior to making payment to comply with our legal obligations and security, where this is the case you will be notified via email and prompted to provide the required information in your account. Failure to supply the requested information may result in payments being delayed or withheld.

Please note all payments will be made in the local currency of your IBAN account number unless you advise us otherwise, for example if you would prefer payment in GBP. Please advise if you have a specific currency that you would prefer to be paid in when booking in your bottles.

We accept no responsibility for loss incurred from bank fees or currency fluctuations where the wrong bank details have been supplied by the seller. Please ensure we have the correct bank details for you prior to payment, it is sellers responsibility to check details are correct. You can update your bank details from within 'My SWA' if you have enabled two-factor authentication.

Bidding Policy

Sellers are expressly forbidden from bidding on their own bottles. Any bottles found to have been subjected to this will be withdrawn. Anyone found to be "bidding up" the prices of bottles will be removed from the site and banned from Scotch Whisky Auctions. The use of automated bidding software is forbidden. Our system monitors all bidding activity closely and the use of automated programmes for bidding will result in immediate account closure and ban from all future auctions.

Authenticity of the lot

In the event of a dispute arising over the provenance or authenticity of any Lot, if it cannot be proved beyond reasonable doubt to be genuine and we shall be the sole judge as to authenticity and our decision shall be final) the Lot will be returned to the Seller and no monies will be due to either party.

Should a Buyer wish to raise a query as to the authenticity of a lot, this must be done in writing within 14 days of receiving the Lot in question. All disputes raised after this will be entertained at the discretion of the Company and subject to the payment status of the Seller.

Restrictions of sale:

We reserve the right to refuse any item for auction on a case by case basis this can include, authenticity concerns, potentially indecent or offensive imagery and lots that could be viewed as politically inflammatory.  This decision is final. This includes, but is not limited to, Bell’s decanters amongst others. Any items of merchandise must be officially produced or will be refused for auction.

As and when appropriate, We reserve the right to limit Lot entries for auction in the instance of a new release. These releases may be limited to one bottle per person per auction for the first 3 auctions following the release.

We reserve the right to limit any reserve on new releases, that have not yet sold on our platform, to the primary retail price.

We reserve the right to charge for admission into auction, even if the Seller removes the item from sale.

Restrictions regarding reserves on Lots

Reserves are placed at the discretion of the Company. Our policy is:

- No reserves under £100 per lot

- Reserves are not to be higher than 80% of a previous sale.

- For new releases, the highest we will place reserves is at their original retail price.

All decisions are made by the discretion of the Directors and can be subject to change without prior warning.

Seller Cancellation

Sellers have the right to cancel a lot provided for auction and receive a credit of listing / reserve fees if already paid, up to 7 days prior to the auction commencement date. The Company must receive notification from the seller of their wish to cancel, in writing, no later than 7 days prior to the auction live date.

In the event that a Seller wishes to cancel the contract with us to Auction items, the following applies:

• Within 7 days of auction commencement date, but before the auction is live, it is at our discretion as to whether to acquiesce to your request to cancel. In the event of our agreement to cancel your contract we reserve the right to charge a reasonable administration fee and listing/reserve fees for the removal of the items.
• While the auction is live, it is at our discretion as to whether to agree to accept your request to cancel. In the event of our agreeing to cancel, we reserve the right to retain all listing fees, reserve fees and charge an admin fee of £30 + VAT per lot

In the event that a Seller cancels a contract to enter items, the Seller may collect the items from our office within 7 days or request shipping at their own cost. It is the Seller's responsibility to ensure that there is adequate insurance for any loss or breakage to items whilst in transit. Failure to collect items or pay for shipping may result in the bottle being relisted with all costs deducted from winnings.

In the event where bottles have been relisted automatically as a result of a buyer failing to respond to our communications, provide instructions for the bottle or unpaid storage/shipping fees, the right to cancel still applies as above. However, the buyer must provide instructions for the bottle and pay any outstanding invoices if applicable to complete the cancellation.

BIDDERS / BUYERS

Registration with Scotch Whisky Auctions

All bidders are required to be registered on the site. For this Bidders are required to pay a one off fee of £7.50 (plus VAT). This is non-returnable.

Bidding policy

A bid is an irrevocable offer made by a Bidder to buy the listed Item.

Bids cannot be retracted. The company reserve the right to prevent the bidder from any future participation in the auction as a result of bid retraction.

Once the auction has ended, the winning bid cannot be retracted.

Bidding Limits

New customers will be subject to a bid limit initially upon opening their account to bid on bottles. New bidders wishing to make bids over the initial limit may make a deposit to their account to be redeemed against purchases. Should you wish to bid higher than your initial bidding limit you can select to remove the credit limit and make a deposit within 'My SWA'.

Should you fail to spend your deposit credit within your account you are free to request a refund to your original payment method. International customers please note Scotch Whisky Auctions accept no liability for exchange rate fluctuations or international transaction fees imposed by your card provider.

Responsibilities of the Bidder

Please examine the images of the bottle, packaging and labels carefully and satisfy yourself as to their condition before making a bid. Once a bid has been made, no claims will be entertained for damage that was evident before the bid was made, whether it was explicitly mentioned or not.

Upon request lots can be viewed in person, at our Glasgow office by appointment, prior to an auction closing.

You acknowledge that under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, s28 (1)(d)(i) and (iii) refunds do not apply to the sale of alcoholic beverages by Auction and thus do not apply to this website or any transactions completed through it.

Bidders are required to conduct their own research and due diligence. All Items are sold on an “as is” basis

Payment of purchases

Payment must be completed in full within seven days. All goods are not the property of the buyer until paid for in full.

Cash or Personal Cheque with Bankers Card, all major Credit/Debit Cards, Bankers Draft or BACS Transfer are all acceptable methods of payment.

Returned cheques will incur a £25 charge plus VAT to cover banking fees and administrative costs. In an instance of a second Returned cheque, we reserve the right to terminate the arrangement and, if agreed to, we shall insist on future cash transactions only. Consequently, all bookings and/or transactions and agreements entered into will cease with immediate effect until such time as any and all outstanding monies are recovered in full.

Buyers will be charged a premium of 12.5% of the hammer price plus VAT/GST (Singapore) in addition to the Lot price.

Late Payment

All payments made late i.e later than 7 days after the auction, will incur a late payment fee of 3% plus VAT if applicable in addition to the order total.

If there has been no payment within seven days, at our absolute discretion, we may decide to cancel the contract and offer the bottle(s) for sale at a future auction(s). We reserve the right to seek recovery of any monies remaining unpaid sixty days from the date of invoice via Collection Agencies and/or through the Small Claims Court in the event that the outstanding balance does not exceed £3000. In such circumstances, you shall be liable for any and all additional administrative and/or court costs.

Credit cards

Scotch Whisky Auctions Ltd does not hold any credit card records for people who use this site. If you buy at auction using a credit card, you will be taken to a secure third party site which handles all our transactions. Your credit card information is never seen by us.

In the event that a chargeback is made by the customer via their credit card company we reserve the right to immediately ban the account while our investigations take place. We reserve the right for this ban to become permanent and our decision is final.

Storage of lots - Storage Solution

Buyers have the option to store their winnings within our dedicated Scotch Whisky Auctions Storage Facility. In order to take advantage of our storage facility buyers must pay 3% + VAT of the hammer price with a minimum charge of £5.00 + VAT per bottle on an annual basis for loss and breakage cover as a condition of using the facility, this is non negotiable. We will not accept bottles for storage within our dedicated storage facility without loss and breakage cover. Our storage service is subject to availability, should you apply for storage and we don't have availability we will get in touch to discuss your options.

The 3% loss and breakage cover is non refundable at any time and will be charged per bottle for storage up to 12 months. Upon the expiry of the initial 12 month period, should the customer leave their bottle in storage, a further 3% loss and breakage fee with a minimum charge of £5.00 + VAT per bottle will automatically be invoiced to your account each year for renewal. Renewal fees must be paid within 7 days. In the event fees are not paid within 7 days, we reserve the right to relist the bottle for auction where possible and deduct all costs from the proceeds. Proceeds will be credited to your account as a voucher within 21 days of the auction closing which can be redeemed on future purchases or you can apply for a refund of the credit balance. In the event of a rejected lot where we are unable to relist, we reserve the right to destroy and dispose of the contents should we receive no reply to communications within the timeframes stated above.

We accept no liability for bottles on our premises that are not either entered into our auction, booked into our dedicated storage facility or with unpaid fees for long term storage renewal. Failure to collect your winnings within 21 days post auction, bottles left without instruction or entry into the storage facility through either failure to instruct or unpaid fees will result in your bottles becoming uninsured. We will not accept liability for any bottle under these circumstances.

Delivery of Lots

Delivery via courier will incur additional charges. These are set by the Company and are final. An up to date price list is on the Website and can also be obtained by request from the Office.

Buyers are welcome to collect their Lots in person at the Office address during opening hours; Monday to Friday 10am – 6pm by appointment only. You may assign another person to collect on your behalf by nominating a Proxy from within My SWA.

Buyers should be aware that it may take up to 14 working days from receiving payment before the bottles are dispatched. The Company aims to dispatch orders as quickly as possible but Buyers should be aware of this during times when there are a high levels orders.

A signature is required at the point of delivery. If the Buyer is not available to receive the order, a suitable person of Legal Age must be available to sign as per the Courier's terms. If the Buyer chooses to have the order left at a location then the Company do not accept any liability for loss or damage of the Goods.

Full details on delivery and loss and breakage cover can be found here.

We accept no responsibility for loss or costs incurred where a customer has opted out of loss and breakage cover on a shipment. By removing loss and breakage cover you acknowledge that you ship entirely at your own risk.

Delivery and forwarding of items purchased outwith Scotch Whisky Auctions

There will be an Admin Fee to cover the administrative handling of bottles as detailed below.

You are responsible for informing SWA of:

- tracking numbers for the delivery ( SWA must know in advance of the delivery of the items)

- the value of the items being delivered

Your name and contact details must be in the box with your items!

Collection of Lots

Buyers are welcome to collect their Lots in person but this must be done after 10am in order to comply with Scottish Licensing Laws. If you wish for someone else to collect items on your behalf, you must nominate a Proxy from within your account. The Proxy collector should bring photo ID and your order number(s) for reference.

Bottles without Instruction

Customers must select to collect, ship, enter into long term storage or relist bottles within 21 days of an auction closing from within My SWA or by contacting us. This also applies to rejected lots and bottles that have failed to meet reserve. Cancelled listings must have instructions within 7 days of cancellation. In the event of a buyer failing to provide instructions within 21 days of an auction closing, or 7 days in the event of a cancelled listing, bottles will be automatically submitted into our Long Term Storage facility and 3% + VAT of the hammer price with a minimum charge of £5.00 + VAT will be invoiced to the customers account. These fees must be paid within 7 days. In the event fees are not paid within 7 days and communications are ignored, we reserve the right to relist the bottle for auction where possible and deduct all costs from the proceeds. Proceeds will be credited to your account as a voucher within 21 days of the auction closing which can be redeemed on future purchases or you can apply for a refund of the credit balance. In the event of a rejected lot where we are unable to relist, we reserve the right to destroy and dispose of the contents should we receive no reply to communications within the timeframes stated above.

Local Customs Charges

Some International deliveries may incur local customs charges. We are not responsible for the payment of any local Customs or Duties. All invoices will be stated at their true value, no exceptions will be made. By bidding in the auction you are accepting full responsibility for these charges. We accept no liability and cannot refund orders where local customs fees have not been paid and bottles have been returned to us, and where costs are incurred for refused deliveries, this will be invoiced to your account.

We accept no responsibility for the accuracy of addresses supplied by the Buyer or processing of customs charges. Where extra information is required by the local customs teams or a Buyer requests a shipment to be returned, we reserve the right to charge an administration fee of £25 to cover our costs and time in addition to any other costs incurred.

Loss and Breakage liability cover

This is offered to all customers at a cost of 3% of the hammer price. This cover premium will attract VAT where applicable.

If Buyers do not want to take out Loss and Breakage liability cover for shipping, this must be selected at the checkout stage of the purchase. Please note for customers wishing to avail of our in house dedicated storage solution, loss and breakage cover must be taken out to use the service. Should customers wish to ship bottles we have accepted into our storage facility within 12 months of paying a premium, no further loss and breakage cover payment is required, providing bottles are shipped prior to the expiry of the current paid 12 month term.

If the shipment is received and appears to be damaged, it is the responsibility of the Buyer to sign the courier's sheet in accordance with the actual condition. It is not sufficient to sign "unexamined".

If for any reason damage does occur, it is essential that You contact Us as soon as this is discovered. Photos of the damage must be sent via email to mail@scotchwhiskyauctions.com

No refunds will be given if there is no evidence provided of the damage / breakage of the bottles. We are unable to offer refunds for orders which sustain damage in transit that do not have Loss and Breakage liability cover. By removing loss and breakage cover you acknowledge that you ship entirely at your own risk. SWA will not be responsible for any loss or costs incurred. For more information on loss and breakage cover please read our delivery page. Our customer service policy can be read here.

Special Provision as to the shipping and conditions of the goods

Due to the various ages of bottles and their seals, no claim can be lodged against failure/leakage in transit. Every effort is made by Us to ensure that the Lots reach You in good condition, the age of the bottle notwithstanding. Similarly, bottles with wax seals are not covered by the Loss and Breakage cover or standard courier liability. SWA accept no claims for these bottles.

SWA accept no liability for items held in storage that are not bottles. For instance, wooden cradles/plinths, presentation items etc may show signs of contraction after periods in storage where our warehouse temperatures are designed to keep bottles of spirits only.

ALCOHOL WHOLESALER REGISTRATION SCHEME (AWRS)

Scotch Whisky Auctions has been deemed ineligible for certification on the AWRS by HM Revenue and Customs. The Company primarily deals with private individuals in the usual course of our business. Any dealings with businesses are on an incidental basis and therefore regarded by HMRC as insufficient to justify registration on the scheme.

ACCOUNT SECURITY

Scotch Whisky Auctions regularly reviews customer accounts for security and fraud prevention. We reserve the right to restrict any account for further identification checks at any time. Any information we collect about you remains private and is in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Client records are regarded as confidential and therefore will not be divulged to any third party. We reserve the right to do so if legally required by appropriate authorities or to comply with our legal obligations.

FORCE MAJEURE

Neither party shall be liable to the other for any failure to perform any obligation under any Agreement which is due to an event beyond the control of such party including but not limited to any Act of God, terrorism, war, political insurgence, insurrection, riot, civil unrest, act of civil or military authority, uprising, earthquake, flood, global pandemic or any other natural or man made eventuality outside of our control, which causes the termination of an agreement or contract entered into, nor which could have been reasonably foreseen. Any Party affected by such event shall forthwith inform the other Party of the same and shall use all reasonable endeavors to comply with the terms and conditions of any Agreement contained herein.

WAIVER

Failure of either Party to insist upon strict performance of any provision of this or any Agreement or the failure of either Party to exercise any right or remedy to which it, he or they are entitled here under shall not constitute a waiver thereof and shall not cause a diminution of the obligations under this or any Agreement. No waiver of any of the provisions of this or any Agreement shall be effective unless it is expressly stated to be such and signed by both Parties.

AVAILABILITY

You are solely responsible for evaluating the fitness for a particular purpose of any downloads, programs and text available through this site. Redistribution or republication of any part of this site or its content is prohibited, including such by framing or any other similar means, without the express written consent of the Company. The Company does not warrant that the service from this site will be uninterrupted, timely or error free, although it is provided to the best of its ability. By using this service you thereby indemnify this Company, its employees, agents and affiliates against any loss or damage, in whatever manner, howsoever caused.

LOG FILES

We use IP addresses to analyse trends, administer the site, track user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information. Additionally, for systems administration, detecting usage patterns and troubleshooting purposes, our web servers automatically log standard access information including browser type, access times/open mail, URL requested, and referral URL. This information is not shared with third parties and is used only within this Company on A need-to-know basis. Any individually identifiable information related to this data will never be used in any way different to that stated above without your explicit permission.

COOKIES

Like most interactive web sites this Company’s website [or ISP] uses cookies to enable us to retrieve user details for each visit. Cookies are used in some areas of our site to enable the functionality of this area and ease of use for those people visiting. Some of our affiliate partners may also use cookies.

LINKS TO THIS WEBSITE

You may not create a link to any page of this website without our prior written consent. If you do create a link to a page of this website you do so at your own risk and the exclusions and limitations set out above will apply to your use of this website by linking to it.

LINKS FROM THIS WEBSITE

We do not monitor or review the content of other party’s websites which are linked to from this website. Opinions expressed or materials appearing on such websites are not necessarily shared or endorsed by us and should not be regarded as the publisher of such opinions or material. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices, or content, of these sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of these sites. You should evaluate the security and trustworthiness of any other site connected to this site or accessed through this site yourself, before disclosing any personal information to them. This Company will not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage in whatever manner, howsoever caused, resulting from your disclosure to third parties of personal information.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Copyright and other relevant intellectual property rights exist on all text relating to the Company’s services and the full content of this website.

This Company’s logo is a registered trademark of this Company in the United Kingdom and other countries. The brand names and specific services of this Company featured on this web site are trademarked.

NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES

The Company reserves the right to change these conditions from time to time as it sees fit and your continued use of the site will signify your acceptance of any adjustment to these terms. If there are any changes to our privacy policy, we will announce that these changes have been made by email.

You are advised to re-read this statement on a regular basis.

These terms and conditions form part of the Agreement between the Client and Scotch Whisky Auctions Ltd, www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com, and www.scotchwhiskyauction.com. Your accessing of this website and/or undertaking of booking or Agreement indicates your understanding, agreement to, and acceptance of, the Disclaimer Notice and the full Terms and Conditions contained herein. Your statutory Consumer Rights are unaffected.

USER INFORMATION

Scotch Whisky Auctions does collect and analyse information from people who visit our site. Information tracked may include your Internet address and which pages you visited. Personal information, such as your name and email address, is not stored in this process. By using www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com, you agree to allow us to collect this information about your use of our site.

REMOVING YOUR INFORMATION

Scotch Whisky Auctions Ltd may send email notices about new services or information to those who have registered with an email address. If you ever wish to be excluded from these mailings, please send an email message to mail@scotchwhiskyauctions.com with a request that you be dropped from future emailings.

At any time, users may request that their information be removed from our database by sending an email to mail@scotchwhiskyauctions.com. After you have been removed from our files, certain portions of our website may no longer be available to you.

Users may also request a copy of all information Scotch Whisky Auctions Ltd has collected about them by signing and mailing a letter of request to the address listed below.

PRIVACY POLICY

Scotch Whisky Auctions Ltd recognises your right to privacy. Any information we collect about you remains private and is in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Certain portions of our web site (www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com) may require you to sign in or create an account. Your private information (which may include your name, address, email address, and other information) may be shared with trusted third-party organisations for the purpose of making or receiving payments from you our improving our service to you. View our Privacy Policy in full here

COMMUNICATION

This company is registered at Unit C, 139 Lancefield Street, Glasgow. G3 8HZ

If you have any further questions about this web site or privacy policy, please contact:

Scotch Whisky Auctions Ltd

Unit C 139 Lancefield Street

Glasgow G3 8HZ

Tel: +44(0) 141 243 2585

Email: mail@scotchwhiskyauctions.com

© Scotch Whisky Auctions Ltd 2024 All Rights Reserved