Postage Policy

Hamilton Salerooms offer a LIMITED packing and postage service and would therefore ask you to consider the following information BEFORE bidding.

After each auction, in particular Fine Art and Specialist Sales, we are inundated with requests to pack and send items.  We do our best to accommodate as many of our purchasers as quickly as possible but the nature of the items we are prepared to pack & post are entirely at the discretion of the Auctioneers.  For the avoidance of doubt we would always recommend that you contact us before bidding.  For items that we are prepared to pack we naturally strive to provide a quality service ensuring the safe arrival of the goods.  

We do not charge for our time to pack the items.  Our preferred method of dispatch is Royal Mail Next Day Special Delivery (Maximum insurance £2,500 - CHECK ROYAL MAIL EXCLUSIONS) but be aware that while the price of this service is "reasonable" up to 2Kg, above this weight the price of Special delivery rises to £22.55 (Including insurance up to £500 - IF THE ITEM IS NOT EXCLUDED FROM ROYAL MAILS EXHAUSTIVE LIST OF EXCLUSIONS - prices as of 2009).

 PLEASE BE AWARE THAT VERY FEW OF THE ITEMS YOU BUY FROM US ARE LIKELY TO BE COVERED FOR DAMAGE WITH ROYAL MAIL.

Items may be sent by Royal Mail Standard Parcel if the item to be sent can withstand this lower level of carriage.  CHECK ROYAL MAIL INSURANCE EXCLUSIONS. 

For larger items or those we are unable to pack we would suggest you make your own arrangements.

Couriers

Many of our buyers have accounts with couriers (such as Amtrak, UPS etc.)  but please note we do not instruct them ourselves.  You must make the contract direct with them.  In the event that you choose to instruct a non-specialist courier to collect an item we will only pack the item if it meets the criteria for items we are prepared to pack.  Please note that we will not be liable for any damage to goods sent by this method. 

 Packing Guidelines - COMMON SENSE

We pride ourselves on providing a secure and safe packing service and while there are no hard and fast rules on what we will or will not pack and post it normally comes down to common sense.  Therefore please contact us to ensure we are prepared to send a particular lot.  You should be aware that while Royal Mail Special Delivery insurance covers you for loss i.e. your parcel being lost, it will not cover you for damage to glass or china.  Many purchasers still request this service to have small items of china and glass sent (that we are prepared to pack) but please be aware that we will not be liable for damage to goods sent by us under your instruction that are excluded under the specific terms of the service you have chosen. On this basis using common sense we would be happy to send glass paperweights in the post but we would not be prepared to pack and send a porcelain tea set and certainly not a glass epergne!

 LOTS WILL NOT BE RELEASED TO COURIERS OR SHIPPING FIRMS UNTIL THE ACCOUNT HAS BEEN SETTLED IN FULL.