HOW TO SELL

Selling at PIASA is simple and guarantees you personal service in all confidence, transparency and confidentiality.

To begin with, you need to know the value of the goods you wish to offer for sale. This enables you to assess whether to sell your property or keep it, and to know if it will be offered in a catalogued or uncatalogued sale. For this you may either visit the PIASA offices to show and/or consign your property, or first send photographs of your property to the person in charge of the speciality concerned. You can find more information in the section "free valuations."

Your property will be examined by a specialist expert, and an estimate (lien vers le lexique de la rubrique Vendre à « estimation ») of its value will be addressed to you in the form of a price-band: a low-estimate (the price beneath which  we consider your object should not be sold) and a high-estimate (the maximum price we consider your object to be worth).

If you are satisfied with this estimate, you may decide to sell your object at PIASA and set a reserve price, (lien vers le lexique de la rubrique Vendre à «prix de réserve») i.e. the amount beneath which you do not wish to sell your object (but rather recuperate it, or re-offer it for sale at a later date). The reserve price may not be higher than the low-estimate; it may, however, be lower.

You will be informed of the costs involved in all sales at PIASA: these constitute a fixed percentage which includes expert’s fees, advertising, catalogue and insurance. The existence of this vendor's commission is your guarantee of our high-quality service.

We will inform you of the date of sale (usually a few weeks or months later), depending on our auction calendar and the date of your consignment.

You will then sign a sale mandate which will be sent to you by post, along with the auction catalogue (if appropriate). The sale mandate is the contract whereby you instruct PIASA to proceed with the sale of your property. It sets out the terms and conditions of sale, the costs of the sale, and the reserve price. You are thus fully informed of the sale conditions before the auction.

After the sale, PIASA will inform you by post of the results obtained by your lot(s). You may also  consult these on our website the day after the sale, but please note that prices displayed on-line include buyer's premium, and therefore do not correspond to the amount you are due. But the on-line price-list at least enables you to check whether your property has been sold or not.

PIASA is committed to paying you within 35 days of the sale (providing payment has been received from the buyer), either by cheque (sent to you or available at PIASA) or by bank transfer.

N.B. If your property sells for over €5,000, you will be subject to a plus-value tax (lien vers le lexique de la rubrique Vendre à «plus-value») at a set rate of 5% (except in certain cases requiring documentary proof).

If your property does not, unfortunately, find a taker, we will study with you whether or not to re-offer your property in a forthcoming sale. Your property may also be the subject of an aftersale offer from a potential buyer: PIASA will inform you if this is the case. You are free to accept this offer or not.

In all cases, we do everything in our power to satisfy your wishes, to ensure that the act of selling is not a source of anxiety, but an act of confidence which is straightforward and confidential.