Terms & Conditions

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Filing conditions applicable to the seller/depositor


1.  The ROPS Auction house is managed by the s.r.l. ORGANI-VENTES-COMMISSAIRES PRISEURS ASSOCIES - hereinafter referred to as "the ROPS auction house" -, whose registered offices are established at Avenue d'Ecolys 2, box 1, 5020 Namur, registered at the crossroad bank of enterprises under number 0463.749.080. 


2.  These conditions are an integral part of the contract concluded with the seller/depositor. The seller/depositor recognises that he has read them and accepts them without reservation. In the event of conflict between the conditions of the seller/depositor and these conditions, the latter shall prevail. In case of conflict or difficulty of interpretation between the different versions of the general conditions, those expressed in French shall prevail.


3.  The seller/depositor irrevocably charges the ROPS auction house, which accepts, to publicly sell the items listed on the deposit slip and to collect the auction price. Any registration on the website www.rops-online.be as well as any participation in the auctions implies the knowledge and the prior and unconditional acceptance of the present conditions. For the purposes of these terms and conditions, the sale session is understood to be the sale - taking place over several days - of the various lots/items listed in the online catalogue. 


4.  The commission due to the ROPS auction house is fixed at 15%, unless another agreement between the parties, of the auction price, to which must be added a fixed amount of 5€ per lot/item to cover administrative costs and insurance; these 5€ are due even if the lot/item has not found a buyer. The seller/depositor expressly authorises ROPS auction house to retain this commission (as well as any resale rights) from the auction price. There is no auction below 10 €. 


5.  All estimates of probable sale prices communicated either verbally or by written, whether on the deposit slip, in the sale catalogues or in any other document, are only indicative and do not constitute an actual sale value or a guaranteed minimum price. Under no circumstances can the ROPS auction house be held responsible for auction prices lower than these estimates. The ROPS auction house reserves the right to refuse any bid, to proceed with any decision, reunion or withdrawal of lots without having to give any justification for its decision. 


6.  The seller/depositor may, in agreement with a ROPS auction house employee, impose a minimum bidding amount for a lot/item. In this case, this amount will be listed as the reserve price in the column of the slip and will be signed off by a ROPS auction house employee. Under no circumstance may the reserve price be higher than the minimum estimate of the item. 


7.  The ROPS auction house reserves the right to refuse any bid, to proceed with any decision, to reunite or withdraw lots/items, for appropriate reasons. The ROPS auction house may, in particular, reoffer any lot/item for auction on the basis of an irresponsible bidding procedure as soon as it considers it appropriate.

 

8.  The seller/depositor is prohibited from trying to recover the items registered for sale and from bidding on his own items or through a third party. 


9.  The seller/depositor shall be fully responsible for the defects of his deposits, and guarantees to ROPS auction house that he is the unique owner of the objects and has all the rights of sale; likewise, the seller/depositor guarantees the strict accuracy of the information on the front of the deposit slip and expressly declares himself fully responsible in this respect. No employee of ROPS auction house is authorised to give any guarantee as to the nature and/or value and/or description of the items offered for sale. ROPS auction house may not be held responsible in any way for the mentions and descriptions of the objects, nor for any infringement of copyright or other intellectual property rights, nor for any other legal or regulatory infringement related to the items or lots displayed, offered, auctioned or sold in the catalogue and/or on the website of ROPS auction house. This responsibility is fully incumbent on the seller/depositor, who shall assume full responsibility for the description of the items, as well as for the legality of his actions and of the items or lots that he instructs ROPS auction house to offer for sale. The seller/depositor guarantees that his items or lots are in conformity with the applicable laws and regulations, that he is the owner of the intellectual property rights attached to these items or lots, and that these items or lots do not affect the rights of third parties. 


10. The seller/depositor guarantees ROPS auction house and its related companies against any claim (in particular relating to infringements of regulations, property rights, intellectual property rights, consumer rights or unfair commercial practices) and/or responsibility that may arise as part of the advertising, offering, auctioning or sale of items or lots that the seller/depositor has instructed ROPS auction house to sell/auction. The seller/depositor shall immediately inform ROPS auction house of any claim or procedure and undertakes to defend ROPS auction house (and its related companies) at its own expense and to indemnify it (and its related companies) against any costs and/or compensation. 


11. In the event that the successful bidder/purchaser exercises the right of withdrawal as provided in the VI.47 and following articles of the Belgian Code of Economic Law, the sale shall no longer be effective and the item or lot(s) concerned may be reoffered for sale - at the minimum estimated price - by the ROPS auction house in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in these conditions. The seller/depositor alone shall assume the costs resulting from the exercise of the right of withdrawal referred to hereabove, to the full discharge of the ROPS auction house, and undertakes to immediately return to the ROPS auction house any amount that he may have received in the meantime and resulting from the sale of the lot(s)/item(s).


12. Circumstances such as war, earthquakes, floods, fires, epidemics and the resulting health measures shall be considered as circumstances of force majeure when they have the effect of making the execution of the contract impossible; ROPS auction house does not have to establish the unforeseeability and irresistibility of the event. The ROPS auction house shall inform the seller/depositor as soon as possible of the occurrence of a circumstance constituting force majeure. The occurrence of a case of force majeure shall confer the right to the ROPS auction house to suspend the execution of the contract or to dissolve it in whole or in part without any obligation to pay compensation. 


13. In the event of damage, the seller/depositor may only claim from the ROPS auction house, assuming that the company's liability is in question, the cost of repairs and, in the event of total disappearance, an indemnity that may not in any case exceed the minimum estimate set out in the slip. In no case shall ROPS auction house be liable for an amount greater than that which its insurance company will actually pay. 


14. In no case can the ROPS auction house be held responsible for non-payment by the buyer; in such a case, the seller/depositor may, at the earliest 90 days after the sale, have the items not removed and not paid for by the buyer returned, under his exclusive responsibility and against presentation of the slip. 


15. The amounts due from the ROPS auction house shall be paid to the seller/depositor, provided that the buyer has paid the auction price and the costs himself. 


16. The seller/depositor allows the ROPS auction house all rights to photograph, at any time and at its absolute discretion, any object, in particular for its catalogue, advertising, etc. the ROPS auction house may mention in its catalogues and advertising the provenance of the objects. 


17. The seller/depositor irrevocably undertakes to pay any resale rights and this in full discharge of the ROPS auction house and the buyer; the seller/depositor authorises the ROPS auction house to deduct the amount of any resale rights from the auction price. 


18. Any amount due by the seller/depositor on any grounds whatsoever to the ROPS auction house and not paid on its due date shall automatically and without letter of formal notice bear interest at the legal rate plus 2%.  Any month begun being due in full, in addition, and without prejudice to the application of the aforementioned interest, any amount whatsoever due by the seller/depositor to the ROPS auction house and not paid on its due date shall be increased by right and without letter of formal notice by 15% as a lump-sum compensation. 


19. Unless otherwise agreed, the costs of transport (van, truck) carried out in Belgium are free of charge at the time of collection at the seller's/depositor's location, insofar as this is carried out by the ROPS auction house. However, the objects remain at all times at the risk of the seller/depositor and under no circumstances can the ROPS auction house be held liable for damage, loss or theft during transport. Any cleaning costs at the seller's/depositor's premises as well as the costs of using a hoist or lift remain the responsibility of the seller/depositor and will be invoiced to him. The return of unsold items is at the charge of the seller/depositor; unsold items must be returned by the seller/depositor within 5 calendar days of the end of the session, failing which the ROPS auction house will apply a storage fee of €5 per day and per lot/item (with a minimum of €50) which it will retain on behalf of the seller/depositor. Furthermore, after a period of 15 calendar days, the ROPS auction house may, at its own discretion, without letter of formal notice and without any compensation being due, either put the lot/item back on sale - by reducing the amount of the bidding by at least 30%, or transfer the lot(s) to furniture storage at the depositor's expense, risk and peril, or dispose of them freely (without any compensation or financial consideration). No payment for an item sold will be made to the seller/depositor until the seller/depositor has taken back his unsold items. 


20. If any provision(s) of these Terms and Conditions should at any time become invalid in whole or in part for any reason, it shall be deemed that such provision(s) may be severed from these Terms and Conditions without affecting the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions. The contracting parties will then immediately negotiate in good faith a valid provision to replace the invalid provision, which corresponds as far as possible to the purpose of the invalid provision. 


21. The contract between the parties is submitted to Belgian law. All disputes to which the present contract could give rise shall be subject exclusively to the jurisdiction of the courts of Namur. When the ROPS auction house is the plaintiff, it reserves the right to bring its action before other courts. 

 

 

Terms and conditions of purchase 


1.  The present conditions are those of the s.r.l. ORGANI-VENTES-COMMISSAIRES PRISEURS ASSOCIES - Registered at the Crossroad bank of enterprises under the number 0463.749.080 - Whose registered office is located at Avenue d'Ecolys 2, box 1 at 5020 Suarlée (Namur), hereinafter referred to as "the ROPS auction house". Any registration on the website www.rops-online.be as well as any participation in the auctions implies the knowledge and the prior and unconditional acceptance of the present conditions, as well as the complete explanation of the sales process, available on the following link: https://www.rops-online.be/aide. In case of conflict between the present conditions of sale and those of the bidder/adjudicator/purchaser/buyer - each of these terms may hereinafter be used indistinctly to designate them -, the present conditions of sale shall prevail. In case of conflict or difficulty of interpretation between the different versions of the general terms and conditions, those expressed in French shall prevail. The present conditions shall also prevail, if necessary, over the information contained in the explanatory note to the conditions of sale.


These conditions are available in the auction room and are reproduced in all the catalogues of each sale; they are also described on our website www.rops-online.be in the sections dedicated to this purpose. 


2.  All lots/items are sold on our website www.rops-online.be to the highest bidder. 


3.  The highest and last bidder will be the successful bidder. He will be obliged to pay the hammer/auction price of the lot immediately, plus 25% for fees and VAT. The ROPS auction house reserves the right to refuse any bid, to proceed with any decision, merge or withdrawal of lots without having to justify its decision. 


4.  The information contained in catalogues, advertisements, brochures or any other written material issued by the auction room must be considered merely information that does not in any way entail the liability of the ROPS auction house. ROPS does not guarantee the accuracy of any statement regarding the author, origin, date, age, attribution, provenance, weight, condition or material of the lot/item. No employee of the ROPS auction house is authorised to make any guarantees in this regard. Consequently, buyers themselves must ensure the the nature of the lots and their material condition before the sale. ROPS auction house cannot in any event be held liable for any violation of copyright or other intellectual property rights, or for any other legal or regulatory infringement related to the items or lots displayed, offered, auctioned or sold in the catalogue and/or on the website. 


5.  The profits and risks are transferred to the buyer as of the auction. However, he shall not become the owner until the price and the ancillary costs have been paid in full. Any claim or complaint must, under penalty of inadmissibility, be notified by registered letter within 10 days of the auction, under penalty of inadmissibility. Any shipment made by an intermediary (Bpost, UPS, Fedex, ...) will be made at the request, cost and exclusive risk of the buyer and at the full discharge of the ROPS auction house. 


6.  In the case of a dispute or an error in the auction, the lot will be reoffered for sale at a later sale. The auctioneer shall have the final say on any dispute that may arise during the sale. 


7.  Buyers are required to pay for and take possession of the lots awarded to them within 15 calendar days following the auction. After this period, the ROPS auction house may, at its own discretion, without letter of formal notice and without any compensation being due by the ROPS auction house, have the lots/items transferred to storage at the expense and risk of the buyer, or, consider the sale automatically cancelled (without letter of formal notice) to the detriment of the buyer and dispose of the lots/items as it pleases (in particular, by putting them back up for sale or by returning them to the depositor(s) concerned).


8.  Without prejudice of legal proceedings for payment against the defaulting buyer and to the provisions set out in point 7 above, the unpaid lots within the above-mentioned period may be reoffered for sale by irresponsible bidding as soon as the ROPS auction house deems it appropriate. In this case, the buyer will be required to pay the possible price difference as well as all fees and expenses relating to the sales necessary to be able to auction the lot again. He will not be able to claim the exceeding amount if there is one. 


9.  Bills and account statements are payable on receipt. Any amount unpaid on the due date shall automatically and without letter of formal notice bear interest on arrears at the legal interest rate plus 2%. Moreover, in the case of non-payment on the due date, the amounts due shall automatically be increased by a flat-rate compensation of 15% by way of conventional interest, with a minimum of €75 and independently of the interests for late payment. This provision also applies to the ROPS auction house if it is liable to pay amounts to the successful bidder. Furthermore, these costs will be added to a custodial fee of €5 per day and per lot/item kept for the account of the successful bidder, which will be charged from the 15th calendar day following the auction, with a minimum of €50. All successful bidders are deemed to have acted on their own behalf and are held personally responsible for the payment of the lots awarded to them in any capacity whatsoever. They must pay the amount in Euros, Visa, Mastercard, Bancontact before their collection and within the time limit stipulated above, and will remain responsible for any damage caused to and by the lot after its adjudication. 


10. All sales to a European Union national are subject to the special margin scheme, VAT not deductible. 


11. Any bid sent electronically on the platform www.rops-online.be commits the bidder. 


12. In the context of online sales, a purchaser in its capacity of consumer may exercise a right of withdrawal - in accordance with the legal conditions set out in VI.47 and the following articles of the Code of Economic Law -, unless the auction/sale occured under the supervision of a ministerial/judicial officer and that the acquirer/successful bidder was able to attend.


The right of withdrawal implies that the buyer renounces the purchase and returns the item(s) to the ROPS auction house, after which the price already paid will be refunded. In order to exercise the right of withdrawal, the purchaser must inform the ROPS auction house by an unequivocal statement (e.g. in writing, by post or by e-mail) or via the withdrawal form available on the following link:


https://economie.fgov.be/sites/default/files/Files/Forms/Formulaire-de-retractation.pdf.


The right of withdrawal expires fourteen days after the first day following the taking of possession of the items/lots concerned. The right of withdrawal cannot be exercised before the acquirer has paid the purchase price and collected the items/lots. All direct costs of custody and/or return of the goods shall be for the purchaser's account. The burden of proof regarding the exercise of the right of withdrawal is exclusively on the purchaser.


13. All users of the www.rops-online.be website, as well as all bidders/buyers undertake on their honour, at all times, to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information communicated to the ROPS auction house, both when registering on the website and when updating their information and communications with the ROPS auction house. 


The ROPS auction house may at any time verify the identity of users/bidders/buyers and may verify the authenticity of registration data. This verification and authentication will always be in accordance with the laws on the protection of personal data, as described in particular in the ROPS auction house privacy policy, available via the link below: https://www.rops-online.be/privacy. 


14. As an entity subject to the law of September 18, 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and the limitation of the use of cash, ROPS Auction house reserves the right to request from users/bidders/buyers any type of information or documents that it deems necessary to enable it to comply with its legal and regulatory obligations. 


15. Regardless of the total amount, a payment may not be made in cash in excess of € 3000 within the framework of a transaction or a set of transactions that appear to be linked.


16. If any provision(s) of these Terms and Conditions should at any time become invalid in whole or in part for any reason, it shall be deemed that such provision(s) may be severed from these Terms and Conditions without affecting the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions. The contracting parties will then immediately negotiate in good faith a valid provision to replace the invalid provision, which corresponds as far as possible to the purpose of the invalid provision. 

 

17. In the case of a dispute, the courts of Namur shall have exclusive jurisdiction.