Conditions of Sale for Fine Wine and Spirits

1. Waddington’s conducts auctions of fine wine and rare spirits as agent for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (the “LCBO”) and all such auctions are authorized by the LCBO. All auction sales shall be deemed to take place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

2. All purchasers of alcoholic beverages through an auction must be nineteen (19) years of age or older. Proof of age may be required prior to the transfer of any purchased goods, including, but not limited provision of photo identification.

3. All lots are sold “AS IS”. Any description issued by the auctioneer of an article to be sold is subject to variation to be posted or announced verbally in the auction room prior to the time of sale. While the auctioneer has endeavoured not to mislead in the description issued, and the utmost care is taken to ensure the correct cataloguing of each item, such descriptions are purely statements of opinion and are not intended to constitute a representation to the prospective purchasers and no warranty of the correctness of such description is made. No opportunity of inspection is offered prior to the time of sale. No sale will be set aside on account of lack of correspondence of the article with its description or its reproduction, if any, whether colour or black & white. Some lots are of an age and/or nature which preclude their being in pristine condition and some catalogue descriptions make reference to damage and/or restoration. The lack of such a reference does not imply that a lot is free from defects nor does any reference to certain defects imply the absence of others.

4. Each lot sold is subject to a buyer’s premium of 20% of the successful bid price as part of the purchase price.

5. Unless exempted by law, the buyer is required to pay Harmonized Sales Tax on the total purchase price including the buyer’s premium. For international buyers, taxes are not applicable when purchases are shipped out of country. Items shipped out of Ontario, the buyer is required to pay taxes as per the tax status of that province, whether it HST or GST (Goods and Services Tax). Purchasers are solely responsible for ensuring that they comply with all laws or regulations in relation to international shipping or the import of alcohol, including, but not limited to the payment of customs charges and duties.

6. The auctioneer reserves the right to withdraw any lot from sale at any time, to divide any lot or to combine any two or more lots at his sole discretion, all without notice.

7. The auctioneer has the right to refuse any bid and to advance the bidding at his absolute discretion. The auctioneer reserves the right not to accept and not to reject any bid. Without limitation, any bid which is not commensurate with the value of the article offered, or which is merely a nominal or fractional advance over the previous bid, may not be recognized.

8. Each lot may be subject to an unpublished reserve which may be changed at any time by agreement between the auctioneer and the consignor. As previously agreed to as between the auctioneer and the consignor, the auctioneer may bid, or direct an employee to bid. In addition, the auctioneer may accept and submit absentee and telephone bids, to be executed by an employee of the auctioneer, pursuant to the instructions of prospective purchasers not in attendance at the sale.

9. The highest bidder accepted by the auctioneer for any lot shall be the buyer and such buyer shall forthwith assume full risk and responsibility for the lot and must comply with such other Conditions of Sale as may be applicable. If any dispute should arise between bidders the auctioneer shall have the absolute discretion to designate the buyer or, at his option, to withdraw any disputed lot from the sale, or to re-offer it at the same or a subsequent sale. The auctioneer’s decision in all cases shall be final.

10. The auctioneer will notify the successful buyer that they have won the bid.

11. The buyer shall pay for all lots within 48 hours from the date of the sale, after which a late charge of 2% per month on the total invoice may be incurred or the auctioneer, in his sole discretion, may cancel the sale. The buyer shall not become the owner of the lot until paid for in full. Items must be removed within 30 days from the date of sale, after which storage charges will be incurred at a rate of $4.00 per case per month.

12. Each lot purchased, unless the sale is cancelled as above, shall be held by the auctioneer at his premises or affiliated storage facility at the sole risk of the buyer until fully paid for and taken away.

13. Notwithstanding Section 3, if the buyer, prior to removal of a lot, makes arrangements satisfactory to the auctioneer for the inspection of such lot by a fully qualified person acceptable to the auctioneer to determine the genuineness or authenticity of the lot, to be carried out promptly following the sale of the lot, and if, but only if, within a period of 14 days following the sale a written opinion of such person is presented to the auctioneer to the effect that the lot is not genuine or authentic, accompanied by a written request by the buyer for rescission of the sale, then the sale of the lot will be rescinded and the sale price refunded to the buyer.

14. Payment for purchases must be by INTERAC direct debit (applicable to Canadian in-person clients only), certified cheque (not applicable to U.S. and international sales), travelers cheque, bank draft, electronic transfer (fee applies), and VISA or Mastercard (up to $25,000).

15. In the event of failure to pay for or remove articles within the time limit set out in Section 11, the auctioneer, without limitation of the rights of the consignor and the auctioneer against the buyer, may resell any of the articles affected, and in such case the original buyer shall be responsible to the auctioneer and the consignor for:

a. any deficiency in price between the re-sale amount and the amount to have been paid by the original buyer; b. charges in relation to the storage of such articles in accordance with Section 11 until payment and removal by the subsequent buyer; and c. the amount of commission which the auctioneer would have earned had payment been made in full by the original buyer.

16. It is the responsibility of the buyer to make all arrangements for insuring, packing and removing the Consigned Goods purchased and any assistance by the auctioneer or his servants, agents or contractors, in packing or removal shall be rendered as a courtesy and without any liability to them.

17. The auctioneer acts solely as agent for the consignor and makes no representation as to any attribute of, title to, or restriction affecting the articles consigned for sale.

18. The auctioneer reserves the right to refuse admission to the sale or to refuse to recognize any or all bids from any particular person or persons at any auction.

19. If you are a licensee licensed to sell liquor under the Liquor License Act and you purchase alcoholic beverages in an auction to resell pursuant to your license, you must provide Waddington’s with a copy of your license.

20. With respect to our collection of your personal information, you acknowledge the following:

a. The personal information required is collected on behalf of the LCBO under the authority of Sections 3(1)(b), (n) and (o) and 3(2)(f) of the Liquor Control Act, for the purposes of controlling the purchase and sale of liquor by auction in Ontario.;
b. The collection of your personal information will be collected in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act;
c. We may disclose information relating to the auction, including but not limited to your personal information, to the LCBO.
d. Consent to disclose your personal information to a third party for storage and certain fulfilment services, strictly limited to the minimum required to validate the pick up of purchased goods.

Any questions in relation to the collection of your personal information pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act should be forwarded to us and we will forward the question on your behalf to the Manager of Freedom of Information and Privacy at the LCBO.