East Bristol Auctions

This is a B grade auction house with next to zero customer service
Packaging for international shipping is simply appalling, absolutely no care or responsibility taken for damage
I wouldn't trust them to send a letter undamaged, someone should tell them that one layer of bubble wrap and one layer of cardboard over an ornate gilt frame isn't sufficient for international shipping which is a service they claim they offer

East Bristol Auction House has been wonderful from start to finish. I won some lots on their website and postage was a fair price and I even got them just 3 days later. Simple, no hassle, and very friendly service.

I bought a lot and asked they post it. It arrived broken. It was caused by bad packing. I know that they cannot insure ceramics. I wanted to alert them to bad packing and did expect an apology. This is the response i got. Make your own mind up.

I can see your emails - which do only date some 48 hours previous. Given the current situation, I'm sure you can appreciate our staff may have very different working environments at present, hence the delay. With the current situation in mind, I do not think waiting 48 hours for an email response is poor. If you want to destroy several years of buying from us based on that alone, then so be it. It would be a shame.
All ceramics and glassware that we send are completely uninsurable in the postal system - you'll note it says this on your invoice.
Regards

Andrew

If you are a seller i would not sell with them. I enterd a victorian grandfather clock esitimate by them £150 £250 sold
Allegedly sold after sale for£35 (see pick). Inlaid music cabinet esitimate by them £50 • £80 aĺlegedly sold after sale
£10 after min commission £8•40 return £1•60 easy to end bidding early to sell after sale for fraction of true value avoid
Completely untrustworthy stay clear

Whilst the auction house clearly states items are posted at the buyer risk, they do not take the time or diligence to post items in accordance with Royal Mail guidelines (as stipulated on the RM website). Inevitably our purchase arrived broke.
We accept accidents happen, yet the auction house advises that they have done nothing incorrectly... if only they could check & follow guidelines.

On writing this review we see that we are not the only person to write the above... so our advice would be simple, "Do not ask them to post" as they lack any expertise in doing so.

No apologies offered, just denial of fault, really poor customer service experience.

Best auction results ever, gave a review in February, and results have
Improved, I set a reserve of £500 Aiden the auctioneer set reserve £800
It made £1600, they sell in the European (veiling) auction way, if things
Don't sell, it goes to timed online bids over a 10 day period, then most
Sell, they are well ahead of the game on this,
I have no association with this auction room, only know them
Through selling and more than impressed with EBA

David Biggs Chambers, East Devon

Bottom of the pile when it comes to auction houses. Absolutely clueless and the worst experience ever. Do not deal with them unless you have a wish to be ripped off and overcharged. Terrible.

I recently bought a lot from East Bristol Auctions which was not as described as i live away from the area i could only go on the description. WHAT I RECIEVED IN NO WAY MATCHED THE DESCRIPTION. H aving been in touch with them they told me that was my bad luck and would not refund any monies i suggest anyone thinking of using this auction house should think very carefully.

When my husband died I was left with a houseful of 59 years of things collected during our marriage. East Bristol Auctions collected the objects carefully with respect, and have sold them over a year in various auctions. This has meant a steady supply of money for my family, I could not have wished for better results, and want to thank them all for their kindness and care, Judith Brown

East Bristol Auctions advertised the year wrong on the item in there auction that I won, stating 1943. When I got the item the date says 1953. I emailed them and they said to bad, They are Liers and Dishonest not to be trusted. Buyer beware...

After buying from East Bristol many times over the last 18mths and always collecting before storage cost were added to any winning lot, imagine our complete and utter dismay when we discovered that This auction house sold our winning lots valued at over £1000! The did not even have the professional courtesy to contact us and say no one had collected our winning lots.
A courier service who had is well known to East Bristol Auctioneers was booked to collect our stuff as we were still in Australia due to Covid awaiting return.
They sold our items with NO contact to us. We had no idea they still had them. My husband went to collect a chair from them in August and they never said to him that other items were still there.
It was not until I returned to the UK in sept and went thru our furniture did I notice we were missing things for the house.
We will never buy thru East Bristol again. Many many other auction houses have been only too kind and understanding with our predicament. Shame on you.

I wish to thank East Bristol Auctions for the way they handled the sale of our star wars figures and toys. All the staff were
Friendly and helpful and I was impressed with Andy and Aiden. I was able to watch some the auction on line.
From the early discussions, the collection from our house, the valuation, the auction and and payment
Into my account all went exceedingly well. I would have hesitation in recommending them to other users
And will be back again I am sure with other times.
Best wishes John Harrison

I cannot give enough praise to this auction house superb service from start to finish the staff go the extra mile to help with anything the packing department do a first class job I would recommend this auction house to all I will definitely be keeping my eye on there future listing many thanks to you all at East Bristol auctions

I had a heart attack and was in…
I had a heart attack and was in hospital, I missed paying for a knife and had shi**y emails when I was able to read my phone, I replied and apologised and asked if I could pay the invoice which was only a week or so late but was told no I can't pay for it now, so I tried to log in to my saleroom account but this auction blocked me on there over a £20 knife, I emailed asking to please unblock me on there on numerous occasions but always been ignored, terrible company steer clear

I would never purchase from this auction. Items damaged when posted to me. I advised then of this. My message was ignored for over a week. I complained about this. In reply i had an aggressive reply from them. I would advise against buying with them. Terrible customer service.

I used these when i moved from my home of 62yrs. They were kind and courteous and i made money rather than throw things away thanks to them. They made it very easy for a 93yr old who has never used an auction before and i feel i made some friends. Thank you to all the staff at East Bristol Auctions, you have been amazing.

Bought at one of the on line auctions, description said it was a Herman Miller studio 7.5 Mirra 2 chair.
This was one of four auctioned on the same date in June 2020.
The seat ripped, so hard luck to me I thought.
But it turns out that the chair is not a Mirra 2 but a much older Mirra chair.
Feel like I have been totally misled by the auction description as a Mirra chair is much older and far less desirable than a Mirra 2.
Despite complaints East Bristol Auctions is quoting that they can not be held responsible for wrong descriptions,
Absolutely gutted as I have spent many hundreds of pounds on a chair that is not as described.
Hope you are not one of the other buyers taken in by this outfit as they refuse to accept they have done anything wrong
They belong to no recognised auction body and answer to no one.
I advise extreme caution if you wish to but from them.
I am currently contacting trading standards, but they are not bothered.
Make your own minds up.

I have given one star as I cannot award zero stars. I bid and paid for a 9ct gold, 1.5 carat diamond ring. I also paid for postage and insurance to cover all eventualities. The ring was supposedly sent to me in a sealed cardboard box. I picked up the box from the Post Office and immediately suspected something was wrong, because the box was so light, so I shook it and could hear nothing inside. I asked the PostMistress and the shop owner to witness me opening the package, as I was aware that otherwise, it would by my word against the auction house. I carefully opened the box, cutting through the gaffer tape that bound the package along all edges and found it was filled with blue polystyrene packaging. I removed each pellet and found that the ring was missing. I took pictures of this and contacted East Bristol Auctions immediately. The lady was very polite asked if I had checked the box. I told them that I had and the ring was missing and they said that they would investigate this, although the lady did say "I was a bit surprised when you mentioned the box being light, since a ring is not heavy at all so I don't see how you could tell whether there is a ring inside or not by holding the parcel in your hand." I suspected it was empty as I had recently purchased a ring from a (reputable) seller and there was weight in that package and I could hear movement as I gently shook the box. What she did say was that ring was packed in a bag, which was then placed in a larger bag and the carton sealed. I told them that the carton had certainly not been tampered with and sent them pictures of the box before and after it was opened. I have 2 witnesses who will testify to the box being empty. I was concerned with the actions of the auction house, as time had passed with no contact, I had notified my bank of the issue because I paid using my debit card. The auction house assured me that ring had been packed in their small packing room, although there was no bag or ring, or even a courtesy card. The bank advised me to contact the seller, which I did and I informed them that my bank had been made aware of the item being missing. I heard nothing from the auction house for 1 week, ending 12th October and the bank advised me that they would deal with it. East Bristol Auctions took the action of blocking me from bidding on their's and their partners' site, stating "We do take chargebacks really seriously so we will now be forced to block you from bidding with us going forward.", so no mention of me paying immediately for a valuable ring that I bought being missing? Thank God my bank is reputable and does not tolerate items being paid for and not delivered.

Unique Auctions, 1 parcel weighing 6.6kg, postage charged £24.00
Auctioneum Ltd, 1 parcel weighing 6kg, postage charged £50.38

Sold some items with them and was very impressed with their service and the prices i got. I needed to buy a new car and they even paid me quicker to allow me to do so. Would recommend.

My experience with them left me feeling cheated. They had a slick answer for everything. In summary if your going to deal with them, make sure your local. I've dealt with a few other British auction houses. But these guys have some odd policies that will leave you with a foul taste. Their online bids are locked to a minimum £20 while locals can bid as low as £1. When I won a bid I was asked to pay by paypal but I was also asked to gift the payment. When I went to sell an item they refused to pay me because the fees was only just below the sale price. They charged more then £8 in commissions for a £10 item. The item was sold by local auction and unlisted so I wasn't able to check it's original listing price. They didn't bother to tell me when the auction was, they charged a listing fee, VAT, internet fee, selling fee, and a flat rate auction fee. Then they refused to pay me because after all the fees, the payment to me which was only by paypal incured an exchange fee and they refuse to pay it. So they on charge all fees, including their own banking fees. They offered to ship my items at 30% more then other auction houses. I would have like to negotiate but they took a month to reply to any emails. Dealing with them took more then a year because of their constant delays in email. On a side note, they even charged VAT knowing full well I was not in the UK or EU.

The person who helped me with my purchase, Andy, was extremely friendly and went out of his way to help me. My item was packaged extremely well and arrived with me very quickly.
I would not think twice about purchasing from this auction house again and would highly recommend to anybody.

Excellent auction house - communication wonderful, and the auction results were fantastic. They were so helpful. Thank you!