Dominic Winter Auctions Reviews 8

In one word: Fantastic! Many auction houses worldwide can learn from Dominic Winter Auctions how to serve their (potential)clients. 5 star and well deserved. Thanks, also for the perfect packaging/shipping. First experience but i will come back. Thanks all (and specially Sarah)

Was highly recommended by Exeter Bookbinders for knowledge, expertise and service. Couldn't have been better, professional with a personal service too!

As a seller who has had little experience of selling things at auction I was most grateful for the support I received from Nathan Winter and his team. They were generous with their time, clear in their explanations, careful to make minor corrections to the written description when I asked them to - and payment was made in a timely fashion. Their estimates were accurate and their enthusiasm and appreciation of the items I showed them was most encouraging. I shall be making use of their services again in the future.

I took them a selection of goods to sell and they managed to lose around half of them . I had to call them frequently to ask why my items weren't being sold and was told they were somewhere in a container and they would look for them.
After around 2 years they managed to find the last [?]
missing lot , they had sold it under an 'owner unknown ' category , they actually had the cheek to charge me commission on it ,that was the last straw.
They are pleasant but inefficient.

I have only used this auction house as a buyer on a couple of occasions but I found them to be really helpful in providing transport and sending goods. The location seemed to be rather difficult to get to by public transport however.

As an on-line buyer I find DW auctions amongst the best with excellent lot descriptions, very reasonable commission and excellent in-house shipping, again for very reasonable sums. I really enjoy the bidding process as the video feed adds a good sense of 'auction' and one can see clearly that each lot is given ample time to achieve its potential.
Compared to every other auction house that I've used, DW is the easiest to buy through.

My experience as a buyer was previously without problems. However my latest experience as a seller a few months ago was truly heart breaking. I had put on sale 3 books that included an extremely rare first edition of the Fishes of Zanzibar from my collection of Zanzibar and East African first edition 19th century books and memorabilia. I had bought the book 15 years ago from a sale by Christie's for a higher value of this sale. It was sold "in a rush" after less than 30 seconds bidding for just the minimum of the estimate, 3 thousand pounds, minus the high charges of the auctioneer. Regrettably I had not negotiated the reserve expecting a very respectable attitude by the auctioneer. I was following the auction on line and I could perceive together with friends following the auction with me that the auctioneer "looking" at someone in the saleroom ( as he mentions at the end of the "bidding ")........ In other words that he had an agreement with someone to assure the bidding process was truly very fast. I have a copy of the video that I would be glad to share with anyone interested. I have just discovered that the book is now on sale for 4 times the hammer price ( 12500 Euros) in one of the European rare book shops. I made some enquiries and i gave proof that after the sale to a professional rare book dealer in U.K. it went to Holland and is now in Austria. Regrettably I haven't a concrete evidence ( how could I?) that would stand in court, that the auction house is fraudulent with their selling clientele and I was advised by my legal adviser to let it go as bitter as it is. I however would strongly advise anyone interested in rare books not to trust anyone from the team and especially the owner of the auction house that was indeed in charge of the sale bidding in my case. They obviously have their links with rare bookstores and professional dealers with private deals that are not good for the seller. Do not trust their estimates and especially their reserve values. In other words don't sell precious books through them. They have a dodgy way of dealing with collectors as another client a year ago mentioned in another review that I regrettably did not read before entrusting them with the sale of my books. Hope this is helpful to all of you. Best regards Lorenzo Savioli

I've won a lot from Dominic Winter Auction and it wasn't mace with the description they wrote Coral, but the lot is plastic not authentic coral. and
I asked the gentle man who's name is Henry Meadows he surprised and ask me to send it back, I spend $189 via DHL and reached them, they refused to take it back, because have to pay £21 duty fee. i say it you can take it from my refund, but finally as agreed and today refused it again.
i'm say that may they are big company but have a small brains for sure.
very bad communication and very bad service. I won't buy anything from them any more. Sonam