Eastbourneauction Reviews 49

I purchased three lots from Eastbourne Auctions and paid my invoice in full before travelling approximately three hours to collect them.

When I arrived, I was informed that one of the lots I had purchased (a George Carter & Sons silk plush top hat) had already been released to another buyer during the collection process. The auction house confirmed this had happened in error.

I was able to collect the other two items, however the hat had apparently already been sold on by the person who received it, so it could not be recovered. The only resolution offered was a refund of the £20 hammer price.

While mistakes can happen, it was frustrating to travel such a distance to collect an item that had already been released to someone else. The situation suggests the invoice or paddle number may not have been properly verified before the lot was handed out.

I hope procedures are reviewed so that paid-for items are checked more carefully during the collection process.
Further to my review they had the audacity to block me from all their auctions despite this being caused by their incompetence

Horrible experience with this auctioneer. I always read the terms and conditions especially about shipping and I saw nothing in theirs which excluded international shipping so I went ahead and bid on a small 15cm tall ceramic jug and won it for 90 GBP. They then refused to ship it stating it was fragile. I offered to buy insurance and take all responsibility but I was ignored. Their recommended outside shipper didn't even bother to reply to my request for a quote. This all caused a few days delay in my payment and I then received a public blacklisting from Eastbourne due to this issue. They have got their precious payment now but I swear I will never deal with them again and advise everyone to also avoid them.

Great Auction house, friendly and competent. All emails answered very quickly, shipping and packing are to a very high standard. And thank you to Peter, who is very knowledgeable on shipping polices. Great staff who endeavour to do their best. Not sure what the gripe is with some bidders/buyers maybe they can't read/understand before bidding.
Overall very good experiences with Eastbourne Auctions and hopefully conduct more business soon.
Thanks all, Scott H-C. Ba(hons)

I bought an item that was sold for the hammer price of just over £2,000 from them through the Saleroom.com. I was charged almost £800 commission on top of the hammer price making it way overpriced!. Bidders beware! 38,4% commission is the highest I have seen and is just a rip off! AVOID!

Buyer beware. Take note of the other negative reviews as I wish I had. An extremely unpleasant experience.

Avoid avoid avoid. Such a shame. Dealt with a lot of stuff from our family, mainly a man called Liam. Dropped prices without asking, sent abusive messages to someone at their end of life. Donated items to charity without asking. Will be reporting the disgusting emails I have to trading standards. Unfortunately they need closing down! Shame as the concept is great. Poor staff ruin a nice idea. Sort yourselves out.

As I am about 300 miles away from Eastbourne, I had to bid without viewing the items , but the descriptions are accurate. They didnt reply to my e-mail, despite my jokes being at least to the standard of the auctioneers. Items were well packed and quickly delivered.

Don't transfer money and don't answer emails. Be careful!

Another house scamming buyers on postage and aggressive. Three sets of earrings posted £15. Glad I missed the other lots saved a fortune in post.
Another house on my black list, avoid untill they change behavior.

The awful auctioneers threat me and let me remove negative feedbacks. I won't do that, because all are genuine, even they can let me go on the auctions blacklisting. Don't buy and bid any lots on this auctioneer.

Have been using Eastbourne Auctions for the past 30+ years. Shane, Glen, Kevin and the rest of the 'crew' are all super knowledgeable, friendly and work tirelessly to achieve the best possible results. I highly recommend this Auction House to all

My recent experience with Eastbourne Auctions was extremely negative. I purchased a lot described as “antique silver” items. On receiving the lot, I immediately found that at least one of the items was not silver, but pewter — an obvious difference for any professional.
I contacted the auction house, who acknowledged the issue and requested a return for inspection, promising a refund. I returned the lot at my own expense, and they received it on 20 June 2025. As of today, no refund has been issued, and communication has ceased.
There are only two explanations when an auction house lists pewter as silver: either the staff lack even basic professional competence to distinguish metals, or the auction is intentionally misleading buyers. In both cases, I strongly recommend avoiding this auction.
Based on my 23 years in the antiques trade, most reputable auctions resolve such issues immediately and apologise to the buyer. Here, I encountered only delay, evasion and unprofessionalism.
There are far better and more honest auction houses in the UK.
B. Giller Investor / Principal
Gillers Antiques Ltd

I absolutely love Eastbourne auctions
Great staff, Great service and lots of Great items
Top-notch all round
many thanks
Michael

I buy from numerous Auction Houses and have used these a few times in the past with no problems on authenticity etc Last item I had issues with arranging collection via a third party and I have to say they were really helpful and went above and beyond with helping me. Great job thank you.

Poor descriptions of items (looks like it’s made on purpose), poor or aggressive communication, outsourced delivery very expensive. Never again!

FLY FAR FROM THOSE SCAMMERS...you paid, they never give you news ? You write for asking what about...they never answer ?? Of course I'm foreigner ...they will never have problems in return...THE LEVEL ZERO OF AUCTIONNEERS !!!
BidderNumber: 2291
InvoiceNumber: 7607

An old school rip off auction house. Purchased about 15 camera lenses, every one full of fungus or badly damaged inside, auction house was very crafty in not showing photos of the lens fronts as this would have clearly shown the very obvious fungus and damage to the lenses, no mention of any of the issues in the descriptions either. Contacted the auction house, they couldn't care less, the usual "should have got a condition report and all items sold as seen" rubbish.
Will not use again, very dodgy practise, most auction houses now will accept returns for obviously damaged items, not this one.
This auction house must have the lowest rated reviews in the entire country. Avoid!

I always find the people at Eastbourne Auction's really friendly and helpful whenever I go to pick up any lots I have won.
Also I think their online payment system is very straightforward and the fact you can book a time to collect your lots is an extra bonus.

As per previous reviews - how I wish I'd looked on here before bidding with them - this is the worst experience I've had buying at auction in the past 10 years.

I also bought a lot of vinyl LPs, two large boxes full - but upon receipt, every single record was scratched and unplayable, fit only to be disposed of as waste.

When I contacted Eastbourne Auctions to complain and ask why they are selling lots in this condition without clarifying the poor condition, they trotted out the old "all goods sold as seen", "you were afforded the opportunity to come and inspect the items" blah blah blah.

Why on earth would a business purposefully sell lots of entirely damaged, unusable items without stating so, unless they are actually seeking to rip people off? It's only ever going to result in unhappy customers, yet they clearly continue to do so with no concern for their reputation, which I now realise is already woefully bad.

Therefore I will NEVER be bidding with Eastbourne Auctions again and I would strongly advise anyone else considering so to steer well clear and avoid them like the plague, unless you have a penchant for spending good money on broken, useless items you cannot use, sell or give away.

Just unbelievable!

Bought a lot of records (75 items) that were in such poor condition 80% of them are now in the recycling bin!

Heavily scratched (unplayable and unsaleable) , sleeves falling apart and albums that should have had 2 records only having 1!

Their heavily inflated postage charges leaves a lot to be desired and their attitude to customer service belongs in the dark ages.

All in all - the WORST auction house experience possible.