For professional probate valuations, please visit our Probate Valuation Page

Consign your items

Once you have received a valuation and have decided to sell with Leighton Hall Auctions, there are several convenient ways to consign your items:

Store Them with Us

If your items were brought to a valuation day or assessed at our Stone, Staffordshire auction house, you are welcome to store them safely with us until the auction day.

Drop Them at the Auction House

For items valued at our saleroom or during a home visit, you can arrange to drop them off at our premises. Please contact us in advance to schedule an appointment so our team can receive your items efficiently.

Private Courier

For larger lots, such as furniture or oversized items, we can arrange collection via trusted private couriers anywhere in the UK, ensuring safe and secure transport to our saleroom.

When your items arrive at our auction house, we will record your full details and issue a Receipt of Goods, signed and dated by the valuer. For every sale your items are entered into, you will receive a pre-sale advice letter with estimates, lot numbers, and any reserve information.

All items left in our care are fully insured, giving you peace of mind from the moment they arrive until they are sold.

Research of Items

At Leighton Hall Auctions, our valuers carefully assess and organise consigned items into lots to achieve the best possible results for our vendors. Each lot is then catalogued in our advanced auction software with accurate descriptions, detailed estimates, and high-quality images.

For items unfamiliar to our team, we conduct thorough research on antiques, collectables, and other specialist items, ensuring every lot is correctly described and presented. This attention to detail helps attract serious buyers and maximises the potential of your items at auction

Pre-Sale Advice

Approximately 1–2 weeks before the auction, vendors who have provided an email address will receive a pre-sale advice email. This includes your lot numbers, descriptions, and estimates for all items you have consigned.

We recommend reviewing this information carefully and contacting our office promptly with any questions or corrections, ideally before the official catalogue is released. This ensures your items are accurately represented and presented to achieve the best possible results at auction.

Marketing Your Items

We take a proactive approach to marketing all consignments, ensuring your items reach the widest possible audience. Each lot is carefully presented with high-quality photographs, detailed descriptions, and accurate estimates to attract collectors, trade buyers, and enthusiasts.

Our auctions are promoted through multiple channels, including:

• Our website and online catalogue

• The Saleroom and Easy Live Auction platforms

• Targeted email newsletters to our buyer database

• Social media campaigns showcasing highlights from each sale

• Local advertising and press releases in Staffordshire and the surrounding areas

By combining traditional marketing methods with modern online promotion, we maximise exposure for your items, helping to achieve the best possible results at auction. Whether selling a single antique, a valuable collectable, or a full house clearance, our marketing strategy is designed to reach both local and national buyers.

Auction Day

On auction day, your items are offered for sale as outlined in your pre-sale advice. Prior to the sale, each lot has been showcased to collectors, dealers, and enthusiasts through our extensive marketing and advertising, reaching both local buyers and a global audience of antique and collectable enthusiasts.

After the Auction

Post-Sale Advice

Within a few hours of the auction ending, vendors receive a Post-Sale Advice email showing the realised prices for each lot or indicating if any items were unsold.

Please note that these prices are subject to the purchaser completing the transaction.

Approximately 2–3 weeks after the auction, you will receive a full Auction Statement detailing each lot, along with your final amount payable after our charges.

Payment

Payments are made via bank transfer or cheque, unless otherwise agreed, typically within 2–4 weeks of the auction date.

Unsold Lots

For any unsold items, there are two options:

1. Re-offer the lot in the next appropriate auction

2. Collect the lot from our Stone saleroom if you prefer not to re-offer it

We kindly ask that you confirm your preferred option within one week of the auction date to allow us to manage your items efficiently.

If you have any questions or queries about the Selling Process, please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information (Monday - Friday, 9AM-5PM).

Sellers Commission Explained:

At Leighton Hall Auctions, we believe we offer good value for our sellers' commission as we strive to ensure we achieve the best results for our vendors. An auction is a great way to sell your items and collections because it is a completely honest and transparent service. As our business is entirely reliant on charging a commission, we promise that it is genuinely our best intentions to achieve the highest price possible as it is highly in our interest to do so.

VAT:

VAT at the current rate of 20% will be added to all commissions, premiums and charges.

Vendors Commission:

We charge 15% + VAT Sellers' Commission on the hammer price of the item (18% inc. VAT).

Entry Fee:

We also charge an entry fee for every auction lot that is entered in the sale regardless of whether the item is sold or not.

For Antiques & Collectors Auctions, this fee is £3 + VAT per lot (£3.60 inc. VAT).

For Fine Antiques & Specialist Auctions, this fee is £5 + VAT per lot (£6.00 inc. VAT). 

• The above terms are negotiable for large or high value consignments.
• There are no further fees payable. We don't charge photography fees, insurance fees, storage fees or any other form of fee as some auction houses do. We strive to provide a high value service for our vendors and to ensure that you receive a high quality experience. 

If you choose to consign with us, we will ensure that lots are of saleable quality to ensure that you get the best results available! 

Our Commitment

At Leighton Hall Auctions, our service is easy, hassle-free, and fully insured, giving you peace of mind throughout the selling process. We pride ourselves on delivering a personal, bespoke service, ensuring each item is handled with care and presented to achieve the best possible results for our vendors. From the initial valuation to the moment your items are sold and payments are made, our experienced team is dedicated to making the entire process smooth, professional, and rewarding.

For more information on the reasons why you should sell at auction, visit our comprehensive guide, here.

If you have any further questions about our services, please don't hesitate to contact us!