Consignment Agreement Template

A consignment agreement is the contract between an auction house (the agent or consignee) and the owner of the property (the consignor) under which the property is delivered for sale. It defines who carries which risks, what fees are payable, what happens if the lot does not sell, and what each party warrants. Operators want a clean, plain-English template they can adapt rather than starting from blank — and consignors increasingly demand to see the agreement before delivery, not after. This template gives you both a usable contract structure and a clause-by-clause walkthrough so you can explain it to a first-time consignor without a lawyer in the room.

What's inside

• A standard consignment agreement covering parties, lot identification, reserve, commission, expenses, payment, no-sale provisions, withdrawal, warranties, and governing law.
• A plain-English walkthrough of each clause for use with consignors.
• Notes on common variations (commission tiers, marketing levies, insurance carry).
• Honest limitations and the legal-review reminder again at the foot.

Consignment agreement template

1. Parties

This Consignment Agreement is made on [Date] between:

• [Auction House Legal Name], of [Registered Address], company number [Number] ("the House"); and
• [Consignor Legal Name], of [Address] ("the Consignor").

2. Property consigned

The Consignor delivers to the House the property described in Schedule A (the "Property"). Each item of Property is referred to as a "Lot". The House will assign final lot numbering at cataloguing.

3. Sale and authority

The Consignor appoints the House as exclusive agent to sell the Property at public auction (or by private treaty, where so agreed in Schedule A) on the terms of this Agreement and the House's standard Conditions of Sale, which the Consignor confirms having reviewed.

4. Reserve price

For each Lot, the Consignor and the House agree the reserve price set out in Schedule A. The reserve is confidential and shall not exceed the published low estimate. The House may, at its discretion and on the Consignor's behalf, accept a hammer not lower than the reserve. Where no reserve is agreed, the Lot is offered without reserve and will be sold to the highest bidder.

5. Estimates

Pre-sale low and high estimates for each Lot are set by the House in consultation with the Consignor. Estimates are professional opinions, not guarantees of price.

6. Commission and buyer's premium

• Seller's commission. The Consignor shall pay the House a seller's commission of [X]% of the hammer price of each Lot sold, plus VAT or sales tax where applicable.
• Buyer's premium. The House charges the buyer a buyer's premium calculated as a percentage of the hammer price under the published Conditions of Sale. Buyer's premium is retained by the House in addition to seller's commission.

7. Expenses

The House may charge the Consignor for the reasonable expenses set out in Schedule B, which may include:

• Cataloguing and photography
• Insurance during the consignment period (see Clause 9)
• Marketing and advertising allocations
• Shipping, handling, and storage
• Conservation or restoration approved in writing by the Consignor
• Withdrawal fees (see Clause 12)

Expenses are deducted from sale proceeds. Where a Lot does not sell, expenses remain payable by the Consignor.

8. Settlement and payment

The House shall remit net sale proceeds to the Consignor — being the hammer price less seller's commission, expenses, and any taxes properly withheld — within [35] days after the date of sale, conditional on the House having received cleared funds from the buyer. Where the buyer defaults, the House is not obliged to pay the Consignor in respect of the unpaid Lot, but will use reasonable efforts to recover.

9. Risk and insurance

• Risk in the Property passes to the House from the date the Property is received at the House's premises until the earlier of (a) delivery to the buyer following sale, (b) return to the Consignor following no-sale or withdrawal, or (c) the end of the agreed storage period.
• Insurance is provided by the House at the Consignor's cost (per Schedule B) at a value equal to the mid-estimate (or another agreed figure) against standard fine-art / specie risks excluding wear and tear, gradual deterioration, inherent vice, and acts of war.

10. No-sale (bought-in) Lots

If a Lot does not sell at auction, the House may, with the Consignor's consent:

• Re-offer the Lot in a future sale, subject to a renewed reserve;
• Negotiate a post-sale offer with an under-bidder; or
• Return the Lot to the Consignor.

In each case, agreed expenses remain payable. A reduced commission (the "after-sale commission") may apply to negotiated post-sale offers.

11. Withdrawal by the Consignor

The Consignor may withdraw a Lot before the catalogue is published without charge other than expenses incurred. After catalogue publication, withdrawal incurs a withdrawal fee of [X]% of the mid-estimate plus expenses, save where the House agrees in writing to waive.

12. Warranties by the Consignor

The Consignor warrants that:

• The Consignor has good and unencumbered title to the Property and full authority to sell;
• The Property is not subject to any export restriction, cultural-property restriction, or other encumbrance not disclosed to the House;
• All material information about provenance, attribution, condition, and prior restoration has been disclosed;
• The Consignor will indemnify the House for any loss arising from breach of these warranties.

13. Authenticity and the House's claw-back

The House operates an authenticity guarantee under its Conditions of Sale, typically a [5-year] claw-back from the date of sale where a Lot is shown to be a counterfeit or wrongly attributed. Where the House is required to refund a buyer under the authenticity guarantee, the Consignor will refund the net proceeds previously paid in respect of the affected Lot.

14. Confidentiality

The terms of this Agreement, the reserve, the Consignor's identity (where the consignment is anonymous), and the buyer's identity are confidential and shall not be disclosed save as required by law, regulation, or court order.

15. Data protection and AML

The House processes the Consignor's personal data and runs customer-due-diligence checks under applicable AML and data-protection laws. The Consignor agrees to provide identification and beneficial-ownership information on request.

16. Force majeure

Neither party is liable for failure to perform owing to events outside its reasonable control, including natural disaster, war, pandemic, government action, or platform failure.

17. Governing law and jurisdiction

This Agreement is governed by the laws of [Jurisdiction]. The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of [Jurisdiction].

18. Entire agreement

This Agreement, together with Schedule A, Schedule B, and the House's Conditions of Sale (incorporated by reference), constitutes the entire agreement and supersedes all prior arrangements.

Signed for and on behalf of the House: _______________

Signed by the Consignor: _______________

Schedule A — Property and Reserves

Schedule B — Expenses Schedule

• Photography: _______________
• Cataloguing: _______________
• Insurance (% of mid-estimate): _______________
• Marketing levy: _______________
• Storage (per Lot per month): _______________
• Other: _______________

Plain-English walkthrough

Clauses 1–3 (Parties, Property, Sale). This is the "who and what". You're naming the house and the consignor and saying the consignor is handing over specific items for sale through the house, on the house's standard conditions. The exclusivity language (the consignor appoints the house as agent) is the bit that stops the consignor selling the same piece privately while you're cataloguing it.

Clause 4 (Reserve price). The reserve is the floor below which the lot will not sell. It's confidential — bidders aren't told what it is — and it can't be higher than the published low estimate, otherwise it's misleading. If there's no reserve, the lot is "absolute" and goes to the highest bidder, whatever that is.

Clause 5 (Estimates). The pre-sale estimate is a professional opinion, not a guarantee. We're saying so explicitly because lots that fail to meet estimate are a frequent source of disagreement.

Clause 6 (Commission and buyer's premium). Two fees flow to the house from a sold lot. The seller's commission comes out of the consignor's proceeds at an agreed percentage of the hammer. The buyer's premium is a separate percentage charged on top of the hammer to the buyer; the house keeps it.

Clause 7 (Expenses). Cataloguing, photography, insurance, marketing, shipping, and any approved restoration are all costs that get deducted from the proceeds. The key fairness point: if the lot doesn't sell, those expenses are still payable. Most disputes here come from consignors who didn't realise they were paying for catalogue photography even on bought-in lots — so the schedule should make this explicit.

Clause 8 (Settlement and payment). The standard pattern is 35 days after sale, contingent on the buyer paying. If the buyer defaults, the house doesn't have to pay the consignor for that lot — the house is acting as agent, not as principal.

Clause 9 (Risk and insurance). From the moment the property arrives at the house until it leaves, the house carries the risk and the house's insurance covers it, but the consignor pays the premium (as part of expenses). The exclusions — wear and tear, gradual deterioration, inherent vice, acts of war — are standard fine-art-policy carve-outs.

Clause 10 (No-sale Lots). A lot that fails to sell can be re-offered, sold by post-sale negotiation, or returned. Each option has its own commission treatment, which you negotiate up-front.

Clause 11 (Withdrawal). Once the catalogue goes out, withdrawing a lot has a real cost — the house has spent money on it. Withdrawal fees of 5–15% of mid-estimate are typical; some houses waive in good faith for first-time consignors.

Clause 12 (Warranties). The consignor is promising they own the property cleanly, they have the right to sell, they've told the house about anything material, and they'll cover the house if any of that turns out to be untrue. This is the most important clause from a risk-management point of view.

Clause 13 (Authenticity claw-back). Reputable houses guarantee authenticity for a defined period (usually five years) and refund the buyer if a lot is shown to be a forgery. The consignor's exposure is to refund the house the net proceeds — because the consignor was the source of the (in retrospect, unsellable) property.

Clauses 14–18 (Confidentiality, AML, Force majeure, Governing law, Entire agreement). Standard contract hygiene. The AML clause is critical in 2026: under EU 5AMLD, UK MLR 2017, and a tightening APAC perimeter, the house has to run CDD on the consignor and may need to ask for ID and beneficial-ownership documentation.

Limitations

• The commission rates and expense percentages are blanks deliberately — they vary by category, lot value, and competitive pressure between houses. Your house's published or negotiated rates go in the brackets.
• This is a single-transaction consignment template. If you have a long-running agency relationship with a major collector, a different framework (a master consignment agreement with sale-by-sale schedules) is more appropriate.
• Real-estate auctions, foreclosure auctions, charity auctions, and some industrial-equipment auctions use very different agreement structures. This template is oriented to art, antiques, watches, jewellery, books, wine, and general-line lots.
• The authenticity claw-back in Clause 13 is jurisdiction-sensitive — UK and US standard practice differ on the duration and on the standard of proof. Adapt locally.
• Tax language (VAT, sales tax, withholding) is heavily jurisdictional. The bracketed VAT references in Clause 6 are placeholders for proper local treatment.