Bonhams Reviews 

The hot garbage of auction houses. You can sell anywhere and get better prices and better returns for your time and effort.

These people have no true experts that cant be rivaled or excelled by any other auction house, and they keep 38% of the sales price? How is the input and effort from a bunch of clowns worth 38% (i.e 40%).

I wish I had never used them a waste of 6 months of effort to be placed on a sad tuesday afternoon auction.

Avoid at all costs. You can do better.

I consigned 4 lots of ceramics with each lot estimates at between £400 and £600. Their estimates, which I agreed to because they are the experts and know the current market. Reserves set at lower end of the estimates. Only one lot sold at the reserve of £400, the other 3 failing to meet the reserve. A month later and I receive my sales advice -- £73!! They pocketed £327 of £400. Never again. My advice is to avoid at all costs.

I shouldn't think it's possible to find a less professional and competent set of people. They all look the part, sound polite but are ineffectual and useless at their jobs. Put 2 items in for sale - one didn't sell because they didn't do the certification I agreed prior and they didn't admit this until I asked. The other sold at the min. reserve (shocker) but the buyer didn't pay them. I asked for the piece back and they suddenly got busy, chased it and got paid. Their fees are high, their service and professionalism are non-existent. Go somewhere else, anywhere.

Is there any way to go below the one star rating? Bonhams does not deserve even that single star. I am shocked at what happened to me. I bought a Rolex 116660 at an auction in Hong Kong last April. Bonhams pocketed an outrageous 25% fee and when it came to shipping the watch I realized it would have been cheaper to fly to HK to pick it up. Once I got it I manually wound it up, put it on my wrist and flew back to Bangkok. After 48 hours from winding, it stopped working. I thought it might have been me not moving enough my arm but no, it keeps stopping after more or less 48 hours notwithstanding the fact that I wore it all the time. Of course I wrote to Bonhams but all they did is give me the address of a watch repair shop in UK, saying that the watch is 13 years old and it is normal that it will need servicing!! So basically when you buy from Bonhams it is normal the object is not working; it is a given that on top of their fees you will have to pay also for the repairs, even though you have paid above market price and it said in the description that it was in good working order. Conclusion: stay away from Bonhams, they are not reliable, cannot trust what is written on their site and their customer service is non-existent. Read the many 1-star reviews, they all sing the same song. Legal proceedings will follow.

An excellent hotel. Staff took care of us with utmost curtesy. The service was amazing with little touches to make us feel comfortable & welcomed. Room was absolutely comfortable and equipped with everything one would wish for. Also special thank you to the man with the beard who welcomed us. 🙏😊

I bought a Corvette 1963 fuel injection on bonhams auction in paris. The car was clailed sold with its official documents including the french " carte grise". Without this document the can can't be driven on public road and furthermore the official owner can not be changed. After two months, bonhams still do not provide this mandatory document. The car is grounded in my garage. Bonhams does not answer to any letters or e mail. Legal action is ongoing. I can not understand how companies can charge 30000€ commission and literally split in their clients face.

A huge thank you to Bonhams for achieving a successful sale on our rare 1917 Lancia motor car. The process, from valuation through photography, cataloguing and press coverage to the actual sale day was hugely professional. The price achieved at the Golden Age of Motoring auction sale on November 4th was exactly in line with your guidance. Thank you.

Customer Service from here is terrible. I have asked 5 times to be taken off their mailing list as their on line request does not work, and now just being ignored when i emailed them. I am being spammed. I would not trust them with any items to sell or processing anything that has been bought.

Car auction with no reserve is fixed... no reserve means no reserve end of auction means end of auction but this does not apply to Bonhams. If the car doesn't reach close to the estimated price with no reserve at the end of the bidding time, Bonhams extends the time by doubling the bidding time. So in other words if you win the bid at the end of the bidding time on no reserve if they are unhappy with the price they extend the time I'm so more bidders can come in hope that the price goes higher good for them but not good for that last winning bidder . At no reserve should mean the last bidder win

Refused to value my property, which was previously valued at over £900 in 1997, as they claim it is below their "minimum threshold".
Nowhere do they explain what their minimum threshold is.

In late July 2022, in advance of Bonham's 1 August rare book auction, I registered with the auction house, an experience needlessly complicated due to problems on the company's website with regard to accepting required data. After several emails, those issues were solved, and Bonhams reminded me in several follow-up emails about its professionalism and commitment to customer service. On 1 August, I purchased two lots in the auction, totaling $574.39 with the buyer's premium and sales tax. Despite the 27.5% buyer's premium, I figured that I got a decent deal on the two books I purchased.

Both books could have been put in a USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate box and mailed for well under $20, fully insured for about $25. However, the original quote I received from Bonham's shipping department was $252.13. When I questioned Bonham's as to why its shipping quote was ten times the actual cost of mailing, I received no explanation, only a terse statement that "Unfortunately, this is the lowest shipping quote that our shippers were able to provide." For a more affordable alternative, Bonham's directed me to its list of approved third-party shippers, which, as it turned out, are almost all high-end shippers specializing in artwork and fragile antiques, so their quotes were not actually more affordable at all.

Finally, I tried the UPS Store on Sunset Blvd. (the last of Bonham's "approved third-party shippers"), which, almost two weeks after I initiated contact, provided a quote of "Estimated $97 (UPS Ground with declared value of $600) for collection, packing, and shipping," which, while four times the actual cost, seemed reasonable given the service provided. I promptly authorized payment on 24 August.

And then I heard nothing for a month. I finally emailed the UPS Store regarding shipment on 22 September and received a casual "Apologies for the oversight" response. When the parcel was finally shipped on 30 September, the actual cost was $99.03. I received it on 6 October, 67 days after I placed my winning bids.

As much as Bonham's might advertise the professionalism of its services, clearly, at least from my experience, it cares absolutely nothing about what happens after its clients actually place bids on auction items.

My experience mirrors that of the person who recently left a review regarding valuation of a painting. I was asked to send photos by Giulia Resti (which I did the same day) and that they would be passed to the "relevant department". Two weeks later still no response so I emailed again. This time Ballad Liao asked the same thing - so AGAIN I sent photos. Another two weeks passed and I tried AGAIN. This time Kim Murphy asked me to send photos AGAIN, which I did, explaining about the two emails already sent which had received no response. Now another two weeks have elapsed - and Guess What??? NO RESPONSE. The lack of professionalism and plain old courtesy shown by Bonhams staff is STAGGERING!! There are over 500 auction houses on line in GB. I would advise anyone considering selling to contact one of them - but if you actually want an answer don't bother with Bonhams - you will be wasting your time!!!

Impossible to sign up. Fields do not take your information. Uploads respond as if nothing was sent. Not user friendly at all. And they want me to send them money? Not a chance.

I've used Bonham's and Christies for wine auctions quite a few times over the years but recently stopped using Bonham's after I purchased a mixed case that included a fake bottle. This was supposedly a 1996 Pingus but the wine inside was pale with no deposit, had a new shiny cork with no wine ingress, and the capsule was loose and looked tampered with. A quick Google showed this had been a widely faked wine and that police had shut down a Belgian distributor, so I would have hoped for a quick refund. Instead I was told that no refund could be provided as the bottle was not in it's original condition. Very disappointing, and if buying anything above £100 a bottle from there I would strongly recommend viewing before purchase. Christies on the other hand have been excellent. A couple of times over the last decade I've purchased wines that were slightly mislabelled, and in both cases they quickly resolved the issues with an appropriate refund.

I feel terribly treated by Bonhams ,discriminated against as foreigner and for not being a VIP antique dealer.i was not allowed to sell at their auction as my piece is apparently below 2000 pounds threshold whilst at their last auction dozens of pieces sold for less then 1000 some for 100 pounds.their explanation "it's discretionary" -you read it's discriminatory!I felt deliberate slap in the face and then a sham sorry we slapped you.i wrote to senior management.instead of accepting my piece and correcting their staff mistreatment of an customer, they asked me to refrain from emailing the person who repeatedly discriminated against me .I asked to make an appointment to view an auction earlier.they asked me who I am,my name. when they realized I am not a VIP and I have foreigner accent they assumed I don't have much money and I was refused an appointment saying other people are coming.
How awful treatment of an customer in 21st century

Asked for a valuation on a quality item , no response for the second time recently. I find them arrogant, pretentious, self serving so called experts. The absolute minimum would be some sort of response, even if it was a disappointing evaluation. Any response would be better than no response at all.

Excellent and trustable Auction House

I consigned a photo in Bonhams July '21 Space Auction which was sold ($750) but the unfortunately the purchaser did not pay. After calling and emailing, A. Stackhouse (Bonhams space rep) advised in Sept.."the worst case scenario is that we can re-offer the photo". This was Stackhouse's only response until Dec '21 where he promised to chase it up, the first week in Jan '22. We're now into the third week into Jan and this guy hasn't had the common decency to reply to my emails or calls. This photo may be small $$ to a large auction house but it speaks volumes for their customer service. Bonhams also ran another Space auction in Nov '21 which my photo was not offered. I'm very disappointed with Bonhams and won't be consigning with this auction house anytime soon. Challenges happen in all business', it's how they are handled that determines the merit of a company.

Arrogant attitude. Play games with VAT fees. Recommended shippers overcharge and play dumb. Gravy train all around for them - buyer beware. Make excuses for poor service.

My son and I attended a mph aution at Bicester Heritage 3 months ago. He bid on a Ford Thunderbird but was supposedly outbid. The car didn't sell and he was told an offer for less than his bit would probably be accepted,but No one was really interested in following in it up. I believe the auction tried to run his bid up to get past the reserve price but it back fired. Later we made an offer and left it with Tyger Tholstrup who was in charge of dealing with this car. He has never contacted me but I have called in the the office on numerous occasions and tried phoning and emailing etc...
He was supposed to be trying to negotiate with the owner but 3 months later the car still sits in their compound at Bicester with flat tyres and has just been left dumped outside in the elements. It is truly disgusting and disappointing beyond belief. We own over 40 cars ranging from the 1930 - present day and are keen collectors/ restorers. Since the auction we have purchased various other vehicles for all sorts of people all of which have been better than Bonhams. We've brought vehicles for other classic/ vintage auctions and have always had good service. My son did successfully buy another car in the same auction but this didn't make them take him anymore serious.