Frequently asked questions

Setting up a Christie’s account gives you access to a world of extraordinary art and objects. As soon as you create an account, you can:

• Save your interests for personalised recommendations
• Follow lots and auctions and keep track of them in your account
• Access lot condition information

Verify your identity and you can also:

• Register and bid in auctions
• Access Christie’s LIVE™, our online bidding platform for live auctions
• View your invoices, arrange shipping and checkout online
• Track the progress of any items you're selling

Manage your communication preferences by signing into your account, going to the 'Settings' tab and then clicking on 'Communications'. You can also unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email.

To buy or sell at Christie’s, we need to verify your identity to comply with anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, and to protect against fraud. When you set up your account or register to bid, we ask for the following documents to verify your identity:

Private individuals
A copy of:

• Your passport or other government-issued photo ID
• Proof of your residential address (such as a bank statement or utility bill) dated within the last three months

You can upload your documents by signing into your account and clicking 'Complete profile' at the top of the page. You can also email your documents to info@christies.com.

Organisations
A copy of formal documents evidencing:

• The organisation’s incorporation
• Its registered office and business address
• Its directors
• Its shareholders and any ultimate beneficial owners
• Authorisation for the individuals allowed to bid on behalf of the organisation, plus a copy of the government-issued photo ID for each authorised individual

You can email your corporate documents to bidsuk@christies.com or bidsus@christies.com.

You may also be asked for a financial reference and/or a deposit as a condition of allowing you to bid. We hold and process the information you provide in accordance with our privacy notice.

Click here and enter the email address associated with your Christie’s account to be sent a link to reset your password.

There are a few different ways to buy with Christie’s. You can bid for a work in one of our regularly held live or online auctions. Check the auction calendar to see what's next. You can also buy art through our Private Sales service , which offers works available for immediate purchase. Browse by category, discover something new in our thematic selling exhibitions, or contact a specialist if you have a specific item in mind.

Find items that you’re following under ‘Buying’ in your account, or by clicking the ‘My lots’ toggle at the top of an auction page.

Before you register, you'll first need to create a Christie’s account and verify your identity. Once you’ve done so, you can register to bid in any auction.

For online auctions, sign into your account, go to the auction page and click ‘Register’. You’ll be asked to confirm some account details, such as your preferred shipping address. You can register before the auction, or any time during.

For live auctions, you can register in two ways depending on how you want to bid. For in-person and telephone bidding, register via Client Services. For absentee and Christie’s LIVE™ bidding, sign into your account and register on the auction page. We recommend registering at least 24 hours before the auction start time.

Nearly all our live auctions have a free public viewing several days before the auction date, where you can view lots in person and speak directly to specialists. Most online auctions offer viewings by appointment. Find viewing times and contact details on the auction page, along with condition reports for each lot.

To bid in an online auction, sign into your account and register to bid on the auction page. Find the lot you’re interested in and click ‘Place bid’. You can place a quick or a max bid. A quick bid allows you to place the next sequential bid on a lot in real time. A max bid sets the highest bid you are willing to place on a lot and continues to bid on your behalf until that bid is exceeded.

The countdown timer on each lot indicates how much time is left before the lot closes for bidding. If a bid is placed within three minutes of the closing time of a lot, the lot will remain open for three additional minutes, until no further bids have been placed and a highest bidder has been determined.

Before participating in an online auction, please ensure that the device you’re bidding from is set to automatically update its clock, for the best bidding experience.

Bidding generally opens below the low estimate and advances in increments of up to 10%, subject to the auctioneer’s discretion.

The buyer’s premium is a percentage of the final hammer price that the buyer pays in addition to the hammer price of an object. In addition to the buyer’s premium and hammer price, the buyer is responsible for paying all relevant taxes and shipping costs. The buyer’s premium varies by hammer price, auction location and category. You can view the buyer’s premium schedule for each Christie’s selling site here. You can also use the cost calculator on a lot page before you bid for an estimate or buyer’s premium and shipping.

Congratulations! If you’re successful in a live or online auction, you’ll find all your purchase information in your account under ‘Buying’, then ‘Ready for checkout’. Here, you can view invoices for your lots and pay and arrange shipping for orders up to US$100,000 / £100,000 / €100,000 / HK$1,000,000 / CHF 100,000. Please note, it may take up to 48 hours for lots to be available for online checkout. For lots over this amount or other payment options, including bank transfer, please check the back of your invoice.

The easiest way to keep track of any items you're interested is to follow them. You can find items that you’re following under ‘Buying’ in your account, or by clicking the ‘My lots’ toggle at the top of an auction page. We’ll also notify you by email when a followed lot is coming up for auction.

Christie's regularly hosts both live and online auctions. A live auction takes place at a specific date and time in one of our salerooms. During a live auction, the auctioneer accepts in-person bids in the saleroom, telephone bids, online bids via Christie's LIVE™ and absentee bids to determine the final hammer price and buyer of each lot.

An online auction is open for bidding over the course of several days. You can bid online either by placing a one-time quick bid or setting a max bid. The countdown timer on each lot indicates how much time is left before the lot closes and the winning bidder is determined.

Please contact the Bids Department for assistance with arranging to bid on behalf of a company. To set up a company account, we ask you to provide a copy of formal documents evidencing:

• The organisation’s incorporation
• Its registered office and business address
• Its directors
• Its shareholders and any ultimate beneficial owners
• Authorisation for the individuals allowed to bid on behalf of the organisation, plus a copy of the government-issued photo ID for each authorised individual

You can email your corporate documents to bidsuk@christies.com or bidsus@christies.com.

You may also be asked for a financial reference and/or a deposit as a condition of allowing you to bid.

Most of Christie’s auctions are free and open to the public, except for our major evening auctions which are ticketed. If you’d just like to watch, you can walk in on the day of the auction. If you’d like to bid, please register and collect a paddle before the auction begins. You’ll need to bring your photo ID and a proof of address to verify your identity. To attend a ticketed evening auction, please contact Client Services.

There are four ways you can bid in a live auction. For each, we recommend registering in advance at least 24 hours before the auction start time. If the registration deadline has passed and you would like to bid, please contact Client Services for assistance.

• In person: Bidding in person offers a thrill like no other. Register in advance by contacting Client Services. Bring your photo ID and a proof of address to collect a paddle before the auction begins. When your desired lot is announced, it’s time to start bidding. Bidding generally opens below the low estimate and advances in increments of up to 10%, subject to the auctioneer’s discretion. Raise your paddle to signal to the auctioneer whenever you want to place a bid.
• Christie’s LIVE™: Our online bidding platform for live auctions allows you to watch and place bids in real time from your desktop or mobile, wherever you are in the world. Sign into your account and register on the auction page, then click ‘Join auction’ when the session begins to enter the online saleroom and bid.
• Telephone bidding: If you prefer to bid by telephone, we can call you directly from the saleroom and bid on your behalf with the auctioneer. In case we can’t reach you while the auction is happening, we recommend leaving an ‘emergency absentee bid’ too. To register for a telephone bid, please contact Client Services.
• Absentee bidding: If you’re unable to attend an auction, place an absentee bid beforehand and the auctioneer will bid on the lot for you. If your bid is more than the reserve, the auctioneer will try to win the lot for you at the lowest price they can. An absentee bid takes priority over the same bid amount in the room or on the telephones. To place an absentee bid, sign into your account and register on the auction page. Find the lot you want to bid on, click ‘Place bid’ and enter your maximum bid amount.

A parcel consists of several wine lots of the same type, quantity, bottle size and description. Bidding will start on the first lot of the parcel. The successful buyer of that lot is entitled to take some or all of the remaining lots in the parcel at the same hammer price. If the buyer of the first lot does not take further lots, the remaining lots of the parcel will be offered in a similar fashion.

We recommend that a bid on a parcel lot be placed on the first lot of the parcel. If the bid is superseded, Christie’s will automatically move your bid to the next identical lot and so on. In all instances, such bids will be handled at the auctioneer’s discretion.

You cannot cancel a bid once it has been submitted. Each bid you place enters you into a binding contract with Christie’s.

You can ship your item through Christie’s approved shippers, your own carrier, or collect it in person.

Christie’s has partnered with several fine art shippers in each auction location. In some cases, a shipping quote will automatically be available to view during online checkout. However, the sheer variety in size, shape and material of the items we sell means that often a bespoke shipping quote is needed. If so, your Post-Sale Coordinator can provide this.

If you proceed with the Christie’s shipping quote available at online checkout, items are usually delivered within 7–14 business days of payment clearance.

Use our complimentary auction estimate tool to submit up to three images and additional information per item. Auction estimates are provided in 3–4 weeks for items for which Christie’s has a category of sale and which meet our minimum consignment value. If you have more than six items that you would like valuing, please contact our Estates, Appraisals and Valuation Services.

Please note that Christie's sells art from the secondary market. We are unable to consign work from individual artists or their representatives.

Christie’s charges a single Seller’s Commission rate for the services we provide. The commission is calculated on each item as a fixed percentage based on the eventual hammer price at auction. This rate includes marketing costs and insurance cover (except for Wine sales, where marketing and insurance are charged separately). If your item sells for over the high estimate we agree with you, there will also be an additional 2% Performance Commission fee.

You may also be charged for other external services such as shipping, restoration and framing, but these will be discussed and agreed with you beforehand. VAT (value-added tax) or applicable duties or taxes may be due on such fees based on the jurisdiction of the auction site.

Thank you for considering Christie’s for the sale of your item. Your first step is to request a complimentary auction estimate and see if your item is suitable for Christie’s auction. A Christie’s specialist will then contact you to discuss estimates, advise on auction dates and explain your Seller’s Agreement and commission structure.

Once you’ve signed your Seller’s Agreement, arrange for the item to be delivered to our saleroom or warehouse. Christie’s can assist with this, or we can put you in contact with trusted local shippers. Our specialists will then coordinate every detail, from cataloguing your item to marketing it to prospective buyers worldwide. On the day of the sale, join the excitement and watch the auction in person, or follow online via Christie’s LIVE^TM.

After the auction, you’ll receive a notification informing you of the price that your item achieved. Provided we’ve received payment in full from the buyer, approximately 35 days after the auction your payment will be sent to your nominated account.

Christie’s Private Sales is a service for buying and selling fine art outside of the auction room. We use our global specialist network to connect buyers and sellers and broker sales between them. It’s a discreet, bespoke service which offers plenty of flexibility — for example, perhaps the regular auction calendar doesn’t suit your schedule, or you have something specific on your collection wishlist that you’d like our help with sourcing.

Although we call it ‘private sales’, it’s not always strictly so. We display some works publicly on our website — all available for immediate purchase — and host regular selling exhibitions that anyone can visit.

We are happy to evaluate the work you are considering selling privately. For general enquiries about the value of your property, please contact one of our specialist departments. When evaluating a work of art, we typically request clear, colour images of the front and back, and a close-up of the signature or maker’s mark, details such as dimensions and materials, any information about the history of the item including when, where and how it was acquired as well as electronic copies of any appraisals, literature related to the item, or certificates of authenticity, if available.

Once our specialists have sourced the object or work of art you wish to purchase, the post-sale service team will send you an invoice, payment instructions and a shipping quote based on your shipping preferences. We accept wire transfers, bank drafts or cashier's orders, cash or checks. Under certain circumstances, some Christie's salerooms may accept payment by credit card.

After Christie’s specialists examine and appraise your item, they will assess the best method for offering your item and achieving your goals. Our specialists will work with you to develop a personalised sale strategy that will be the most beneficial for your specific needs. This is based on their unique market access and global insights. All private sale enquiries are treated with the utmost privacy and confidentiality.

Our search capabilities are unparalleled given our extensive network and ability to swiftly match buyers with sellers. We always do our utmost to quickly locate the item or items that you desire, but transaction timing may vary depending on the uniqueness and rarity of the object. Our specialists will continue to source possible private sale opportunities until your needs have been met.

Yes. Fine art, objects, jewellery, watches and handbags in our selling exhibitions are available for immediate purchase.

Christie’s offers private sales year-round in all the categories in which we also conduct auctions. 

Our clients can choose both or either option. For the buyer, Private Sales are suited to specific requests where a client is certain of what they are looking for. Should that object be offered at auction in the meantime, then we would be able to help here too. 

Our specialists work one-on-one with buyers and sellers. We offer a bespoke service — helping clients to find specific works of art or object through our network of specialists around the world and then negotiating the exchange. Given our many years of experience in this business, we are fortunate to have privileged access to rare and unique works of art and have the relationships with the current owners to broker a sale.

We will enlist our maximum resources to quickly find a buyer for your item, but the timing may vary depending on market demand. As each enquiry is individually addressed, we will recommend on the viability of a private sale and the expected timing.

Browse by category, discover something new in our thematic selling exhibitions, or contact a specialist if you have a specific item in mind.

Contact the Christie’s specialist most relevant for your item. For a full listing of Christie’s specialists, view our contacts page.

Christie's offers items for sale from over 80 art and luxury categories. For a full list of our specialists and categories, visit our department pages.

Find specialist contact information on our department pages. If you’re interested in a specific auction, you can find contact information for relevant specialists on the overview page for each auction.

To view auction results, visit our results calendar once the auction has closed.

Christie’s ongoing commitment to sustainability means that significantly fewer auctions feature printed catalogues. You can browse lot information, including additional photographs and lot essays, on our website. If an auction does feature a printed catalogue, you can purchase copies via the auction page or through our online catalogue shop, subject to availability.

The Christie's app is available for iOS devices, including iPhone and iPad. It is not currently available for Android devices. Download the Christie's app from the App Store.

The most direct way to learn about upcoming auctions is by browsing our auction calendar or all upcoming lots. If you’re interested in an auction or lot, click the ‘Follow’ button and we’ll make sure to keep you up to date. We’d also recommend signing up to our weekly email, which serves up our best and brightest features, auctions highlights, exhibitions and more.

An NFT, or ‘non-fungible token’, is a unique, digital certificate that is stored on a blockchain and provides certain ownership rights in an asset, typically a digital one, such as a digital work of art. Visit our NFT 101 Collecting Guide to learn more or visit Christie’s 3.0, our on-chain auction platform dedicated to exceptional NFT art.

If you're having issues viewing Christie’s LIVE^TM, please ensure that your browser settings are not blocking pop-up windows. It’s also possible that you are experiencing a caching issue and need to clear your browser cache.

With the Christie's app, you can:

• Register and bid in auctions
• Access Christie's LIVE™, our online bidding platform for live auctions
• Follow your favourite lots and auctions and keep track of them in your account
• Explore works available for private sale
• Request auction estimates
• Manage your account settings

We're making more and more features available on the Christie's app with each release. For now, please use the Christie's website to:

• View invoices, arrange shipping and checkout online
• Track the progress of any items you're selling