Sotheby's Reviews 99

They claim they take about 2 weeks to investigate the value of the product. Within 23h they told me they couldn't, sounds to me like they didn't even try.

I listed a designer purse. It sold for a nice price. Payment per the contract is 10-12 business days. I didn’t get paid. I contacted my representative and was informed my contract and tax information was deleted! I had to redo the paperwork. Then was told next week it will be turned in for payment. Not I will turn it in immediately.

Sotheby's wildly overestimated the value of my artwork.
They failed to update the status of my consignment. The status remained at "accepted" even after the close of the auction. It never updated to "listed" or "sold" even 2 months after the close of the auction.
I only found out when my item would be auctioned by accident - I wasn't informed until 2 weeks before the actual auction that my item was to be listed.
The vast majority of items in the auction received no bids at all. Those that did have bids almost all had a single bid.
My item sold for less than ONE FIFTH of the low estimate. Seller's fees ate up more than 60% of the sale price. I am actually netting less than $140 (after sellers fees and shipping) for an item that Sotheby's estimated would bring $5k-$7k.

UPDATE: Like others, Sotheby's lost my seller information, and asked for it repeatedly. Then they came up with some nonsense about their payment information form having no language referring to the word "check"... So I quoted their form back to them... Now, this form has altogether about 6 lines of text, and their payout drone replied "Oh, I guess I missed that line".

Criminally abusive "service" at Sotheby's.

UPDATE: Anjli Patel at Sotheby's has THREE TIMES promised to send a check to me for the proceeds of my consignment and then failed to send the check on both promised dates. I have experienced ALL of the things that other people have complained about. The level of incompetence at Sotheby's is staggering.

UPDATE: Finally paid after a lot of runaround. For a photograph estimated by Sotheby's at $5000-$7000, I received a check for $241. Subtracting $140 from that for shipping, I netted $100. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

BUYERS / SELLERS BEWARE !!!!

I listed approximately 250k - 300k of rare whisky to sell with sothebys. I’m not even going to get into them totally not being transparent from the get go prior to auction.
( auction ended June 16 2023. It’s now September 20th 2023 and i still haven’t received full payment or my property back. They are holding approximately 100k of my property hostage and will not give it back )

My experience is they will try to bully and manipulate you and abuse their power in any which way they can to get their way.

All my property sold and I’ve only been compensated for only half.
One buyer in particular is someone I know ( who knew my property was being auctioned and bid on it and never paid ) NOT MY FAULT you need to take responsibility for your own mistakes and start pre approving customers to bid like all other auctions I’ve dealt with. Sothebys is trying to hold me accountable for their lack of pre approving buyers and just letting anyone bid in order to get commissions which puts YOU / US in a position to be bullied for payment.
You will absolutely NOT get away with this manipulation / bulling and my next stop will be the New York Times / BBB

NEVER AGAIN !!!
PLEASE DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE AND USE SOMEONE ELSE,
DONT BE A VICTIM LIKE ME.

Met with someone from the jewellery department who made me come all the way to London and then went back on their valuation. Thoroughly unpleasant person who should take a lesson in how to deal with people

Atrocious customer service. I’ve been waiting several months to sell an item which we accepted an auction price for.

I agree with these other reviews, this company is most likely coasting on a long lost reputation which is no longer deserved.

I would steer well clear of them and go for literally any other auction house.

Had a very negative experience when selling an old Patek Philippe watch. An astounding 35% were subtracted in total from what the bidder had to pay (15% the seller, 26% the buyer), and the 26% of the buyer were not mentioned in the contract but hidden in the small print. I received significantly less than I had hoped for and feel that my trust in such an old established company was badly misused. Would never sell anything through them again!

They messaged me randomly telling me to fill out an “application” told me they would train me to get paid $2000 bi weekly but the application was just my full name email and social security number thankfully i read these reviews before i filled that out

They exist on a reputation long lost. They are incompetent and arrogant. They pretend to be the best but are the worst. I would be better off with any other real estate company. Just horrible

Absolutely shocking. I bought a piece of art from them and when trying I resell it they rejected the piece and pointed me to an auction site called Catawiki which never paid me the money after selling the piece

Couldn't be bothered

Contacted. Representative gave directions to send photos of an oul paintings. I called multiple times. Rep was unavailable. I was told by another rep, that it may take months before I would be contacted.
Six months later, I sold it at a local general auction for more than $9000.00.
Their arrogant customer no service is akin to level walmart

Bad experience with their office in Prague, Czech Republic, EU. The staff told us to send a picture about the painting. After this, no answer received. After un urgency his "professional" opinion about the painting came without few hours. This has been made based on one picture and by a lawyer!! Not by a professional. Btw he was arrogant. After my few questions about the case no response received. Thank God that I have read these reviews here and will sell the painting with some other, much more professional company.

I had a 18th Century family painting and was offered an estimated $5000 sale at Auction by Sotheby's employee, Frankie Mananzan. Instead, Sotheby's put it on the internet for a month, didn't sell it and sent me a $785 bill for their time. They also wanted another $700 to return it to me. It had cost about $125 to ship it to Sotheby's. YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH SOTHEBY'S.

The consignment process and attention to detail shown by the art vendor for a prospective art sale was slow and rather tardy in email response time. They also have a lot of hidden fees as well compared to other more innovative online art establishments

I bought a master drawing on an on line sale.There was no reserve and the estimates were $2200-$1800.I won the drawing for $400.With buyer premium and taxes $548.86.I was delighted.I received my bill with the final price including shipping New York to Atlanta.Shipping fee $283x.Small framed drawing 13.5 x
10 inches.Quite high but ok.A filled out the on line form with credit card info.Clicked on pay and it was rejected twice.Contacted customer service and was given another link which allowed me to pay for the drawing only.I again contacted customer service and was told á would get the shipping fee within 10 days no sooner.I mentioned the fee was $280 they said shipping would email me.On the ninth day I received a shipping bill for $760.outrageous.I’m a long time collector and know shipping prices$75-$100 is what it should have been.Contacted customer service and the saw the original quote and
Would get back to me.They never did.I subsequently hired another shipping company to pick up the drawing at a fraction of the price.Sothebys pulled a classic bait and switch operation.I will never buy from them again

Sotheby’s is huge disappointed. Advertising merchandise from vendors who are not obligated to complete a sale is in no way a business model that is sustainable. I completed a purchase for dining chairs. They sent a confirmation delivery order. They cancelled the sale. In the meantime, I have sold my dining chairs and bought furniture to compliment the chairs I purchased. After many attempts to discuss the cancellation of the shipment, I received an email explaining the sale had been canceled as the vendor could not complete the sale. It seems to me the vendor should be obligated to complete the purchase. If Sotheby’s cannot guarantee the products they proffered they should not be in the business of selling online. Maybe they should stick to what they know. Hopefully their auction business will support the venerable name of Sotheby’s, as their online business will not.
Buyer beware, the name Sotheby’s means little if they reduce standards to below that of other online sellers. Never again.
L. Barrington

Once upon a time Sotheby's was a company renowned for its professionalism. Sadly they have shown a decline in standards.
Recently I approached Southeby's regarding a sculpture that I wished to place for sale. Having lived and worked for many years in China as a Snr bank officer my wife and I had collected a very small number of Asian works of art.
I wrote to Sotherby's twice using the online forms and directly to the manager of their Canadian office to inquire if one of my pieces might be suitable for auction. I enclosed photos and all legal documentation (provenance etc).
To date, I have not had the courtesy of a reply or acknowledgment.
Yet they are quick to send me their magazine.
I would suggest that anyone who is contemplating placing for auction a serious work of art seek advice from a more professional company.

THESE PEOPLE SUBSCRIBE YOU AND EMAIL AND WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO UNSUBSCRIBE. I WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THESE DISGRACEFUL FOOLS.

Extremely bad service. They agreed to sell an item on auction and sent paper work. After chasing a few times I signed the document and sent back. They voided the whole contract without giving any reason and do not respond to emails or answer calls.