Terms
Website terms of use
Short, because a demonstration site that sells nothing needs few terms — but the ones about the bidding demonstration matter.
1 What this site is
This is a design demonstration for a fictional auction house called Hammer & Co. It is not a real business, it does not sell anything, and no lot shown on it exists. Every estimate, bid, result, condition report, provenance chain, specialist and telephone number is invented.
Nothing on this site is an offer, an invitation to treat, a valuation, or advice of any kind.
2 The bidding demonstration
The bid controls on lot pages are a demonstration of an interface. Placing a "bid" updates the state of the page in your own browser and nothing else. No bid is transmitted, no paddle number is issued, no contract is formed and no obligation arises.
The mechanics that surround the bid — the increment ladder, the reserve logic, the buyer's premium arithmetic, the countdowns, the status model and the anti-sniping rule — are genuinely implemented, so that the demonstration demonstrates something. The bid itself is not.
3 Accuracy
Because the content is fictional, questions of accuracy do not arise in the usual way. Where the site describes how auctions work in general — increments, reserves, premiums, resale rights, export licensing — it is written to be correct, but it is written as design copy and not as legal or financial advice. Do not rely on it in a real transaction.
4 Intellectual property
The design, code, typography, and written content of this site are the property of the studio that produced it. The photographic plates are generated images and do not depict real objects, real collections or real people.
5 Liability
This site is provided as is. To the extent permitted by law, no warranty is given as to its availability or fitness for any purpose, and no liability is accepted for any loss arising from its use.
6 The customizer
The site carries a customizer that changes its colours, typefaces and business identity in your browser. Settings are stored in your own browser under a single localStorage key and can be encoded into a shareable link. Nothing is transmitted to any server. A link you generate reveals whatever you typed into the customizer to whoever opens it, so do not type anything into it that you would not publish.
The conditions of sale are a separate document and govern the sales themselves.