About Garrett & Garrett Auction Company
William J. Garrett, a graduate of Florida State University, Troy University Auction School and the Missouri Auction School, established Garrett & Garrett Auction Company in 2000 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. William Garrett also worked for the Heller family of Flomaton Antique Auction in Flomaton, Alabama, which is well-known in the south for offering quality period American antiques and the finest decorative arts.
We are licensed auctioneers in the states of Florida and Alabama. Located at 151 Eglin Parkway SE, we sell a wide range of beautiful items, typically made between 1820 and 1960. These include walnut, mahogany, and oak furniture, as well as paintings, art, bronzes, photographs, decorative arts, china, glass, and bric-a-brac. William Garrett has been active in the European import business since 1983, shipping containers of mostly antique furniture and household effects from the United Kingdom. Many of the unique items we sell are constructed and hand-carved in cabinet shops rather than mass-produced or made in China.
We conduct many types of auctions, including personal property, estate, antique, business, store, farm, and government liquidation auctions. On occasion we also team up with Jackson Auction Services and Northwest Florida Auction Group, both based in Ft. Walton Beach, for liquidation auctions.
We offer things for your home, office or resale shop that you just don’t find every day. We have something for everyone.
How To Sell At Garrett's
At Garrett & Garrett Auction Company, we offer free verbal appraisals with no obligation to sell. When you decide to consign, we will provide a comprehensive receipt detailing what you have consigned along with brief descriptions and information about when the items will be sold, as well as conditions of sale on a contract. When appropriate, you may place a reserve price (the minimum bid for an item to be sold) on an item. We are happy to offer our opinion of an appropriate reserve based on the market.
Before the auction, we send an auction notification to our clients via email cataloging the auction. We arrange a preview event where your property will be on public view the day before the auction for people to examine the items and ask questions. Following the auction, you will receive a sales result sheet, typically within one week, detailing your selling commissions and any unsold lots; your proceeds check will be included.
We charge a standard commission rate of 25% on $105 and over on the hammer price, and 35% on sales $100 and under on the hammer price. We are currently waiving our online listing fee as well as our photography fee. Although we do not charge a fee for unsold lots, customers must collect any unsold items within one week after the auction.
How To Buy At Garrett's
If you’re interested in bidding at one of our forthcoming auctions, we offer several ways to do so. All of our items are cataloged with descriptions and photographs on the internet. You have the option of downloading an online catalog or calling our auction prior to the preview to preorder a printed copy for only $2. We also advertise our auctions extensively via email, Facebook, and newspaper media. If you’d like to see items in person, we offer public preview on the day before the auction at our auction house. This is an excellent opportunity to inspect items, take measurements, ask questions, and gather research to make an informed buying decision.
If you are a first-time bidder, simply register with a driver’s license to receive a permanent bidder number. Once registered, there are several ways to bid; live from the auction floor, over the phone (with a minimum $50 opening bid per item), or via absentee bidding.
When live bidding, make sure your number is in clear view of the auctioneer to ensure that it is accepted in a timely manner. The auctioneer will call out the winning bid number once bidding is complete.
With over-the-phone bidding, a member of our staff will call you before the item of interest is up for auction and then you can bid as if you were in attendance.
With the absentee bidding option, bidding opens on the floor, unless there are two absentee bids on the same item; in that event, bidding will open with the highest absentee bidder. We will notify you after the auction if you had the winning bid.
An invoice is generated detailing the items you were successful on. When you pay, you will be charged a 13% buyer’s premium, applied to the final hammer price of all sales, but we do offer a 3% discount if you pay with cash or a good check (our return check fee is $35 or 10%, whichever is higher).
Those bidding live or over-the-phone may pay immediately upon winning the bid or continue bidding on other items.
Those bidding live may collect their items after paying. Smaller items are often ready to be collected immediately after payment. It is the bidder’s responsibility to show a paid receipt to our staff for collection and you will need to bring your own boxes and packing supplies.
The auction house will close one hour after the auction is completed, but is typically open from 10 AM to 3 PM the next day for collection of items not collected the day of the auction.
Items will incur a $10 per item per day fee if not collected within one week. After 20 calendar days, uncollected items are considered abandoned and become property of the auction house to keep or dispose of at our discretion.