Hello! I’ve been checking out Drouot’s auctions in Paris (drouot.com) for a bit now. I often browse their website but haven’t bid yet. I lately found some scarves from auction sales that caught my attention. But being in the US, I’m not sure how to acquire them if I win a bid. Any advice or experiences?
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I’ve been bidding directly on the Drouot site, but since I’m in Paris and not far from the auction houses, I always swing by to pick up my wins myself. No extra fees there!
About your question, I’ve chatted with staff at some auction houses and it turns out there are many bidders from overseas. Most places use Drouot service for packing and delivery, but that can be pricey. It varies depending on the auction house and item, so keep an eye on the the terms of sale if you’re planning to buy!
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I’m from Canada, and I recently purchased a scarf on Drouot. They offer a service called ThePackengers where you can check the estimated shipping fee on each listing. If you input your real address, the fee becomes more accurate. In my case, I ended up paying around 150 euros for shipping alone, plus the auction house’s handling fee for packing, and additional VAT and taxes. In total, I paid almost 300 dollars extra for a 150 euro scarf. It turned out to be much more expensive than buying from an online shop, so I won’t be doing that again.
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I’m in the US, and I’ve used ThePackengers service before when I bid on Drouot. I bought a total of 3 scarves. They picked up the items from the auction house after I paid online, then packed and shipped them. I understand that they have to deal with international shipping forms, so it makes sense that they charge a lot. They used DHL for my case because I wanted my scarves fast, but I didn’t realize there would be an extra handling fee on top of customs.
The prices I paid in total weren’t really cheaper than buying locally or from a regular online shop.
The good point is that I got scarves in the variations I always wanted and couldn’t find elsewhere 
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Thanks for sharing your experiences. I was thinking about purchasing just one scarf, but now I’m reconsidering whether it’s worth it.
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