Hansons Auctioneers Reviews 

Extremely disappointing experience selling a valuable piece of football memorabilia.
After 19 weeks of missed deadlines, hopeless communication and confusion, I advise everyone to avoid doing business with Charles Hanson.
Back in March, I trusted Charles with a rare England football cap which he valued it at £3,000–£5,000 . He initially agreed to sell it at auction in May.
However, there was no auction in May. He then promised to sell it at an auction in June. Despite publicising the cap on his website, with a caption saying it’s expected to fetch £5000, the cap was left out of the sale, due to what Charles described as an administrative error.
He apologised and proposed a tender instead, telling me that three prospective bidders had contacted him and were keen to bid. We agreed that the tender would close four days later.
This deadline was missed, and after several weeks of chasing Charles, I eventually accepted a tender bid of £3,800. However, the buyer failed to pay - despite, according to Charles, repeatedly promising him that payment was imminent.
I then suggested approaching the second-highest bidder, whose original bid had been £3,600. This was subsequently reduced to £3,200, which I accepted. Again, according to Charles, the bidder repeatedly promised to pay, but ultimately did not.
I still have serious questions about the tender process, and find it extraordinarily difficult to understand how two apparently independent bidders could both make substantial bids, repeatedly communicate with the auctioneer and promise imminent payment, yet neither ultimately complete the purchase.
Eventually, 19 weeks after I handed him the cap, I was at the end of my tether. Rather than continuing with the sale, Charles offered to buy the cap himself on behalf of Hanson's. He initially offered £2,500, which I accepted. A few minutes later he reduced this to £2,400. I reluctantly accepted, simply to be done with the process. I received the £2400, but felt completely gutted when I saw that the Hanson’s website was still announcing ‘the cap is expected to fetch £5000 at auction’.
I have deliberately confined this review to things I can personally substantiate and have not made accusations about what may or may not have happened behind the scenes. I asked Charles for an explanation, but after two weeks I have received no response.
The handling of the sale was unnecessarily prolonged, communication was inconsistent, and the tender process was, from my perspective, extremely difficult to understand.
Based on my experience, I cannot recommend Hanson's, or Charles Hanson.

Prior to [and since] bidding and winning one of Hansons' lots, I recently received excellent service from Hansons' Customer Service and postage teams. Emails were answered promptly and help giving on each occasion. The "icing on the cake" was the fantastic packing and fast dispatch of my lot. All in all, my experience with Hansons Auctioneers was a very positive one, from start to finish. Thank you very much.

I contacted David Wilson-Turner at Hansons for his advice in relation to some cards we wished to sell. David was excellent, he was very knowledgeable and guided us through the whole auction process. He responded quickly to my queries and reassured me when I was worried about the reserves we had set. The items were well categorised and photographed for the auction. Hansons achieved an excellent result for us.

Hansons at Roughton in Norfolk first auction and I was pleased with the valuation of 12 items though nothing made close to valuation. On August 1st 2026, 6 were sold and 6 were unsold. Of the £157 sold prices I received £43 after commision, vat and unsold fees. I am very unhappy that they take such a large percentage of the selling fee. The venue at a Garden Centre is very small and appointment has to be made to view any items.
Organisation and communication has a lot to be desired IMO. I shall never use Hansons again as there are several other auctioneers in the area with considerably less fees. The payment to me was 31 days after the auction.

Very professional and polite always willing to help, the Post and packaging department is second to none they are one of the best of all the auction houses that I have used a big thank you from Ralph Evans. sportartmemorabilia106

The fees are very high and the service is very poor

I purchased a painting from Hansons Cornwall that needed to posted to me. They handled the transfer from Cornwall to their Derby office quite seamlessly , gave a quote for postage and packing from there which was incredibly reasonable. I had to acknowledge a disclaimer that as it was framed with glass that they couldn't be responsible for ant damage in transit to which was quite fair.

The painting arrived today and was so well packaged that I reckon a tank could have driven over it with no harm!

I have never seen such a professional job of packaging a painting as this was - first class!

The postal staff at Hansons were incredibly helpful and communicated with me perfectly so kudos to them.

Hansons Cornwall were also very helpful in arranging the transfer.

Service was first class, the staff we first class and the price I ended up paying including p & p impressed a lot!

I would thoroughly recommend Hansons to deal with and I hope to deal with them myself in the not too distant future.

Fees were much higher than anticipated

My initial face to face contact in Banbury went well, however the lack of communication thereafter was staggering.
I will send out a pre sales email before hand, they said, they didn’t. They put our item on with a high reserve that was neither discussed before hand or agreed.
Several emails asking what was going on to several people, ignored. This was our first time going through an auction. We only knew our items didn’t sell because my husband followed the sale. Even when asking what happens now, still ignored. Yet when asking for the fee for listing our items I received TWO emails within a minute of each other!
If you’re thinking of using this auctioneers, I’d think twice maybe three times actually.

My experience was dire…..from the point of valuation (all the expert valuers simply consult google)
Through the listings…… we will get back to you after consulting the “gemologist”…..(is that even a word?)…..silence…
We will let you know when your (many) lots are listed….silence…..
We will let you know when the sale is……silence….
XYZ lots are sold….oh, no they’re not…..
ABC lots are sold, oh sorry the buyer didn’t pay……we’ll list them again for free at half of the original price (even though they sold for 4 times the original price or you can pay again to list them at the original price……
Oh, you want it back, that will be £25 to mail it to you (and will take over a year).
Blah, blah, blah…….including the original valuer asking to buy a piece which I then didn’t list because she wanted it but didn’t have enough cash on her…..and then decided she didn’t want it and she never came back for the second meeting we had planned to. Etc. etc.
I ended up with a lot of stress and about £1.50 profit. I would rather have donated my items to charity.
I was selling some of my lovely mum’s property. She was still alive at the time but has since, sadly, died….so my experience was particularly sensitive.
I can only recommend that you go nowhere near this company.

All went well apart from the van which was collecting our portrait broke down and the collction had to be rescheduled.

Excellent service from valuation to receipt of sale funds

Great communication and service

The whole service was brilliant. We called up to ask for a home visit which was free of charge, we had no idea with having a clear out due to death in the family if some certain items were worth anything at all. The man who came out was very polite and knowledgeable and advised us. He did find something he put into auction for us which made us a few hundred pounds, we was kept upto date with the process throughout email and it was an all round good expirience. Money paid when stated it would be. I would definatley recommend the company to anyone!

Always enjoy bidding at Hanson's auctions nice people to deal with.

I brought a selection of old cars to you which you put in the June sale. I also brought a very old scalextric and various accessories, of which there has been no mention. I have sent several emails to yourselves, the first one I had a reply to say you would make sure it went in the July auction, but I have still not received confirmation of this. I am hoping you have not let the scalextric go with the cars that I brought to you, but its looking very much like you have and nobody has got back to me about this. I am incredibly disappointed with your service and lack of communication.

Great company, efficient, knowledgable & very helpful. Always get a quick response.
Would highly recommend.

Holloways 'mistakenly sold' my 85 year old mothers gold Bracelet. The auctioneer stood her up 3 times when seeking resolution and did not even offer the base price of the gold let alone 'intrinsic value'. They took advantage! Avoid!

Absentee commission bids SHOULD take priority over floor / internet live / telephone bids ALWAYS (as they are the first received by the auctioneer)

But my confirmed absentee commission bid was equalled and awarded to a live / floor bidder. Is this a sign of bad practice, incompetence or corruption?

Shame - otherwise good auctioneer BADLY let down by the above

I recently consigned a WWII sketchbook with Hansons Auctioneers, and the entire experience was outstanding. I had the pleasure of working with Matt Crowson, who went above and beyond throughout the process.

The listing itself was incredibly detailed and professional; it was clear that Matt took the time to ensure nothing was left out, providing a comprehensive description that really showcased the item's history. His expertise and professionalism gave me complete confidence in the sale.

The final result was a delight—the item significantly exceeded both mine and Matt’s expectations.

If there is one area for improvement, it would be the payout timeline, which is quite long compared to some other experiences. However, given the level of care, communication, and the excellent final result, it is a minor drawback in an otherwise seamless process.

I wouldn’t hesitate to consign with Hansons again and look forward to working with Matt and the team on future pieces.

Thank you all again.