Trust and safety
How both sides are protected
A platform is only as good as the discipline behind it. Ours rests on four things: nothing is published without review, money moves only through the platform, every material action leaves a record, and no participant is anonymous.
Selection before publication
VALÉORINE is not an open self-listing marketplace. Private owners cannot publish lots themselves; VALÉORINE reviews their submissions. Admitted professional auction houses may publish and conduct their own catalogues under their own identity. Every lot names the party responsible for the catalogue entry, provenance is stated only as far as it can be documented, and each sale is recorded in the transaction register.
Verified accounts on both sides
Bidders and consignors are identified before they may transact. Identity and payment verification are handled by regulated providers; VALÉORINE stores the outcome, not your documents.
Money never moves directly
Buyers pay VALÉORINE. Consignors are paid by VALÉORINE, after cleared payment, evidenced despatch and the elapse of the buyer's protection window. A consignor cannot be paid for a lot that was never sent.
Tracked despatch only
Consignors despatch directly to buyers, but only through approved tracked services, with tracking recorded on the platform. Untracked despatch does not satisfy the obligation.
Honest description
Selection, specialist assessment, documented provenance and formal authentication are different things, and we do not conflate them. VALÉORINE controls admission to the platform. For a sale conducted by VALÉORINE, VALÉORINE is responsible for its catalogue entry; for a partner sale, the admitted house conducting that sale is responsible for its catalogue. Where formal authentication is claimed, the entry must identify who authenticated the object and on what basis.
Confidentiality where it belongs
Reserves, maximum bids, valuations and internal notes are never disclosed. Bidder identities are not revealed to consignors, nor consignor identities to bidders.
A permanent, verifiable record
Every material action — submission, decision, publication, bid, invoice, despatch, settlement — is written to an append-only event record. A VALÉORINE Verified Record can be checked independently by anyone holding its reference.
A documented route for disputes
Discrepancies are raised through the account, answered by VALÉORINE, and resolved against the catalogue entry and condition report. Funds remain held while a dispute stands.
Trust is a matter of process, not assurance. Everything described here is enforced by the platform itself and evidenced in the record of each transaction.