Terms of Service

Whisper Auctions, is a brand-named owned by The Whisperer AG, (“Whisper Auctions” or “we”) provides an online venue to view, discuss and learn about properties available for auction (the “Services”) through our website, accessible at www.whisperauctions.com (the “Site”). Please read carefully the following terms and conditions (“Terms”) and our Privacy Policy, which may be found at www.whisperauctions.com. These Terms govern your access to and use of the Site, Services, and Collective Content (defined below), and constitute a binding legal agreement between you and Whisper Auctions.

Key Content-Related Terms

“Content” means text, graphics, images, music, software, audio, video, information, or other materials. “Whisper Auctions Content” means Content that Whisper Auctions makes available through the Site or Services, including any Content licensed from a third party, but excluding User Content.

“User” means an individual who accesses or visits the Site, whether or not such individual registers via the Site to access the Whisper Auctions bidding platform and related documentation.

“User Content” means Content that a User posts, uploads, publishes, submits, or transmits to be made available through the Site or Services.

“Collective Content” means, collectively, Whisper Auctions Content and User Content.

Certain areas of the Site (and your access to or use of certain Services or Collective Content) may have different terms and conditions posted or may require you to agree with and accept additional terms and conditions. If there is a conflict between these Terms and terms and conditions posted for a specific area of the Site, Services, or Collective Content, the latter terms and conditions will take precedence with respect to your use of or access to that area of the Site, Services or Collective Content, as applicable.

Please note that if you choose to place a bid on a property featured on the Site and Services, you will be required to register via the Site to become a “Member”. In order to become a Member and place a bid, you will be presented with additional terms and conditions that govern the bidding functionality of the Site and Services, which you will be required to accept before placing a bid on any property featured on the Site and Services.

You acknowledge and agree that, by accessing or using the site or services, or by downloading or posting any content from or on the site or through the services, you are indicating that you have read and that you understand and agree to be bound by, these terms, whether or not you have registered on or through the site. if you do not agree to these terms, then you have no right to access or use the site, services, or collective content.

If you accept or agree to these Terms on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that company or other legal entity to these Terms and, in such event, “you” and “your” will refer and apply to that company or other legal entity.

Modification

Whisper Auctions reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, discontinue or terminate the Site or Services or to modify these Terms, at any time and without prior notice. If we modify these Terms we will post the modification on the Site or provide you with notice of the modification. We will also update the “Last Updated Date” at the top of these Terms. By continuing to access or use the Site or Services after we have posted a modification on the Site or have provided you with notice of a modification, you are indicating that you agree to be bound by the modified Terms. If the modified Terms are not acceptable to you, your only recourse is to cease using the Site and Services.

Eligibility

The Site and Services are intended solely for persons who are 18 or older. Any access to or use of the Site or Services by anyone under 18 is expressly prohibited. By accessing or using the Site or Services you represent and warrant that you are 18 or older.

Privacy

See Whisper Auctions’ Privacy Policy at www.whisperauctions.com for information and notices concerning Whisper Auctions’ collection and use of your personal information.

Ownership

The Site, Services and Collective Content are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws of the Switzerland and foreign countries. You acknowledge and agree that the Site, Services, and Collective Content, including all associated intellectual property rights, are the exclusive property of Whisper Auctions and its licensors. You will not remove, alter or obscure any copyright, trademark, service mark, or other proprietary rights notices incorporated in or accompanying the Site, Services, or Collective Content.

Licenses Granted by Whisper Auctions to Whisper Auctions Content and User Content

Subject to your compliance with the terms and conditions of these Terms, Whisper Auctions grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license: (i) to view, download and print any Whisper Auctions Content solely for your personal and non-commercial purposes; and (ii) to view any User Content to which you are permitted access solely for your personal and non-commercial purposes. You have no right to sublicense the license rights granted in this section.

You will not use, copy, adapt, modify, or prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, or otherwise exploit the Site, Services, or Collective Content, except as expressly permitted in these Terms. No licenses or rights are granted to you by implication or otherwise under any intellectual property rights owned or controlled by Whisper Auctions or its licensors, except for the licenses and rights expressly granted in these Terms.

License granted by User

We may, in our sole discretion, permit Users to post, upload, publish, submit, or transmit User Content. By making available any User Content on or through the Site or Services, you hereby grant to Whisper Auctions a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, view, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast and otherwise exploit such User Content only on, through or by means of the Site or Services. Sotheby's Concierge Auctions does not claim any ownership rights in any User Content and nothing in these Terms will be deemed to restrict any rights that you may have to use and exploit any User Content.

You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for all User Content that you make available through the Site or Services. Accordingly, you represent and warrant that: (i) you either are the sole and exclusive owner of all User Content that you make available through the Site or Services or you have all rights, licenses, consents, and releases that are necessary to grant to Whisper Auctions and to the rights in such User Content, as contemplated under these Terms; and (ii) neither the User Content nor your posting, uploading, publication, submission or transmittal of the User Content or Whisper Auctions’ use of the User Content (or any portion thereof) on, through or by means of the Site or Services will infringe, misappropriate or violate a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or result in the violation of any applicable law or regulation.

Feedback

We welcome and encourage you to provide feedback, comments, and suggestions for improvements to the Site or Services (“Feedback”). You may submit Feedback by emailing us at board@whisperauctions.com or via the Contact form. You acknowledge and agree that if you submit any Feedback to us, you hereby grant to us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, fully-paid, royalty-free, sub-licensable, and transferable license under any and all intellectual property rights that you own or control to use, copy, modify, create derivative works based upon and otherwise exploit the Feedback for any purpose.

General Prohibitions

You agree not to do any of the following:

Post, upload, publish, submit, or transmit any Content that: (i) infringes, misappropriated, or violates a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights, or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy; (ii) violates, or encourages any conduct that would violate, any applicable law or regulation or would give rise to civil liability; (iii) is fraudulent, false, misleading or deceptive; (iv) is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, vulgar or offensive; (v) promotes discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment or harm against any individual or group; (vi) is violent or threatening or promotes violence or actions that are threatening to any person or entity; or (vii) promotes illegal or harmful activities or substances.
Use, display, mirror, or frame the Site, or any individual element within the Site or Services, Whisper Auctions’ name, any Whisper Auctions trademark, logo, or other proprietary information, or the layout and design of any page or form contained on a page, without Whisper Auctions’ express written consent;
Access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Site, Whisper Auctions’ computer systems, or the technical delivery systems of Whisper Auctions’ providers;
Attempt to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any Whisper Auctions system or network or breach any security or authentication measures;
Avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, impair, descramble, or otherwise circumvent any technological measure implemented by Whisper Auctions or any of Whisper Auctions’ providers or any other third party (including another user) to protect the Site, Services, or Collective Content;
Attempt to access or search the Site, Services, or Collective Content or download Collective Content from the Site or Services through the use of any engine, software, tool, agent, device, or mechanism (including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools or the like) other than the software and/or search agents provided by Whisper Auctions or other generally available third party web browsers;
Send any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, email, junk mail, spam, chain letters, or other forms of solicitation;
Use any meta tags or other hidden text or metadata utilizing a Whisper Auctions trademark, logo URL, or product name without Whisper Auctions’ express written consent;
Use the Site, Services, or Collective Content for any commercial purpose or the benefit of any third party or in any manner not permitted by these Terms;
Forge any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any email or newsgroup posting, or in any way use the Site, Services, or Collective Content to send altered, deceptive, or false source-identifying information;
Attempt to decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any of the software used to provide the Site, Services, or Collective Content;
Interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, the access of any user, host, or network, including, without limitation, sending a virus, overloading, flooding, spamming, or mail-bombing the Site or Services;
Collect or store any personally identifiable information from the Site or Services from other users of the Site or Services without their express permission;
Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;
Violate any applicable law or regulation; or
Encourage or enable any other individual to do any of the foregoing.

Whisper Auctions will have the right to investigate and prosecute violations of any of the above to the fullest extent of the law. Whisper Auctions may involve and cooperate with law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who violate these Terms. You acknowledge that Whisper Auctions has no obligation to monitor your access to or use of the Site, Services, or Collective Content or to review or edit any Collective Content, but has the right to do so for the purpose of operating the Site and Services, to ensure your compliance with these Terms, or to comply with applicable law or the order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or other governmental body. Whisper Auctions reserves the right, at any time and without prior notice, to remove or disable access to any Collective Content that Whisper Auctions, at its sole discretion, considers being in violation of these Terms or otherwise harmful to the Site or Services.

Whisper Auctions respects copyright law and expects its users to do the same. It is Whisper Auctions’ policy to terminate in appropriate circumstances Users or other account holders who repeatedly infringe or are believed to be repeatedly infringing the rights of copyright holders. Please see Whisper Auctions’ www.whisperauctions.com for further information.

Links

The Site or Services may contain links to third-party websites or resources. You acknowledge and agree that Whisper Auctions is not responsible or liable for: (i) the availability or accuracy of such websites or resources; or (ii) the content, products, or services on or available from such websites or resources. Links to such websites or resources do not imply any endorsement by Whisper Auctions of such websites or resources or the content, products, or services available from such websites or resources. You acknowledge sole responsibility for and assume all risk arising from your use of any such websites or resources or the Content, products, or services on or available from such websites or resources.

Termination and Cancellation

If you breach any of these Terms, Whisper Auctions will have the right to suspend or disable your use of the Site and Services or terminate these Terms, at its sole discretion and without prior notice to you. Whisper Auctions reserves the right to revoke your access to and use of the Site, Services and Collective Content at any time, with or without cause.

Disclaimers

The site, services, and collective content are provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied. without limiting the foregoing, whisper auctions explicitly disclaim any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, quiet enjoyment or non-infringement, and any warranties arising out of course of dealing or usage of trade. Whisper Auctions make no warranty that the site, services, or collective content will meet your requirements or be available on an uninterrupted, secure, or error-free basis. Whisper Auctions makes no warranty regarding the quality of any products, services, or collective content obtained through the site or services or the accuracy, timeliness, truthfulness, completeness, or reliability of any content obtained through the site or services. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained from whisper auctions or through the site, services, or collective content, will create any warranty not expressly made herein. You are solely responsible for all of your communications and interactions with other users of the site and services and with other persons with whom you communicate or interact as a result of your use of the site or services. You understand that whisper auctions does not screen or inquire into the background of any users of the site or services, nor does whisper auctions make any attempt to verify the statements of users of the site or services. Whisper Auctions makes no representations or warranties as to the conduct of users of the site or services or their compatibility with any current or future users of the site or services. You agree to take reasonable precautions in all communications and interactions with other users of the site and services and with other persons with whom you communicate or interact as a result of your use of the site or services, particularly if you decide to meet offline or in person.

Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold Whisper Auctions, its officers, directors, employees, and agents, harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, arising out of or in any way connected with your access to or use of the Site, Services or Collective Content, or your violation of these Terms.

Limitation of Liability

You acknowledge and agree that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the entire risk arising out of your access to and use of the site, services, and collective content remains with you. Neither Whisper Auction's concierge auctions nor any other person or entity involved in creating, producing, or delivering the site, servicesor collective content will be liable for any incidental, special, exemplary or consequential damages, including lost profits, loss of data or loss of goodwill, service interruption, computer damage or system failure or the cost of substitute products or services, or for any damages for personal or bodily injury or emotional distress arising out of or in connection with these terms or from the use of or inability to use the site, services or collective content, or from any communications, interactions or meetings with other users of the site or services or other persons with whom you communicate or interact as a result of your use of the site or services whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence), product liability or any other legal theory, and whether or not Whisper Auctions has been informed of the possibility of such damage, even if a limited remedy set forth herein is found to have failed of its essential purpose. In no event will Whisper Auctions’ aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with these terms or from the use of or inability to use the site, services, or collective content exceed one hundred euros. The limitations of damages set forth above are fundamental elements of the basis of the bargain between Whisper Auctions and you. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you.

Proprietary Rights Notices

All trademarks, service marks, logos, trade names, and any other proprietary designations of Whisper Auctions used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Whisper Auctions. Any other trademarks, service marks, logos, trade names, and any other proprietary designations are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective parties.

Controlling Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms and any action related thereto will be governed by the laws of Lucerne (Switzerland) without regard to its conflict of laws provisions. The exclusive jurisdiction and venue of any action to prevent the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation, or violation of a party’s copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents, or other intellectual property rights will be the state of Lucerne (Switzerland) and each of the parties hereto waives any objection to jurisdiction and venue in such courts.

Entire Agreement

These Terms and any additional terms and conditions presented to you governing the bidding functionality of the Site and Services constitute the entire and exclusive understanding and agreement between Whisper Auctions and you regarding the Site, Services, and Collective Content, and these Terms supersede and replace any and all prior oral or written understandings or agreements between Whisper Auctions and you regarding the Site, Services, and Collective Content.

Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms, by operation of law or otherwise, without Whisper Auctions’ prior written consent. Any attempt by you to assign or transfer these Terms, without such consent, will be null and of no effect. Whisper Auctions may assign or transfer these Terms, at its sole discretion, without restriction. Subject to the foregoing, these Terms will bind and inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors, and permitted assigns.

Notices

Any notices or other communications permitted or required hereunder, including those regarding modifications to these Terms, will be in writing and given: (i) by Whisper Auctions via email (in each case to the address that you provide); or (ii) by posting to the Site. For notices made by email, the date of receipt will be deemed the date on which such notice is transmitted.

General

The failure of Whisper Auctions to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not constitute a waiver of future enforcement of that right or provision. The waiver of any such right or provision will be effective only if in writing and signed by a duly authorized representative of Whisper Auctions. Except as expressly set forth in these Terms, the exercise by either party of any of its remedies under these Terms will be without prejudice to its other remedies under these Terms or otherwise. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of these Terms invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the other provisions of these Terms will remain in full force and effect.

Contacting Whisper Auctions

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact Whisper Auctions at board@whisperauctions.com.

Last modified on February 2023