Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

User Registration

In order to trade on our web site, you must first become a registered user. You can achieve this as follows:

• Click on Register, from the navigation menu.
• Fill out the registration form, selecting your own User ID and Password.
• You must agree to our terms and conditions.
• Upon registering, you will be sent an email with a summary of your login details for your records.

To place a bid, first locate the auction in which you are interested. At the bottom of the page, you will see the 'Place a Bid' box. If you are not already logged in, you will be asked for your User ID and Password at this stage. This is so that we know who is placing the bid in our auction.

You will then be required to enter your bid. It will be clearly stated what the minimum bid is, and your bid must match, or be greater than this value.

On the bid confirmation page, you can check the bid value is correct. Upon submitting this page, you will be notified if your bid was successful. If your bid failed, this usually means that another user has placed a better bid whilst you were in the process of placing your bid. In this instance, go back to the auction page and look at the bid history to see the latest bids in the auction, and then place another bid if you wish to do so.

At any time, if you have placed a bid, and another user out-bids you, you will automatically receive an email stating this fact. This email will contain a link directly to the auction so that you can place a better bid if you wish to do so.

Before you begin listing your item on the auction site, it is a good idea to determine how much you wish to sell your item for. This will help you to determine a good starting price, and to specify a reserve price, should you wish to make sure that the item sells for a minimum amount. At this stage, it is also a good idea to gather any photographs that you may want to display to show the product in more detail and to help it to sell. Photos can be uploaded when creating your item listing, or afterwards if you don't have them to hand immediately.

To start listing your item, click on the 'Sell' tab at the top of the auction site. Listing an item for sale is a 5-step process, described below:

1. Select the Listing Type

Before you start entering the details of the item you wish to sell, you must select the type of listing you are going to use. There are 2 options:

a) Auction Listing

• Select this option if you wish to sell your item via a traditional auction. Users will bid for your item, and you can specify an optional reserve price. You can also specify a Buy It Now price, to allow buyers to buy your item at a fixed price.

b) Fixed Price Listing (Buy It Now)

• Select this option if you wish to sell your item at a fixed price only, using Buy It Now. No bidding will take place.

2. Item Title, Description & Pricing

Start your listing by giving your item a descriptive title that will attract potential bidders, and select the category into which you wish to place your item. Continue by filling out the item description. The more information you provide in the description, the more likely your item is to sell. Provide as much relevant information about your item as you can - your potential bidders will appreciate it! If you wish, you can also enter a product reference number for your own records - this number will not be displayed to anybody else. Continue your listing by giving a description of the condition of your item and also specify where the item is located (this field will already be populated with the details you provided at the time of registration).

Auction Listing

The next step is to enter your starting price. Select a starting price that you think will initially attract people to bid in your auction. You may wish to look at how other, similar auctions are priced to get an idea of a good starting point. Also remember to look at the bid history of other similar auctions to see how the auction has progressed from a particular starting price. If you want to set a minimum sale price value, enter this figure as the reserve price. If you do not want to use the reserve price feature, leave this set to zero. Enter the bid increment value for each successive bid. You can also specify a 'buy it now' price that will allow buyers to buy your item immediately at a fixed price.

Fixed Price Listing (Buy It Now)

If selling at a fixed price only, simply enter the sale price of the item in the Buy It Now Price box.

Next, select if you wish for your auction to start immediately once you have finished listing your item by putting a tick in the box 'Auction Starts Immediately'. If you would prefer your auction to start on a specific future date/time, simply select the date and time from the drop-down menus. You will then need to specify how long you want your listing to run for from the 'Auction Duration' section. Depending on how the auction site is setup to run, there may be additional listing fees associated will some, or all auction durations.

Finally, we come to promotional options. If you will want to upload photos of your auction item, please select 'Yes' to Upload Photos. There are then 3 options to help your listing stand out from others. Select the options you wish to use to promote your listing. Some of these options may be charged at an additional cost.

3. Payment & Shipping

These options determine how the end of auction will be handled and how the winning bidder will pay you the final sale price of your item. Please select the payment methods that you will accept from the winning bidder at the end of auction. In the case of Paypal, please enter the email address you have registered with Paypal. If you wish to make bidders aware of any other information related to making a payment to you, please enter this information in the box provided.

Next, select the shipping options and cost that you will offer at the end of auction. Domestic shipping relates to shipping your item within your country of origin. If you require the winning bidder to come to your location to pickup the item, please tick the box 'Local Pickup Only'. This will then prevent any other shipping options being selected and there will be no costs associated with this option.

If you will ship the item to the winning bidder, please select upto 3 shipping services from the drop-down menus and enter the cost associated with each service. It is the responsibility of the seller to investigate how much their item will cost to ship.

Important: All shipping costs specified must include all packaging costs.

If you are prepared to ship your item internationally, please tick the relevant box, and again select upto 3 shipping services and enter the associated costs of shipping and packaging.

If there is any other information you wish to make bidders aware of with regard to shipping, please enter this information in the box provided. All of this information, including shipping options and costs will be displayed on your item listing page for all bidders to see.

If you will allow your item to be returned to you in the case of damage or a faulty item having being shipped, please tick the 'Returns Accepted' box under the Return Policy section. You will then need to specify how many days the damaged/faulty item must be returned within, as well as giving full details of your returns procedure in the box provided.

4. Uploading Photos

This is the fun part! If you wish to display photos of your item for bidders to view, this is where you upload them. Your photos will need to be located on your computer and be in JPG format. This is the only photo file format that we accept. Upload each photo individually by locating your photo using the "Browse" button. After you have selected the photo to upload, click on the 'Upload Photo' button. Be patient at this point, and only press the upload button once. If your original photo file size is large, this process may take a few moments depending on the speed of your internet connection. As soon as the photo is uploaded, you will see a thumbnail image of your photo displayed on the right-hand side of the page. At this point you can upload another photo if you wish to do so.

Important: All photos uploaded must be in JPG format.

As you upload more photos, they will be displayed as thumbnails in a vertical list on the right-hand side of the page. The top thumbnail is your primary photo associated with your item. Next to each of the other thumbnails you will see an icon with a green arrow on it. Clicking this icon will make that thumbnail the primary image for your auction item. The primary image will be the image displayed in browse and search result pages on the auction site. Next to each thumbnail, you will also see a small red X icon. Click this icon to delete the associated image.

Once you have finished uploading your item photos, click on the "I have finished uploading photos" button. You will then be taken to a page where you can submit your auction.

5. Submitting Your Item

In this final step, you will see a summary of any listing fees that are due for listing your item. If you selected any promotional options to increase the visibility of your item, they will be listed here along with any associated charges. At this point you can simply click on "Submit You Auction Now" and your item will be listed as a live item on the auction site.