how does an online auction work?

lots of people have asked “how is this auction going to work?”

i realize that it’s not very clear and hopefully this post will explain it a little better before monday comes.

the auction will be hosted here on meals & moves.  i will be posting all the items hopefully by friday night. this way, everyone can check out the items and see what is up for bid.  on monday, the 25th, the bidding will open and you can start bidding on anything and everything you have your heart set on.

in order to give you guys a heads up on how the auction will work, i have typed up a few details.

we have nearly 200 items up for bid. each individual item will have its own page with its own comments section. these pages will be available for you to view by friday night/saturday afternoon (depending on how long it takes me to type them up!)  the comments will initially be closed, so you will not be able to bid, but you will be able to view the items, descriptions and other details.

on monday, i will open the comments section each individual page so you can bid.  the bidding will go on in the comments section. it will be up to you to refresh the item page to see the highest current bid and bid above that amount. your bid has to be at least $1 higher but can be as high as you’d like!

i will be updating a master list each hour with the current bids for each item. because there are 200 items, this will obviously not be real-time! i will try to update it each hour so you have an idea of what each item is currently going for, but in order to see the exact current bid of an item, you will need to click on that item. each item listing will be hyperlinked from the main page, so it will be easy to navigate.

all bidding opens at 8 AM EST, but because there are so many categories to choose from, i will be staggering the time each category will close. for example, 15 items will end at 6 PM EST, another 15 at 6:15 PM EST and so on until 11 PM EST.  this way, if you are competing for more than one item, you will have an easier time to get the last bid in and the site has less of a chance to go down.

comments/bids are timestamped and if you are the final high bidder, you will be notified that you won within 24 hours.

here are the official things!

Official Auction Rules, Logistics & Whatnot.

• Auction Date & Time: Bidding opens Monday, July 25, 2011 at 8 AM EST and individual item closing times will be staggered throughout the day. MAKE NOTE OF EACH ITEM’S CLOSING TIME! It will be noted within each individual listing. The staggered closing times has been implemented to prevent a site crash!
• Payment Methods: Paypal is the only method of payment accepted. If you don’t have a Paypal account, you can pay through the Paypal donation page which allows you to use any major credit/debit card.
• Starting Bids: Bidding on all items starts at $10 USD unless otherwise noted.
• Bidding Increments: Bids go up in whole dollar increments. For example, you could bid $1 or $10 higher than the previous bidder, but not $1.50 higher.
• Bidding Procedure: Bids are to be submitted via comment on item page.  Click the category above OR on the sidebar to the right, OR click on the item from the home page. It is your responsibility to see what the current high bid is!!  You must bid at least $1 above the current high bid. A valid name & email address are required when leaving a comment bid.
• Winners: If you are the winning bidder, you will be notified within 24 hours of the auction ending. The notification will include payment instructions.
• Making Payment: Winning bidders must make payment and send their mailing address to me within 72 hours of the auction ending. If payment is not made, winner forfeits item and the next highest bidder is awarded item. Once payment is made and shipping address is received, winning bidders will receive contact information of individual in charge of shipping their item.
• Shipping Information: Items that require shipping will be shipped within one week of payment/submission of address (unless otherwise noted). SELLER will cover shipping costs!
• Items That Don’t Require Shipping: If your item is an online service or online gift card, once payment for your item is received, you will get an email with all the information you need to retrieve your item.

PLEASE LEAVE ANY AND ALL QUESTIONS BELOW! I will answer them or someone who knows will answer them ASAP!