how does an online auction work?

by Janetha on July 21, 2011

in Uncategorized

image

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!

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Annette@EnjoyYourHealthyLife July 21, 2011 at 1:56 pm

Cool! I am excited. ANd for such a great cause :)

Carbzilla July 21, 2011 at 2:30 pm

Very clear instructions. Should run smoothly. I like everything about it. :)

Sasha Kadun July 21, 2011 at 2:41 pm

Awesome!! Do you ship to Canada!?!

Janetha July 21, 2011 at 2:44 pm

The majority of the items for bid can be shipped to Canada. Each item will say where it will ship.

Stephanie @ extremebalance.net/blog July 21, 2011 at 3:56 pm

Oh, bummer that it’s not *everything*, since Susan’s Canadian… :D

Janetha July 21, 2011 at 3:57 pm

I know! A lot of the companies don’t ship to Canada.. but most bloggers are going to ship there. Chobani is making a special exception and shipping there!

Nikki T July 23, 2011 at 8:35 pm

Which I am SO excited about since we don’t have Chobani here and I LOVE it!!
I hope I win!!

fittingbackin July 21, 2011 at 2:49 pm

Very exciting – thanks for the head’s up & deets!

Hallie July 21, 2011 at 2:55 pm

My question was, do you have a plan in place for if your website crashes? I mean, some pretty big bloggers have posted about it so it could happen.

P.S. They say you can help out with money or time…I don’t have a lot of either so I apologize for not getting together something for the bidding. I do however hope to get involved by bidding my little heart out. I’m usually outbid on these things but i will NOT be outbid Monday…I’m getting something, darn it!

Janetha July 21, 2011 at 2:56 pm

No.. I am through Bluehost so I really hope it works out!

Kay July 24, 2011 at 10:25 am

Have you tried contacting Bluehost to see if they’ll sponsor the bandwidth for the auction? It’s worth a shot, and it’d be difficult for them to refuse, considering the reason for the asking. :)

Casey @ Pocket Full of Sunshine July 21, 2011 at 3:02 pm

This so so cool Janetha. It’s so awesome you’re organizing something like this. I keep saying that but it’s true! I hope it goes fantastic and raises tons of money!

Danica July 21, 2011 at 3:24 pm

Great job Janetha!!! You might just be the most organized person I have ever met :)It’s going to be the BEST online auction ever….I am so excited to help raise moohlah for Susan!

I can’t wait :)

love ya – hang in there ~ you are doing an amazing job!

xoxo,

D

Stephanie @ extremebalance.net/blog July 21, 2011 at 3:57 pm

Very smart, and it looks *great*!

Erica July 21, 2011 at 5:21 pm

I can’t wait! I already know two items I definitely want to bid on!

Heather @ Get Healthy with Heather July 21, 2011 at 6:07 pm

I wondered how this was all going to go down. Thanak for the deets!

Deb (SmoothieGirlEatsToo) July 21, 2011 at 10:01 pm

Derek suggested calling /contacting bluehost to make sure you have enough bandwidth for the craziness that will ensue (we hope!)

Michelle @ A Voracious Appetite July 22, 2011 at 7:55 am

Wow, you’ve put so much hard work into this. You rock :-) It’s going to go so well!!!

Lauri (RedHeadRecipes.com) July 22, 2011 at 8:59 am

WOW!! I can’t imagine all the hours and time you have spent on this! SO AWSOME! Thanks and can’t wait to start bidding!

Kristin (Cook, Bake, Nibble) July 22, 2011 at 9:06 am

You are SO organized. Yay! I’m so excited! :)

xo

jobo July 22, 2011 at 9:46 am

Great instructions! I may have someone try and bid for me since I will be away!! But I bet everything will go out to great bids and the funds couldn’t go to a more deserving person. You have done a great job with this!!

Cassy July 22, 2011 at 11:22 am

you’re SO rad. seriously.

Basia July 22, 2011 at 11:36 am

Is it too late to contribute something? Can you email me info on how to put something up for bid? Thanks! :D

Nicky July 22, 2011 at 2:54 pm

Is there anyway that some of the international items could end at a different time to give us UK people a chance to be there for when the bidding closes? 11pm your time is 4am for us!

Physique 57 July 22, 2011 at 2:58 pm

Great detail on how the auction will work. We are thrilled to participate in helping you raise money for Susan. Good luck on Monday and we look forward to finding out who the winning bidder is for the The Complete Physique 57® Workout Kit with Exercise Ball!

Best,

The Physique 57 Team

jenn July 22, 2011 at 4:49 pm

I hope I didn’t miss this in your post somehow but how does shipping work? Is there a flat shipping rate added? Is it determined by the auction? Is it included in the auction? Thanks!

Janetha July 22, 2011 at 4:50 pm

Awesome question! Shipping is covered by seller!! Thanks for asking, I will put that in the official officialness.

Lori July 22, 2011 at 5:29 pm

You are organized! I would contact your host to give them a head’s up so they don’t shut your server down if it gets flooded with traffic.

Janetha July 22, 2011 at 5:30 pm

Lori, I called Bluehost and they said there isn’t anything I can do… ugh.. I have a bad feeling about this.

nikki @pickynikki.ca July 23, 2011 at 2:37 am

I use bluehost as well… Are you on the normal plan or the Pro plan? It is supposed to be unlimited bandwidth for both, however there are disclaimers for each. I wonder if you redirect some of the items URLs to another person’s hosted account to try and lighten your traffic load? I hope it works out!! Will be bidding on Monday :) If you need anything feel free to email me!

Janetha July 23, 2011 at 11:21 am

I am on the Pro plan, switched yesterday, but that still isn’t a dedicated server. They said that if my site gets overloaded with hits, they will shut my site down as to not slow down other sites on the shared server. I asked about getting a temp dedicated server, but they said they don’t have any.

Redirecting the URLs would be an awesome plan.. I wish I would have thought of that before I published and hyperlinked 167 item pages =/ man.. fingers crossed!!!

Nikki @ pickynikki.ca July 23, 2011 at 1:31 pm

Sorry I didn’t mention it sooner! Fingers crossed with you! This auction is amazing… It’s why I love the blogging community!

Nathalie July 23, 2011 at 7:08 am

Hey Janetha, you seem to be the most organized person on the planet ;-) This is a really amazing thing to do!
I’m in the UK and obviously most of the items don’t ship overseas…but I was wondering, if I could still bid on US items, and should I be the highest bidder ask for the item to be sent to friends/relatives in the US. Would that be ok? Thanks for taking the time to answer…I’d bet you are insanely busy right now!
Hope the auctions go spectacularly well…and fingers crossed that the servers will cope ;-)

Janetha July 23, 2011 at 11:20 am

Yes, that is definitely OK! You can have it shipped wherever you want! Also, we are going to make a special “Worldwide” link and have those items end a bit earlier in the day so you can get a fair shot at winning them.

Nathalie July 23, 2011 at 12:11 pm

Thanks for the info, that’s great! I am so excited :-) Wonderful that you’re also creating a ‘worldwide’ link and have those items end a little earlier in the day. Hats off to you for organizing this big fundraiser and for thinking of every little detail! Pretty amazing! x

Marie July 23, 2011 at 9:08 am

Amazing Janetha!! Great great job and obviously such a worthy cause. I plan on lots of bidding on Monday! :)

Nancy July 24, 2011 at 6:36 pm

I don’t know you or Susan but I have been reading for a long time. This is such an amazing thing you’re doing for her. You rock!

Allison @ Happy Tales July 24, 2011 at 7:40 pm

Wow, love and dedication for both blogging AND susan sure does shine through you for all of this! My thougts are that you have a TON of good Karma coming your way (hopefully in the form of zero blog crashes!)

Janetha July 24, 2011 at 7:43 pm

Kay–I did ask Bluehost and they were basically assholes. It sucks! They said I was screwed and to pray for the best. In those words, actually.

Sarah S. July 25, 2011 at 7:23 am

Umm, I screwed up and bid before 8 AM because the comments were open. Sorry!

Janetha July 25, 2011 at 7:55 am

Haha yeah.. I had to open them last night!

Cent December 22, 2011 at 5:44 pm

Nice thing to do. Cool!

Object Synergy January 23, 2012 at 3:16 am

I have also research ” How Online Auction work” for facebook application , anybody know any face book meal auction application.

Ascot Teak January 23, 2012 at 3:20 am

I think Awesome post , can we sell our product from these type of auction website?

My Kids Lunch Box January 23, 2012 at 3:24 am

Great Idea for selling product from this way , if lots of user bid same so which one should be select ?

Mithai January 23, 2012 at 3:32 am

Wow , Now we can sell Mithai & Bakes from Auction website. is there any online auction website where we sell our product ?

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