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Types of Auctions

Information regarding Dutch Auctions, Reserve Auctions, Buy It Now Auctions , Live Auctions and Private Auctions.

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Auction
Learn the basic eBay way to buy

eBay's system for buying and selling is an online version of the age-old practice of auctions, where sellers put items up for sale to the highest bidder. Millions of people like you have already enjoyed the excitement and fun of participating in online auctions on eBay.

As a buyer, here are the basics of how an eBay auction works:

  1. Search or browse to find an item you're interested in buying.
  2. Take a look at the auction and decide if you wish to compete in this auction. Some things to note are:
    • When it ends (always in Pacific Time)
    • How many bids have already been placed on the item
    • What the current high bid is
    • The description (and possibly picture) of the item
  3. Place your bid. Enter the highest amount you'd be willing to pay for the item. eBay will automatically raise your bid only as much as is needed for you to remain the high bidder. (This is called proxy bidding-and does not apply to Multiple Item Auctions.) This means that you may win an item for less than your maximum bid. But you can also be outbid if someone else enters a higher maximum bid.
  4. If you are the highest bidder when the auction ends, you win the auction. As the winner, you are obligated to buy the item for the winning bid price.

Reserve Price Auction

Some auctions have a reserve price, a hidden minimum price, on their item.

How it works:

  • A reserve price is the minimum price a seller is willing to accept for the item.
  • As a buyer, you are not shown the reserve price, only whether or not the reserve has been met.
  • The seller is not obligated to sell the item if the reserve price is not met.
  • The winning bidder must meet or exceed the reserve price and have the highest bid.

When you're bidding in a Reserve Price Auction, bid as usual, entering the maximum amount you're willing to pay for the item. Watch the label next to the current price to see whether the reserve price has been met. Until you see that the reserve price has been met, there have been no successful bids in the auction. Once the reserve has been met, the item will sell to the highest bidder when the auction closes.

If your maximum bid is the first to meet or exceed the reserve price, the effective bid displayed will automatically be raised to the reserve price.

Live Auctions

 

Participating in Live Auctions using the Internet is safe, easy, and fun! Here is how it works:

  1. Before the actual auction, the auction house lists all items in their catalog in the eBay Live Auctions system. Each catalog contains several "lots" (Live Auctions equivalent of "items"). Internet bidders can then browse the catalogs or search for particular lots.

  2. To participate in a Live Auction, Internet bidders must first sign up for that event. To do that, you must be an eBay or Sothebys.com registered user and comply with the auction house's user verification requirements. You will also be asked to accept the terms and conditions of sale governing that auction.

  3. Before the event, all registered users can place absentee bids on any Live Auctions lot. When you place an absentee bid, you can be sure that the auctioneer will receive your bid even if you are not there during the sale.

  4. During the event, you can follow everything that is happening in the auction house right here on the Live Auctions site! You can place bids against other Internet bidders as well as bidders on the auction house floor. If you prefer, you can just watch the bidding. It's live!

  5. After the event, you pay the auction house directly for any lots that you've won. They will ship your guaranteed item directly to you.

 

That's it. Come join the world of Internet Live Auctions! If you are new to eBay, register now. If you are a registered user, check out our current catalogs.


Private Auction

When a seller chooses to make an auction private, the User IDs of bidders is not displayed on the listing. The seller is able to view the User ID of only the high bidder during the listing, and only the winning bidder when the listing ends. In a Buy It Now listing, Private Auction hides the identity of the buyer from everyone except the seller.

Multiple Item Auction (Dutch Auction)

When you see a quantity of two or more on an eBay auction, that's a Multiple Item Auction (Dutch Auction). This means the seller is offering multiple, identical items for sale. Unlike a regular eBay auction, Multiple Item Auctions can have many winners.

When you bid on a Multiple Item Auction, you specify the number of items you're interested in and the price you're willing to pay. All winning bidders will pay the same price: the lowest successful bid.

Much of the time, all buyers pay the starting price in Multiple Item Auctions. However, if there are more bids than items, the items will go to earliest successful bids.

To beat another bid, yours must have a higher total bid value (bid price x number of items bid on) than other bids. Reducing this total bid value in subsequent bids is not permitted.

Successful bids are displayed when you click on the link reading, "see winning bidders list" link. The complete bidding history (including any unsuccessful bids) is displayed when you click on the 'bid history' link.

You have the right to refuse partial quantities. This means, for example, that if you bid for 10 items and are offered only eight when the auction ends, you don't have to buy any of them.

Buy It Now
Skip the online auction and get your item sooner!

When you see the icon next to a listing or see a Buy It Now price listed on an item page, you have a special opportunity to get that item right away without waiting for an online auction to end.

Using Buy It Now is simple.

  1. Decide whether you're willing to buy the item for the Buy It Now price. Please remember, shipping and handling charges are not included in the Buy It Now price. You may need to contact the seller to determine the total price of the item.
  2. Click the Buy It Now button at the bottom of the item page and enter your User ID and password.
  3. You'll see a Buy It Now confirmation message. From there, you can choose among the offered payment methods (eBay Payments, personal check, money order, and so forth).
  4. Pay for the item, and the seller ships it to you.

When it's part of an auction-style listing, the Buy It Now option is only shown on listings until an item receives its first bid, or, for a Reserve Price Auction, when the reserve is met. This means that when you see an item has both a Buy It Now price and a first bid price listed, you will need to act quickly!

Note:
To qualify to use Buy It Now as a buyer, you must:
 Have feedback greater than or equal to 0 OR
 Have a credit card (or debit card) on file OR
 ID Verify

If you don't qualify when you click the Buy It Now button, you will be asked to do one of the above to qualify. Once you have met one of the above requirements, the listing will end automatically and you will be the winning buyer.

Some links that further explain the different auction styles:

Ebay explains Dutch Auctions

Dutch auctions - Cruentidei

Ebay's Listing Types

Second Chance Offers

Acronyms related to ebay

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