Mention an auction to most people and they think of accidentally sneezing in Christies and going home with a Van Gough. Traditional auction houses are stuffy and intimidating and most of the lots are priced beyond the reach of most of us with telephone bidders from Japan placing telephone number bids.

The advent of the internet however means that an auction is now a place where you can pick up a bargain for a few pounds rather than a few thousand and you can do it all from the comfort of your own home Alternatively you could make a few quid for yourself by selling something yourself and seeing how high the bids can go.

How?

26 Pigs have been working for some time on creating an auction which is easy to use for both the buying and selling of collectables. We want to ensure that you can bid for an item as easily as you can sell an item and have produced comprehensive guides to buying and selling which should make it as easy as sneezing!

Why Buy?

• The first and most simple reason is because you can find some great bargains.
• You can make a bid whenever you want, day or night from the comfort of your own home.
• It’s easy to do, there are no stuffy auctioneers and you are not rushed into any decision you may regret as most auctions last about a week.
• The best reason is because it’s fun. It may not sound it but give it a try and you’ll soon be hooked.

Buyers Guide

Registering

The first thing you will need to do before you can buy from an auction on 26 Pigs is to ensure that you have registered. We need to have the correct details as we want to reassure the seller that you are making a genuine offer for the goods so that they feel comfortable about making a purchase online. This is a simple process and should only take a few minutes. We do not allow anyone else to see these details in accordance with our privacy policy.

Questions

If you have any doubts about the goods you are buying or if you simply want to check something then you can ask the seller a question by e-mail. All registered members will have to agree to allowing their e-mail address to be available on the site before putting an item up for auction.

If a registered member has 'modified their details' within the last 30 days a 'warning bell' will appear next to their 26pigs ID wherever it appears.

Pig-feedback

As a further measure to protect you we allow all buyers to grade the standard of the service they received from the seller. This means that before you make a bid you can check the Pig-feedback from previous customers of the seller. If you have any concerns about them then we would suggest that you do not bid or ask some more questions.

Satisfied?

Once you are happy with the seller and happy that the goods are what you want you need to ensure that you understand the trading terms of the seller. You will need to consider how much the postage is going to cost and who is going to pay for it. You may need to think about insuring the goods while they are in transit and how you intend to pay for it. For example, most private sellers will not be able to accept credit cards unless they have registered with a Credit Card payment service like PayPal.com and may only accept cheques so you may need to have access to a chequebook.

Watching Auctions

By clicking on the "I want to watch this item" link that appears on every auction page, the details of that auction will be added to 'Your Auction' on My 26pigs. This will enable you to keep an eye on the auction even though you haven't placed a bid.

Bidding

Make your bid.

So, now you’re ready to make a move and place your first bid. You must be sure that you want the item you are bidding for as once you make a bid you are entering a legally binding agreement with the seller. You may not win the auction as someone else may make a higher bid than you before the auction closes but if you do place the highest bid and win, you cannot change your mind except under exceptional circumstances.

How Much Should I Bid?

This is up to you but you need to make a bid which is more than the current bid price. Let’s say the current bid price is £10.00. The seller will already have stipulated the increments by which the bid must increase. Lets say the bid increases by £1.00 increments. You will have to bid at least £11.00 to stand any chance of winning.

Outbid?

If someone else comes back with a higher bid (£12.00) then you will be informed by email that you need to increase your bid in order to win the item.

AutoBid

You are sure to enjoy the process of bidding against someone else for an item but you may have a life to get on with in which case you won’t be able to sit at your desk for days on end waiting for a higher bid to come in. To free you up we have introduced a feature whereby you can stipulate your maximum bid. It doesn’t mean that you will end up paying this amount but that 26 Pigs will increase your bid incrementally should a higher bid come along. This is not only useful because it saves times but also because it lets you set an upper limit for your expenditure. You are not obliged to stick to this upper limit as it is only self imposed but it may help you to stop spending more than you intended as it’s easy to get carried away in the heat of battle.

The arrangements for payment are between you and the seller and 26 Pigs is no longer involved in the transaction. We simply host the auction and are not involved in any financial dealings between you and the seller.

Sellers Guide

Registering

The first thing you will need to do before you can sell anything on a 26 Pigs auction is to ensure that you have registered. We need to have the correct details as we want to reassure the buyer that you are as genuine as the goods you have on offer so that they feel comfortable about making a purchase online. This is a simple process and should only take a few minutes. We do not allow anyone else to see these details in accordance with our privacy policy.

How Much?

You may decide to sell something on a 26 Pigs auction because you’re unsure of how much it’s worth or you may just want to earn a few quid. Whatever the reason setting a realistic reserve is going to be very important. The reserve price is the minimum price you will sell it for and you can’t raise it once the auction has started, it would be much easier to get it right first time anyway. When you enter the item for sale you will be able to choose how much you want the reserve to be and how much you want the bids to raise by. For example, you wouldn’t want an item with a reserve of £100 being bid for in increments of 50p so it’s important to choose wisely.

Questions

There will be a link to your e-mail address on every auction you hold on 26pigs. This enables the auctioneers to quickly contact you to ask questions about yourself or your items.

Editing or Removing an Auction

You can't edit or remove an Auction once the bidding has started but either editing or completely removing your auction can be carried out before the first bid has been placed.

Pig-feedback

In order to protect all our users we ask that everyone grade the standard of the service they receive when buying online. This enables us to filter out people who are likely to be unreliable or untrustworthy but we need you to ensure that you spare a few moments to grade the person you have been dealing with for the benefit of others.

Sold!

Once the auction has closed you will be notified of who has won the bid. You should aim to contact the buyer as soon as possible and if you have no response within one calendar week, you are free to approach the next highest bidder.

Payment

The arrangements for payment are between you and the buyer, 26 Pigs is no longer involved in the transaction. We simply host the auction and are not involved in any financial dealings between you and the buyer.

Auction History

Your Auction History is linked from the ACP (Auction Control Panel) and lists all the previous auctions you have held on the site whatever the outcome of the auction was.

From Auction History you can contact the Highest Bidder for each auction and also 'Re-Start' any auctions that failed to take bids or that didn't reach the reserve price set by you.

Postage, Packing & Delivery

Before starting an Auction it would help everybody if you could find out how much the postage and packing will be to send to the UK, the US and the Rest of the World and add this information to the description in your Auction.

Obviously you don't have to do this but it will help in selling your items.

Once the Auction has closed and the highest bidder been named you can then send the Total Cost including Postage and Packing to the winner.

Your Responsibilities

We have our responsibilities in hosting an Auction on the web but we can only inforce them with your help.

Rogue Sellers and phantom Buyers will not be tolerated and will be ejected forcibly from the building when found out. Please advise us of any wrong doing by any registered member on the site.

If you are unsure of the Seller or Buyer then send them an e-mail requesting verification of who they are, where they live etc. If you are still unsure and want further advice then drop us a line and we will try to help.