Andrew Bailey Memorial Fundraiser
 
 

Frequently Asked Questions

What's a "silent auction?"
In a silent auction, you will be bidding on one or more lots against other would-be buyers. You will not be able to see the identities of those buyers until the auction is over.

Why aren't you running these auctions on an existing site like eBay?
We're trying to maximize the financial benefit to Merrily. All of the existing auction houses we looked at charged fees for each auction lot. Given the number of lots we are offering, we felt it was preferable to use our own custom-built site.

How does the auction process work?
If you want to bid on an auction item, here's what you have to do:

  1. Register an account on this site. You will not be able to bid until we verify that we can contact you at the email address you list.
  2. Browse the auction lots, and place bids on any lots that you are interested in (assuming those lots are still open for bids).
  3. Bidding for a lot will end at 12am CST on the specified end date. If your bid is the highest on the lot at that time, congratulations! You've just agreed to purchase that item for the price you bid on.
  4. Send in your payment (see below) and contact us to let us know it's been sent. We will contact you as soon as your payment is verified, and will have the item shipped to you ASAP.
In my bid summary, I see that some of my bids are listed under a "Grace Period" section. What's that mean?
After you place a bid, you will have a 15-minute "grace period" in which you can retract your bid without penalty. So if you mistakenly enter an extra zero after your bid amount, you can just retract the bid and submit a new one. But 15 minutes after you've placed a bid, that bid will be permanent and cannot be retracted. Also note that "grace period" retractions will be unavailable during the last 15 minutes before the auction deadline.

When I'm browsing through the list of lots, it shows me the start and end dates for each lot. But when I click on a lot description, it shows me that the ending date is the day AFTER the end date. What gives?
The "browse list" of bids will show you the dates on which an auction lot can be bid on. On a lot description page, you will see the exact end time for the lot. Note that this time is at midnight (i.e., the very first thing) on the date listed. In other words, lots can't actually be bid on on that date. Sorry; we know it's confusing but we were stuck trying to figure out a better way to show it.

How will you validate that a bid is legitimate?
We're planning to follow standard auction-site protocols. Specifically, if anyone seems to be registering spurious bids, they will be banned from the site. Also, delivery of items will be withheld until payment is received. After an auction is complete, if the winning bidder fails to provide payment within 5 business days, the option will be passed to the next-highest bid.

How can I track lots that I've bid on?
Check the box on the left side of the window for details on your current bids. All lots that you've bid on will be listed there, along with info on your bid, and whether you have the highest bid at the moment. Click on a lot name to view the details on the lot and place a new bid if you're so inclined.

OK, so I won ... now what?
First, we will need to contact you to determine shipping fees. We have not pre-calculated shipping costs for any lots but will do our best to minimize shipping costs by grouping items together when possible. No shipping "overhead" charges will be tacked on to any order.

Once we have contacted you with the final price for the item+shipping, you will send us your payment. We would prefer you to send payment via check or money order, as this will minimize the loss of funds through PayPal fees. Checks and money orders should be made payable to Amanda Rieth, and mailed to:

Amanda Rieth
PO Box 183
Bath, PA 18014

[NOTE: Our original plan was to have checks made out directly to the Andrew Bailey Memorial Fund, but this would have caused large delays in payment verification. After extensive discussion we decided that having OriginalSnarf (Amanda) act as a collection point for payments was preferable.]

You may also send payment via PayPal if sending a check or money order is not possible. Contact Gemelli via email at mr_nobody(at)yahoo(dot)com after you have won an auction lot if this is how you would like to offer payment; we'll let you know how to proceed. Please do NOT send a PayPal payment until we've given you instructions on how to send it.

All items will be sent to the winners ASAP after payment has cleared. We will keep you posted on the progress of your payment and will let you know ASAP if there are any delays. If you would prefer to wait to send payment for an item until bidding on all lots is over (April 30), that's fine, but we can't release any of the items until your payment is verified.

It should go without saying, but please don't send a check that you think will bounce. This will end up costing us money and grief. If this happens, we will contact the next-highest bidder and offer the lot to them for their bid amount. We will also send you bad karma, dirty mojo, and a veritable wall of voodoo.

Who will be sending me my items?
For all physical items, the person who donated the item will be responsible for shipping. All KoL in-game items will be sent from the CareBot account as soon as payment has been received and verified.

I know that you've started already, but can I donate some extra items for the auction?
Sure! We will be accepting donations through April 20, 2008. We just need to ensure that all auctions are complete no later than April 30, 2008.