How to host a proper auction at EF (and how NOT to)

[Bird]

I'd like to add something:

If a seller sells the item(s), it should be self-evident, to post this in the thread. I find it unacceptable, to frequently see threads where people (including myself) bid, only to be informed, that the item has already been sold.

As a seller you should immediately after selling the item(s) post this in your thread.

[EyeContact]

Bird, why are you bumping other people's topics? Doesn't make sense to bump 15 topics, because the first bump is then on the bottom again

[e-lite]

Since this is a sticky topic, I would with the permission from the EF admin like to update the initial post a bit. We since the last VU now have a new way to find out market price for an item. "PE" is also now days "EU" and small stuff like that. Thank you.

[Midnght]

Okay having lost a bid to a bidder who placed a private bid to the seller.

I'd like to state or suggest: if your putting up an auction, state if your going to take silent bids or not.

Example:
Auction type: Public bids only
Auction type: Private pm bids only
Auction type: Public and pm bidding allowed

My losing said auction was partly my fault for not checking the main page of the initial post to see a private bid had come in.

But still had I known initially private bids would be accepted I wouldn't have been so stupid as to assume they would all be public (as all bids had been up till the last day) and would have increased my bid. But since I only looked at the last page of the auction thread I lost and IMHO it sucks for both me and the auctioneer who could have earned more money.

So please note the types of bids you will take pretty please,
for your own sake and ours the buyers.

[Midnght]

Another twist i've seen, it's probably not new.
Is agian pm bidders.

Auctioneers don't be fooled by these last minute decietful (yes I said decietful) pm bidders.

If you get a pm bid at the end of your auction and time runs out give the last bidder a chance to out bid that pm bid.

You're only cheating yourself out of potentially more money from a bidder who is cheating the system because your not around. It's not fair to the last bidder or yourself.

Here's an example of what I mean.

You have a last bid of say tt+100 ped. Your acution ends at 20:00
You've made it clear who the last bidder was and the bid.
That bidder sees it's past the auction time and they think they've won.
You log in 5 minutes maybe even an hour later
To see a pm bid for tt+1501 placed at 19:30 you contact the pm bidder and you sell to them.
The last bidder is totally f$%$ked because the bid wasn't public and they had NO chance to out bid it.

Do yourself a favor and let that last bidder have a final chance to place a bid. Don't let some decietful bidder rob you of a larger sale simply because they bid before your auction was over and now it's over so you feel obligated to sell it to them.

Don't feel obligated what they did was a sneaky dirty trick to rob the last bidder of the buy and likely robbing you of precious peds to boot!

In fact you'd be better off not taking pm bids at all. But this is only my opinion. Since having all bids be public, if the last bidder fails to place a bid over what was made public before the end of the bid then it's no ones fault but their own for not bidding. If you get such a war for your item you would IMHO be best to even allow the bids to have gone over your end auction time so someone doesn't pull a sniping trick and try to make you take less money because they waited till the last minute. This is why EU puts the extra 5 minutes on when you place a bid in the last 5 minutes. };>)

Don't let you or your bidders be cheated.

[Joser]

Even though this is a sticky, I figured I'd bring this to the forefront of potential EF auction-goer's minds again.

[Jimmy B]

Originally Posted by e-lite

Since this is a sticky topic, I would with the permission from the EF admin like to update the initial post a bit. We since the last VU now have a new way to find out market price for an item. "PE" is also now days "EU" and small stuff like that. Thank you.

Old request I know, but generally there's no need to request permission to edit your own sticky. In fact we kinda hope people do keep their sticky's up to date.

My own suggestion for good EF auctions would be, particularly for items with significant markup, to include a minimum bid increment and a sniper rule (e.g. a bid in the last hour of the auction extends the deadline by an hour). Its generally fairer for both seller and bidders that way.

[Xen]

Originally Posted by Jimmy B

Old request I know, but generally there's no need to request permission to edit your own sticky. In fact we kinda hope people do keep their sticky's up to date.

My own suggestion for good EF auctions would be, particularly for items with significant markup, to include a minimum bid increment and a sniper rule (e.g. a bid in the last hour of the auction extends the deadline by an hour). Its generally fairer for both seller and bidders that way.

10 months for a reply... better late than never.

[MindStar9]

And if I may ... if someone is using "MA/ingame" time to end their auctions, to please be aware that the forum MA/ingame clock is one minute faster than the one ingame when pressing "C" ... this caused a great stress with my armor auction that just ended. I indicated that the auction ended at 23:59 MA/ingame time in the original post, and when I saw a couple of posts at the 7pm forum time, I was ready to take the last post prior to that time for the sale. However, I was told by the individual who posted the additonal bid about the time difference, and that I (in essence) wouldn't be honoring my "MA/ingame" time if I didn't take the last bid, because she posted while it was still 23:59 ingame.

Moonie and I checked this, and she was absolutely correct, so maybe 711 can make an adjustment so that times are in sync. I really got caught between a rock and a hard place with this one, and I wouldn't want anyone else to have to experience this. I really don't feel right about what happened.

[Jimmy B]

You didn't do anything wrong MS9, not your fault. At the end of the day the highest bidder got it and the other basically just left it too late.

These sorts of problems crop up quite a bit though, i think a rolling deadline extension, or a rule that all interested parties are contacted and given a chance to outbid last minute bids, should eliminate them.

Doesn't matter so much with little items, but worth it when you're delaing with k PEDs.

Originally Posted by Xen

10 months for a reply... better late than never.

Well it was to admin not mod

Anyway, better to contact people with PM, than hope they are subscribed to a thread...