Looking for auction advice.

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

Sites like Furbuy/Furbid exist for auctions, but most people, myself included, would rather do so on our FA pages. They are quite common and tend to be more successful. But, what do you do about people who break the auction rules?

Examples;
Not paying up after winning.
Fake bidding.
Hiding bids/retracting bids.
And a specific situation;

Someone had bid on my auction, was locked in a bid war, noted me, and claimed the other person was cheating and wanted to retract their bids. The other person was not 'cheating' or breaking any of my rules what so ever. Said person (who noted me) also tried to dictate my rules (no multi bidding, which was allowed, and the person did them self) and tell the same bidder what to do.

Should I disqualify him? But, this would also make the bid war useless, and I'd hate to rehost it because one slot had to be reset. What should I do? I don't think it's fair to the person being accused of cheating if I cancel the bids, since both parties warred on it. But I'm afraid the person will refuse to pay up, or hide his comment. I did tell him he would no longer be allowed to participate in my auctions, and I would report him if he did so, but I'm still worried.

EDIT; The person who was bidding was NOT fake bidding, the other user was just claiming such. He ended up saying some stuff that hinted he would scam me if no one out bid him, so I banned him from all future auctions and rehosted the auction due to the fact that he had bid in all slots, and it would mess everything up.

I had no net, sorry this is a late edit.

Comments

[kairi-koitra.livejournal.com]

honestly if you can prove the bid was fake and the person in the bid war hid all their comments aka retracting their bid. Take it back to the highest bid before all the drama started. Also I'd make a rule in your future auctions that all people who hide comments or bids would be banned from this and all future auctions you are hosting to prevent it from happening again. I'd also probably block them from my page while they were fresh in my memory as well.

I'm horrible as time passes I tend to forget bad eggs. So blocking them right away tends to make sure your protecting yourself from this happening again. If it was large sum I'd probably also upload a beware on the person as well to protect other artists from this person.

A few safety things i've discovered with FA auctions is to screen shot things daily so I have an actual track record of the bids that are going on. Especially if they are jumping into a high pay rate. This not only protects you, but protects your other bidders as well and gives you proof in case you do have to post a beware on them as well.

Thats the one thing about FA is they really have no set rules against auctioning off things, characters commission slots etc. So no one can protect you or your bidders but yourself. It's a great way to make money and get business since a lot of people hate the furry auction sites. But it is also a great way for people to inflate and -forget- to pay for things as well.

[sharpecostumes.livejournal.com]

This very much so. The screen shot idea is marvelous as it also in a way gives a paper trail so if they ever try to deny later that they bid a certain amount you can hold them to it as well as give you solid evidence for other "beware" reasons.

Starting it back to before the drama makes it once more fair for everyone while not having to start all over and possibly receive less upon the bid from nervous bidders that are a little spooked from the drama.

[fizzystickss.livejournal.com]

Recently when I went through the fiasco of my non-paying bidder, I went back to the lowest, viable bid of the person he got into a bid war with. I felt it only right since the person admitted outright that they had no intention of paying, but that was me, this guy may have had every intention of paying he just doesn't want it to go any higher cause he doesn't want to get outbid/pay more so he's trying to be dirty about it.

I dunno, might require relisting :(

[splatterhouse.livejournal.com]

I'd disqualify him, ban him from future auctions, and go with the last bid before his as the winner.

[ljmydayaway.livejournal.com]

To your last concern: I wouldn't disqualify him, just tell him, "No, I'm sorry if you're frustrated because it's difficult to get a high bid, but they're not breaking any of my rules. Please do not try to dictate what other people can do in my auctions. I promise I'm keeping an eye on it, and any trouble-makers will be removed. Thanks! :)"

Okay, that's a little snarky, but you can de-snarkify it for your use.

When people break my rules, don't pay, or place false bids, I just put them on my block list. That way I don't have to deal with them any more, they can't place false bids/bid and not pay, etc.

[epiceternity.livejournal.com]

I would go with the second highest bidder if the highest bidder turns out to be unreliable. It done as 'second chance' on Ebay so it seems to be acceptable. You might even want to put it in your TOS to prevent further argument.

On your specific example, I would have to comment that it does sounds like the note commissioner will be stressful to work with so I hope things work out okay.

[temrin.livejournal.com]

Just a personal note:

The reason why i use an auction site over FA, is because the auction site has a TOS and legalities to back them up if things go sour.

FA does not have anything to cover auction terms and legalities and if someone backs out, they are NOT legally bound to their bids like they would be on an auction site. This causes issues with people backing out and making excuses not to pay.

On an auction site, they are legally bound by their bids and its up to you if -you- want to be lenient and let someone back out. You are allowed to do that and offer it to the next in line, who is also bound by their bid even if they didnt win. you also have admins of the auction site to help you figure things out and deal with legalities as well.

Other people seem to have made good suggestions on what to do for the problems you suggested, though, as i stated above, FA has no security for auctions and no one has to comply with the changes you make due to drama happening in a bid war.

Good luck though :3