FS Market

How do I Bid on an item?

You must first register to bid on any auctions. Each item listing will have the Bidding options at the bottom of that listing. You will need to enter a dollar amount, your UserName, Password, and Zipcode. When you submit a bid, you will be shown a confirmation screen to double check. Once you confirm your bid, it will be submitted immediately.

Once you confirm and submit a Bid, one of two things may happen:
1) You become the new High Bidder immediately.
2) The previous bidder's Proxy outbids you immediately.

The system will tell you what happened immediately. If you are the new High Bidder, you will also receive an email to confirm it. If you are Outbid later, or the Proxy raises your bid for you, you will receive emails. At the close of auction, you will receive an email with the results.

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What if I am Outbid?

The system will email you immediately if you are outbid on an auction. That email will contain a link to go directly to the auction in question, in case you want to bid again. We use an "Overtime" feature to insure that all outbid parties have at least five (5) minutes to respond. Thus, if you are outbid with 30 seconds left in an auction, the system will continue the auction for another four and a half minutes to give you the full five minutes to respond.

You can also find your bids in MyPage, where you can see all of your current bidding activity, and the results from closed auctions that you had bid on.

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What if I Win an auction?

If you are a winning bidder at the end of an auction, the system will email you immediately after the close time. That email notification will have the details of the auction, including the final price. The email will also contain instructions on how to proceed with the transaction.

You can also find your bids in MyPage, where you can see all of your current bidding activity, and the results from closed auctions you bid on.

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What is Overtime?

Normally, an auction closes at the scheduled time as displayed within the listing. However, if there are successful bids entered within the last 5 minutes of the closing time, then the auction will go into overtime. The auction is extended until there are no further bids for a continuous 5 minutes. This is similar to an auctioneer continuing to take bids until there is no further interest. For example, if a new bid comes in with 4 minutes left in the auction, then there will be 1 minute of overtime.
More about overtime

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What is Proxy bidding?

We employ an automated bidding system, which means you don't have to watch every minute of the auction. We call it a "Proxy" system, as in the computer can act as a Proxy bidder for you. Here's how it works:

When entering a bid, you can either submit the "minimum" required, or some amount more than the that. You should simply enter the maximum price you are willing to pay. The system will automatically engage a Proxy for you, which will start by bidding the minimum needed. It will then keep your maximum bid a secret, but fight off any other bidders automatically. It will never bid more than you entered, and it will always bid as little as possible to keep you at the top. If it runs into your limit, it will stop bidding and email you.
More about Proxy Bidding

How do I view the Bid History?

Single Item Auctions:
The seller and each participating bidder can see the bid history from within their MyPage. The bid history is not displayed to non-participating users, in order to prevent bid siphoning and spamming.

Dutch Auctions:
Bid History is visible to all users, by clicking on the bid count shown within a listing. Clicking on the bid count within a Dutch auction will display the UserName and Bid amount of each bidder that has participated. This allows everyone to see what the demand is, and see who is winning and who is out.

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How do I list an item?

You must first register before listing items for sale. (forum users will need to register again for the auctions). Once you choose a UserName and Password combination, you will be able to submit listings. If you have taken pictures, you should have them ready on your hard drive, and they should be in the JPEG format. For larger items, you should find out what shipping options are possible. If shipping is not possible, you will be able to mention that in your listing.

List your item

How long should I run it?

Generally speaking, the less people that can buy your item, the longer you should list it. Most tackle could be listed for 7 days to cover one full week's bidder cycle. Larger, more specific items can be listed for 14-21 days to find enough interested bidders. Boats or other "pick up only" items may be listed for up to 30 days.

You should set a Hammer price for longer auctions, so that it will close as soon as you have a sale. You can also end an auction early, if you have a satisfactory high bid. Thus, our system can act much like a classified ad, or very much like an auction. You are free to choose the best method for selling your item.

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How do I change a listing?

If your auction does not yet have any bids, then you can Edit or Modify the auction through "MyPage", which has a link on our home page towards the right. Once logged in to MyPage, look under Auctions for the link titled "Currently open". This link will display all of your open auctions, which you can click for further options for each listing.

You can use the link "Revise this Auction" to edit any part of the listing, including the Title, Opening Bid, Reserve Price, Description, or other aspects. The listing will display a note that you have "Revised" that auction, and it will show what fields were changed. This helps to prevent confusion on the part of bidders, if they return and notice a difference.

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What is the Reserve Price?

Sellers may choose to set a Reserve Price that is above the minimum starting bid. Bidders can see if a an auction has a reserve price, and whether it has been met or not. (indicated next to the current bid display in any auction). The actual amount of the reserve price is not shown to bidders, until it has been met or surpassed.

Reserve Price is an optional feature.
Reserve Price must be greater than the Opening Bid.
Reserve Price amount will not be visible to bidders.
Reserve Price can be changed only if there are no bids yet.
Sellers may choose to reveal their reserve price via email or within the listing.

What if your reserve is not met?
You might re-list the item, setting a lower reserve this time.
or
Relist the item with the opening bid equal to the last high bid. This strategy allows the previous bidders to settle on a market price closer to your reserve.

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What is the Hammer price?

When listing an auction, sellers may set an optional Hammer price at which the auction would end immediately. If a buyer is willing to match the seller's hammer price, then it is considered a "done deal" so the auction is closed and a transaction is started. We refer to this as an auction being Hammered close. When this happens, all bidders will receive an email notification of the early close due to the auction being Hammered.

Hammer price is optional.
Hammer price is not available for Dutch auctions.
Hammer price must be equal to or greater than the Opening Bid.
Hammer price must be equal to or greater than any Reserve Price.
Hammer price can be changed only if there are no bids yet.

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