The Internet being the fragile environment that it is, Shopworld cannot be held responsible for server down time, or your inability to access our site. Notifications sent by email may take longer than expected, and cannot be counted on to inform you of an item's status. In the event of technical problems, we reserve the right to cancel, restart, or extend an auction as the circumstances may dictate. 

Using Our Services

By using our services as either a bidder or a seller or auctioneer, it is assumed that you have read the guidelines provided here, and are expected to follow them. 

Becoming a Seller or Auctioneer

At Shopworld, we have two main ways for sellers to auction items. Personal Auction Websites offer many items from the same seller at the same time. These are permanent sites, with home pages. The auctioneers are charged a flat monthly fee to hold their auctions. Auction Board items are listed one item at a time, by individual sellers. These items are paid for by maintaining an account with Shopworld. All first time auctions with a Personal Auction Website, or the Auction Board receive a free trial. Click here for more information on becoming an auctioneer.

General Bidding and Auction Guidelines

On items with a quantity of 1, a Maximum Bid may be placed when bidding on an item. A Maximum Bid is confidential, and will be used only to increase your bid automatically in case you are overbid. 

The seller may opt to auction more than 1 of any given item. In the case of quantities greater than 1, slightly different information will be displayed on the bidding form. Typically called a Dutch Auction, this format will allow bidders to state the quantity of the items that they are bidding on (it is not necessary to bid on the entire quantity). At the end of the auction, bidders with the highest bids will win the quantity they bid on. In the event of a tie in the high bid, the bidder with the greatest number of items bid on will prevail. In the event of a tie in both high bid and quantity, the first time any bid on this particular lot has been placed by the bidder will prevail. The quantity is divided up between the winning bidders until there are none left. Often times a bidder will have a winning bid, but only a partial quantity is left at their bid level. In this case the bidder is expected to accept whatever quantity remains.

Ending Dates

Each auction has it's own ending time listed in the bidding form. The bidding time is also displayed on this form. Auctions end automatically at this time. The items remain viewable till midnight of that day, whereupon notifications are sent out to the winning bidders, with copies going to the seller. At this point the seller and the buyer must make arrangements between each other. The Shopzone Bidder Network has no other responsibility other than maintaining the bids, and providing the facility to hold the auctions. All warranties and expressed conditions are stated by the seller, who is completely responsible for them. Shopzone does want to be informed of any disputes, and will arbitrate if necessary. 

Auction Results

The results of items won in an auctions are displayed for a period of time on the main auction pages. By selecting an auction, the results for that auction will display the items and winning bidders. This information is provided as a service to our users, and should be used as a guideline to determine the market for a given item, as well as to see who you may be bidding against. 

Buyer and Seller Responsibilities

By placing a bid, you are legally and ethically bound to purchase the item should you be the highest bidder at the end of the auction. Fraudulent bids are not tolerated, and any recourse we feel necessary will be taken. Failure to pay for items won may result in removal from our services,  public notice on our site, as well as in any appropriate newsgroups. 

By placing an item for auction, we assume that the seller has accurately represented the item for sale. We also expect delivery to be accomplished within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the shipping and delivery terms included in the description of the item for sale, or on the Personal Auction Website's home page. 

Shilling

It is directly against the policies of Shopworld to manipulate the price of an item through the use of third party bidding, or sellers placing bids directly. This will not be tolerated, and in the event of direct evidence of this activity, the Auctioneer will be removed immediately from Shopworld, and may forfeit any unused account balances. 

Shopworld is an upfront auction service. We do allow for reserve prices. Sellers are expected to sell at the Opening bid that they list. We see absolutely no point whatsoever in wasting people's time blindly bidding on an item. It really is very simple: the item for auction will be sold at the highest bid, and we expect bidders to buy them at the prices they bid.

Thank You!

Having said all the mumbo jumbo, we appreciate your every visit to our site. We wish you the best of luck whether buying or selling. We also welcome your comments, suggestions, compliments, and even complaints. Shopworld and the Bidder Network were designed with you in mind, and a great many of our improvements are direct results of your input.