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Auction Rules

1. Introduction

These Auction Rules describe:-

(a) the rules that apply to each auction Transaction ("Auction") in which you can engage through the e-Rocks Services;
(b) the specific types of Auction you can find here;
(c) any particular rules that apply to them, and
(d) the fees which are payable to e-Rocks by Sellers in respect of Auctions.

These Auction Rules are legally binding, and form part of your agreement with e-Rocks.

Please refer to our Buying Rules for items offered via fixed price (non auction) buying and selling.

If you participate in an Auction, you are acknowledging that you have read, understood and accept these Auction Rules.

We may change these Auction Rules from time to time, either to add (or delete) specific types of Auction, or to alter the way that individual Auctions are conducted. Therefore, you should keep up-to-date with their content. If you have not often participated in a type of Auction you find on e-Rocks, then we encourage you to read these Auction Rules before you take part. Indeed, even if you regularly buy or sell by Auction, you should take the time to read them. By taking part in an Auction, you indicate that you have done so.

These Auction Rules should be read in the context of the e-Rocks Terms and Conditions (the "e-Rocks Ts and Cs"). If there are any inconsistencies between them, then the e-Rocks Ts and Cs, which express your rights and obligations more completely, will take precedence over these Auction Rules. Terms used in these Auction Rules have the meaning given to them in the e-Rocks Ts and Cs.  

2. Bids

Bids placed in all Auctions will be binding. This means that if a bid is placed in an Auction through your e-Rocks account (whether by you or someone who uses that account), the bid may not be withdrawn and is legally binding on you. If your bid is successful, a contract is automatically created between you and the Seller when the Auction closes.

You must not bid in a way that is manipulative of an Auction. In particular, if you are the Seller, you may not bid in your own Auction, whether through your own e-Rocks account, or through another Member's account.

Owing to the vagaries of internet connectivity, it is the receipt by the e-Rocks system of the relevant bid which will constitute the bid, not the despatch of the bid from the Member's computer or other device. e-Rocks will use its reasonable endeavours to process bids which are placed, but does not guarantee that each individual bid will necessarily be submitted.

3. Listings

The placement through your e-Rocks account (whether by you or someone who uses that account) of a Listing of any Items for inclusion in an Auction, becomes legally binding, and may not be withdrawn or changed, after the item has been posted and confirmed by you the Seller.

Sellers can request the withdrawal or modification of an Item if there is good reason, we will attempt to respond within a reasonable time. We cannot accept such requests in the last 12 hours of any auction.  

Nonetheless, as we state in the e-Rocks Ts and Cs, there may sometimes be circumstances in which we will withdraw a Listing, even during the course of an Auction, which appears to be in breach of those Ts and Cs or these Auction Rules. In that event, we will inform the Seller and, sometimes, where an Auction is being conducted based on that Listing, one or more Members participating in that Auction, of the withdrawal in question.

4. Currency

The base currency for each Auction conducted will be in United States Dollars (USD), and amounts due are payable in that currency, other selling currencies can be selected for an auction and those currencies will then be used for billing/payment at the Seller's discretion. 

Payments can be settled by mutual agreement between Buyer and Seller in any currency.

For your guidance, e-Rocks may provide conversions into other currencies based on the latest information available to it.

While e-Rocks makes reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of these conversions, the actual cost to a buyer in his/her own currency will vary according to the exchange rate applied by the buyer's bank or by the issuer of the buyer's credit or charge card. e-Rocks does not take responsibility for any variance between this cost and the quoted conversion figure.

5. Fees

Auctions conducted in United States Dollars (USD) and fees thereon are itemised in USD. Auctions based in other currencies will also have their fees calculated and itemised in USD.

All fees are invoiced and payable in United Kingdom Pounds (UKP). Invoices are raised and due monthly on first day of each month following a tranaction. The Exchange Rate for invoices is set by the European Central Bank Rate on Invoice Date.

After the Auction has closed, after the winning bid has been submitted or after such other event that triggers payment as stated here, we will charge the relevant fees to the Seller, using the details we hold for the Seller. We reserve the right to charge accumulated fees on a monthly or other regular basis.

Current accrued fees, previously invoiced fees are fully itemised and available to view within the Seller's own account.

Fees will not be rebated or refunded, unless the Seller shows to our reasonable satisfaction both (a) that the sale of the Item which was the subject of the Auction failed to complete, and (b) that the failure of the sale to complete did not result from any lack of diligence or breach of its obligations by the Seller. This must be completed within the Moderation Service.

Fees Schedule

Please refer to our Fees Schedule

6. Types of Bids in Auctions

There are three different ways to participate, as a buyer, in an Auction:

Auction bid.

This is the typical method of participating in an online or offline auction, where the highest bid received at the end of the auction will succeed, provided that bid exceeds the reserve price and any other criteria which apply to the Auction.

Bidding on e-Rocks works via an automated Proxy Bidding system.

You enter your maximum bid and e-Rocks bids on your behalf an amount enough to equal the reserve price (if the seller has set a reserve) or to beat the high bidder's maximum bid, whichever is higher. Your maximum amount is kept confidential from other bidders and the seller. The system never places a bid for you which is higher than your maximum bid.
How bidding on e-Rocks works:

  1. When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you're willing to pay for the item. The seller and other bidders won't know your maximum bid amount.
  2. e-Rocks places bids on your behalf starting with the bid increment (see Section 7) for the auction. The system will bid as much as necessary to make sure that you remain the highest bidder and keep adding bids bidding for you until the auction reaches your maximum amount.
  3. If another bidder has placed the same bid before you or a higher maximum bid, an email will let you know that you've been outbid so that you can place another bid if you want. However, if no other bidder has a higher maximum bid at the end of the auction, you win the item even if your bid doesn't go as high as your maximum bid.
  4. Your maximum bid is kept confidential (until it is exceeded by another bidder). To see the automatic bids in an auction, go to the item page and look at bid history.

A Delayed bid.

This method of participation has been designed to allow Members to participate at the closing stage of an auction without having to be logged on at that time.

A Delayed Bid must be registered three hours before the scheduled close, and conform to all the conditions of a normal bid. The Delayed bid will be automatically entered at the beginning of the auction closing sequence.

Because you will not be present at this time the Auction system will automatically place your bid one increment above the highest bid price (assuming your bid is still higher than this level.) If another bidder bids again, your level will automatically increase in standard bids increments until either the Auction closes with you as the highest bidder or you are outbid.

If you choose you may compete at the closing stage of the Auction using normal bidding, you may not reduce your Delayed Bid amount once it has been placed.

If there are one or more Delayed bids entered, the Auction highest bid level will automatically rise to one increment above the bid of the second highest Delayed bid when they are placed.

If the auction price rises above a set Delayed bid this will no longer be active in the auction, an outbid message will be sent and it will be possible to increase the bid (if in time rules) or bid another way.

 “Buy Now” bid.

Members can alternatively make a “Buy Now” purchase. This will only be possible where the Seller has specified the price (the "Buy Now price") for which the Auctioned Item is for sale outright - as an alternative to waiting to sell to the member who has made the highest bid at the scheduled close of the Auction.

A “Buy Now” bid is an agreement on the part of the buyer to purchase the relevant Auction Item for the published “Buy Now” price. It is not a bid which can be exceeded by another person's bid and it is the first person that places the bid that is entitled to buy that Item.

"Buy Now" purchases are covered specifically under our Buying Rules

Once a “Buy Now” bid is made, the Auction for the relevant Item will close for 10 minutes, though other Auction bidding on that Item will be possible during this time. If after 10 minutes the item purchase is not completed the "Buy Now" purchase will time-out and the item become available again.

“Buy Now” Offers will be open on Seller Items where they have posted this option and only available during the first 48 hours of the Auction being open for bidding.

During the first 24 hours availability to purchase will be restricted to Collector account users, thereafter access will be open to anyone until 48 hours are up.

Please read on to find out more about how our Auctions, and these different ways of participating in them, work.

7 Bid Increments

All bids in all auctions are set in whole currency units - The bidding system will not accept bids in smaller amounts. 

Auction Bid Level Minimum Bid Increment
Up to $24 $1
$25 - $49 $2
$50 - $74 $3
$75-$99 $4
$100-$499 $5
$500-$999 $10
$1000 or more $25

8. Auction Procedures

Auctions will continue until a specified time after the start of the Auction.

At the end of the Auction at the time specified the Auction will begin its closing sequence.

  1. Any Delayed bids will be added to the Highest Bid
  2. The Auction will accept bids until 10 minutes after the published Close Time has elapsed unless,
  3.  A further bid is entered, then the auction will accept bids until 10 minutes have elapsed after the time of the further bid.
  4. This process will repeat until 10 minutes has elapsed after which ever is the later, Close Time plus 10 elapsed minutes or last bid plus 10 elapsed minutes.
  5. At this time the Auction will be deemed as having closed.

If the reserve price is exceeded, and unless a “Buy Now” purchase has been made of the Auctioned Item (see below), it is the highest bid which has been received at the scheduled end time of the Auction which will succeed.

The auction rule of price first, time second applies. Some details:-

  1. The person who bids the highest price wins - as long as that highest bid is equal to or higher than the reserve price the Seller has set. The reserve price is the minimum price the Seller is willing to accept for the Item.
  2. Once a “Buy Now” purchase is made of an Item, then the Auction of that Item will close. If a “Buy Now” purchase is made, then all other bids for the Auction Item in question will lapse. The previous highest bidder for the Auction Item in question will be notified by email* that the Item has been sold to a “Buy Now” purchaser.
  3. If there is a tie as to the price bid, then the first bid to be received on the e-Rocks system wins.
  4. If more than one attempt to “Buy Now” is made for any Auction Item, then it will be the first such “Buy Now” purchase received by the e-Rocks system which will succeed.

9. Reserve Price

Any item may be set with a reserve price.

A reserve price is a hidden minimum price at which a seller is willing to sell, so if a reserve price has not been met once the auction ends, the item is not sold.

If a bid placed is lower than a reserve price, this will display immediately (Reserve Not Met), however the bid will increment the auction price.

If a proxy bid is placed equal to or higher than a reserve price, the bid will be set to equal the reserve price with the message (Reserve Met). The difference in proxy bid above the reserve price will be stored and private.

If a Delayed bid is set it will be placed at the end of normal auction time and will be matched to the Reserve Price and one of the rules above will apply, depending on whether the reserve is met or not.

If a reserve price has not been met once the auction ends, there is a seller option to automatically list the item in the Reserve Sales Page.

9.1 Reserve Sales Page

The Reserve Sales Page automatically lists items with a reserve price greater than $10 at the end of any auction.

The seller will decide if this option is made available at the time of listing the auction.

The Reserve Page stores and displays all items with an instant check out Buy Now facility.

The Reserve Sales Page items are available to all users - no Early Bird rules apply - the available period is 28 days from listing.

(There is no additional charge for this)

Our Buying Rules apply to Reserve Sales Page listings.

10. Emails

The e-Rocks system can provide automated emails for the convenience of Buyers and Sellers. Certain emails are mandatory but Buyers can opt to not receive certain emails through their user profile.

10.1 Seller Emails

The system will provide you with confirmatory emails for the following:-

  1. Acceptance of your item into an Auction listing
  2. When an item has sold (“Buy Now” or highest Bidder)
  3. Proforma invoice with Buyer details and costs of item sold – for forwarding to Buyer
  4. Question from potential Buyer

10.2 Buyer Emails

The system will provide you with confirmatory emails for the following:-

  1. Notification of acceptance of your bid.
  2. Notification of winning Bid or “Buy Now” purchase.
  3. Answer from potential Seller

Optional Emails that can be switched off in Member Profile:-

  1. Outbid by another Member
  2. Delayed Bid Outbid by another Member

11. Auction Clock

Auctions start continue and finish in accordance with time controlled by the Auction system clock on e-Rocks servers.

During the auction process for example when a live countdown clock is presented, some timing function is devolved to the User's browser.

e-Rocks will synchronise all timing frequently with all browsers, however we are not responsible for variations or inaccuracy to relative time measured by the User's device clock.

e-Rocks countdown clock will function if our Cookie has been disabled, subject to the caveat above.

(For more information on Cookies see Section 5 of our Privacy Policy.)

12. Bid Retraction

Bids must always be considered carefully - all bids on e-Rocks are binding - retractions are rarely allowed.

There is no bid retraction in “Buy Now” purchases. Once a purchase is confirmed, an obligation is made to pay the Seller.Top of Form

12.1 Exceptional Circumstances Only

There are, however, a few exceptional circumstances (described in the T&Cs) under which a bid may be retracted. These are if:

  1. A typographical error has been made or the wrong bid amount entered. For instance, a bid £9950 instead of £995. If this happens, the Member must re-enter the correct bid amount immediately after the retracted bid. If another bid is not placed, the retraction will be in breach of e-Rocks policy and could result in your suspension.
  2. The description of an item you have bid on has changed significantly.
  3. Someone has bid on an item illicitly using your User ID and password.

12.2 Timing Rules

The rules about retracting bids, depend on when the bid was originally placed.

Before the last 12-hours of the listing: You may retract that bid before the last 12-hours, if your situation meets the above description of exceptional circumstances.

You will not be allowed to retract that bid during the last 12-hours of the listing.

When you retract a bid before the last 12 hours of a listing: you will eliminate all bids you have placed on that item. If you are correcting a bidding error, you will have to bid again.

If you place a bid during the last 12-hours of the listing: You may retract the bid only within one hour after placing the bid (and if your situation meets the exceptional circumstances description).

When you retract a bid within the last 12 hours of the listing: You will eliminate only the most recent bid you placed. Bids you placed prior to the last 12 hours will not be retracted.

If you are not allowed to retract your bid during the last 12-hours of the listing, you may contact the seller to request that your bid be cancelled. The seller will have the discretion whether to cancel your bid.

Bids may not be retracted within the last hour of an Auction.

12.3 Accountability

e-Rocks will monitor bid retractions. Abuse of this feature may result in the suspension of an account.

12.4 How to Retract a Bid

To retract a bid, use the Contact Administrator form on the Item Auction page.