Auction for Atlantis Fans!

[Rowan]

Popping in to tell you about my charity auction for the Stroke Association. It includes some signed candid pictures which I am sure folks here will love... Joe Flanigan and Rainbow Sun Francks among others.

 

You can find out about it at my fundraising page: http://www.justgiving.com/moonrise

 

Thanks everyone!

[Rowan]

Last Chance…

 

We are now into the last 12 hours of my charity auction, including some great, unique signed candid photos, being sold for the Stroke Association.

 

See http://www.justgiving.com/moonrise for information and a link to the auctions. (And to find out about the competition, starting tonight!)

 

I thought it was time for a bidding tip (especially as several of the items have loads of watchers, meaning we could be seeing some last minute snipes)

 

Top tip: Use automatic (or proxy) bidding! There’s nothing worse as a seller than at the end of an auction than having someone coming to you and saying they got outbid at the last minute/didn’t get their bid in, but they’d be willing to pay more than the person who won. eBay rules (and fairness) mean I can’t take up such offers. And in this case there are definitely not other copies of the same thing available…

 

Proxy bidding is an AUTOMATIC feature on eBay: you don’t have to do anything special to use it. All you need to do is decide how much you are willing to spend on an item, and bid that amount. eBay will then bid up to that limit on your behalf. But they’ll keep the maximum amount secret (including from the seller), and it will not be used unless needed. For example, if someone else has bid £5, and you are willing to bid up to £55, then put in a bid of £55! Ebay will then bid £5.50 on your behalf. When someone else comes along and bids £10, eBay automatically increases your bid to £10.50, so beating them. Even if there’s a last-minute snipe bidder, you can’t be outbid unless someone is willing to pay more than you!

 

Proxy bidding also explains the discouraging way some bidders seem to outbid you as soon as you put a bid in. It doesn’t mean they are watching every second of the day. It just means they’ve put in a maximum that’s above your bid. Don’t be discouraged and give up before you’ve reached your maximum: they can only beat you if they are willing to pay more than you. The next bid you put in might be the one that beats them.

 

By getting your bid in you are also making sure you are on the bidders list. That way you don’t have to worry about a computer crash before your last-second bid! And even if you lose, should the top bidder withdraw you might find yourself getting a second-chance offer (high bidders do sometimes have second thoughts…). So get your bids in, bid what you are prepared to pay, even if it’s much more than what’s shown now, or less than you think will win, and don’t lose out for a silly reason! Remember it’s for charity!

 

Thanks, Rowan Green