In the past I have bid on some items that are offered at "auction" on WHT...templates, domains, etc...

Something I find disturbing is the following and I'd like your opinions on the subject, and maybe if WHT could make a new rule in regards to auctions.

In at least 3 cases I have been told by persons who had items up for bid that they had higher bids from someone in PM's or emails...that I'd have to bid higher.

In each case I did not bid higher, and about a week later the same item is up for bid again....usually with some sort of statement like "the high bidder backed out last week, so here it is again"...

I think if someone is going to offer something for bid on WHT they should have to have bids posted to the thread for all to see...and only legitimate bids posted by the bidder should be acceptable. In other words the poster could not post and say he has a such and such bid.

I think if you win an item the poster should be bound to sell it to you, (assuming his stated minimum has been met).

Of course if a poster gets a buyout offer for the item then they could close the auction early, but the item should not be re-allowed.

I think if someone is going to state they will take as low as $XXX.xx for an item then they should be willing to sell it for that, and not try to (thru deceptive practices) jack up the price.

They should list their absolute minimum acceptable bid, and not list something lower, knowing they can always get out of it, by using these deceptive ways.

Any other thoughts?

There are services for such things, why would WHT want to get involved? The moderators are kept rather busy as it is.

And what services would that be? I am talking about people who list an item here on WHT...that is why I posted it here...I'm not talking about an auction on eBay or some other auction site.

good points. fair all round, id be happy to see them introduced.

Originally posted by Rotifer
There are services for such things, why would WHT want to get involved? The moderators are kept rather busy as it is.

Yes the mods are very busy, and shouldn't have to control how people sell things @ WHT...

I was involved in one a while back and the seller told me "someone emailed me a higher price, but i dont know if i should sell to you, or sell to him"....I told him, that my bid was the highest I'm going and he could take it or leave it...that usually pushes them to sell...

or you could just ask the seller to have all bids placed in the thread.....

not worth worrying about...if you are worried though goto ebay...this isn't "webhostingtalk auction forum moderated" or whatever mods have other jobs....they aren't baby-sitters

I thought this was going to be a post about the dutch auctions going on in the hosting request forums. :D

Only thing you can do is post your experience with the seller in his follow up auction if you think they were unfair in the previous auction.

I understand what you are saying I had the same thing happen to me when bidding for a template the guy started the bidding at $30.00 I bid and it went to $50.00 I was the high bidder at the end but he wanted $150.00 he told me by PM. He put the same template up for bid again a week later, I posted my experience and he did the same thing on that auction to another high bidder and they gave him heck also.

I do not think he has been back to WHT since.

Mods have enough to do, if they are legit sellers they will run the auction correctly if not they will get ran off. WHT has to do a certain amount of self policing, the mods cannot hold our hands all the time.

Besides this is a BBS not a auction house, if you want rules like that bid at Ebay.

Durn. :(

If Monte says it all; what can I add?

Nuthin.

Except; Monte said it all.

:D

Maybe I misunderstood what a moderator was...I thought "their job" was to enforce rules (if there were rules in regards to this) of this forum.

Originally posted by EzHost
Maybe I misunderstood what a moderator was...I thought "their job" was to enforce rules (if there were rules in regards to this) of this forum.


Yep...in addition to that, they also have to make sure that posts are in the right forums and that threads do not go waaay off topic....

but as the wise monte once said....

WHT has to do a certain amount of self policing, the mods cannot hold our hands all the time.

Originally posted by EzHost
Maybe I misunderstood what a moderator was...I thought "their job" was to enforce rules (if there were rules in regards to this) of this forum. There are, though, no rules on the subject. The people arguing along the lines of "the mods are too busy" aren't saying that they moderators shouldn't enforce such rules if they existed; they're saying there shouldn't be rules on it. There are more important things, involving all or most users, for the moderators to deal with.

Monte's comment on "self policing" is a good one. Post your experiences to the thread in question and people can make their judgements whether to take the word of a seller who claims to have received a bid through PM or elsewhere. That's the way a forum works, as opposed to an auction site.

By the way, since this thread consists of feedback about WHT and a suggestion for a change of the rules, shouldn't it have gone in the forum on "Suggestions and Feedback," instead of here in the Lounge? There should be a rule about that.

I have to disagree with some of you. I know the mods are busy, and they are not paid, but I think they should be able to ban if someone does something like this. This isent something, like they should have to look into each case, but if a couple people are all complaining of the same person trying to jack up the bidding, then that person should be at least banned from the advertising section. I know I do not want those people around here. Would it be any different if someone posted a false advertisement?

you're right, but....
I prefer public humiliation rather than banning (unless they consistently harass/abuse the forum members)

if there was a thread posted about the user, they'd fix there ways pretty quick, or prove otherwise ;)

it comes down to "the mods are too busy" well isnt it their job to enforce rules? why be a mod when your busy all the time? :eek:

There ain't no rule about this, Gary.
And IMHO there don't need to be.

Thanks Dennis. Gary, I'm too busy abusing my privileges and getting higher treatment (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=669696#post669696) to enforce the rules :rolleyes:

Here's the basic deal...

This is a discussion forum. It isn't an organized auction site. We could have rules on how often templates can be posted, a format to post requests in the requests forum, a format to reply to them, and of course (the thread subject), auction guidelines.

Ultimately, you, the members, should determine how things are auctioned. I have an auction running and tried to set the most reasonsable terms for everyone involved.

IMHO, all auctions should have:

A starting price.
A bid increment.
An ending date.
All bids posted to the thread.
A buy-out price (optional).

Without this, any auction is jacked. I personally don't believe in a 'reserve price' as this can be handled in the 'starting amount' -can't it? You, the seller, determine the minimum amount you're willing to sell it for, start at that price, and let things happen.

If an auction does not have these things, demand that the person clearly specify this.

If you want more rules, we can write up more rules, but honestly, rules are a pain in the butt to enforce as often people don't read or follow them. OK, this puts the burden on us, but I send about 500 emails per month to people currently and I'm personally not looking on increasing that if members feel they can take an active role in determining how auctions should be run. People interested in bidding should be sure that the terms are clear and that the auction will end with a winner, on a certain date, for the price offered.

People who bid need to pay. If they 'back out' then they need to be blocked from bidding on more auctions at least by members who notice this. We can't force people to sell things at any price, auction or not, bid won or not, nor can we force them to pay.

From what I hear, ebay has the same problem. The person I bought my camcorder off of ended the auction early because all the past times he's auctioned things, the high bidders didn't pay. So I got my camcorder for the initial starting bid of $500, done deal. Worked for me :D

Demand that people post bids in the thread. it helps other bidders and it helps the seller (hard to organize bids via email, PM, and thread posted).

Quit making sense chicken! :angry: < Replace this smily! :D