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Home | FAQs
If you are aware of any fraudulent listings, or if you need to report any illegal activity on the site, please contact Customer Service Team.
You may browse as much as you'd like without signing up. How do I Register?[top] It takes just a few minutes to Register. To complete the Registration process, you will need to provide us with required information such as your UserName, Full Name, Address, Email Address, Phone Number with Area Code, and Country. You also have the option of receiving specials or notice on items via email. Once you have confirmed your choices, you will then have to agree to the site rules and restrictions by clicking the Accept button on the following Terms and Conditions page. You can change your user-specific Password at any time by editing your User Information in My Account. You may Register now. Your cookies have probably been disabled! Check the Internet Options or Preferences from your browser's toolbar. If your cookies are disabled, you will not be able to navigate the site. The Registration process does not require you to enter credit card information. Some Sellers may require a credit card in order for you to bid on their item. You will be able to identify these listings since they are marked with red text stating, "This Listing requires a Credit Card." You will be prompted for this information before you enter your bid. You may also go to My Account to enter your credit card information without prompting. We strongly suggest using a version 4.0 browser (preferably the most current version available) from either Microsoft or Netscape (as opposed to a version 3.0 browser). Netscape users should at least be running Communicator 4.5 (Navigator 4.08) or later. For users running IE 4.0, please check the version you are using by going to your browser's HELP menu and choosing "About Internet Explorer." Version 4.72.3110.8 or later should appear. If you do not have at least this version, and you wish to get a free upgrade, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/default.asp. There are listings on our site placed by Merchants who might be able to ship your item immediately after the listing closes. (You may even receive your item the next day!) Because many of these Merchants use carriers that do not deliver to Post Office Boxes, having a Street Delivery Address on record avoids any delays in processing your purchase.
How do I bid?[top] After you review the Listing Information for the item that interests you, click on Bid Now. Enter your bid, and then click Confirm. For more information on Making a Bid, see the Help Desk. To increase your bid, go to My Account and select "Bidding Activity." Choose the bid you want to increase. If you click the "Bid Lot#" on the Bidding Activity page and then click Increase Bid on the following page, you will be taken to a new page where you can enter your new bid. If you click the "Item Description" on the Bidding Activity page, you are taken to the Listing Info page where you can click Bid Now to increase your bid. Remember all bids are final and binding. You can increase your bid at any time. Every time you increase your bid, the Number of Bids listed for the item will increase by one. The Bid History should show your bid as soon as it is entered. If it doesn't appear, you may be viewing an old version of the page. Try clicking your browser's "refresh" or "reload" buttons. The Listing page updates 10-20 minutes after you make your bid to reflect the new Current Bid. We will send you an email when your bid is no longer Winning. However, there can be unpredictable delays in email transmission. We suggest that you regularly visit our Web site to check your "Bidding Activity" in My Account. We will notify you by email if you win; although you are responsible for determining if you have won by visiting the site and checking the status of your bid in My Account. The email will contain all the Seller's Contact Information. During each auction, a number of identical items are offered for sale at the same time. When the listing closes, the highest Bidders win the available inventory. Bids are sorted in order of Price, Quantity, and then Time. If bids are tied for Price, the Buyer who has bid on the greater Quantity wins. If there are two bids at the same price for the same Quantity, the earlier bid wins. Go to "My Account" and select "Bidding Activity." On the Search page, select "ALL" from the Status option and click "Submit." Your bids from the last 60 days will appear. Bids are given precedence based on sort order of Price, Quantity, and then Time placed. If you bid $50.00 on 50 units and someone else then bids $50.00 on 100 units, that person will be winning for all 100 units. If you then raise your bid to $60.00 for 50, you will be winning 50 units (at $60.00) because your price is higher, and the other Bidder will be winning 50 units at $50.00. Bids retain the time when they are placed. Because we use time to break ties, if you placed a bid for the same Price and Quantity as an earlier Bidder, the other Bidder will win. It is to the Bidder's advantage to get an initial bid in as early as possible. However, if the Max Bid is raised later, the Timestamp is changed to reflect the new bid. We recommend that you make your bid using our Automatic (Proxy) Bidding functionality. If the Number of Bids in the Listing Info table lists more bids than are listed in the Bid History of the item, it is probably because one or more of the Bidders have at one point during the auction increased an initial bid. Every bid made, whether it is an initial bid by a user, or an increase, is recorded in the Number of Bids. You have probably bid on a Reserve Auction. Even if you are the highest Bidder on a Reserve Auction, you may still be losing if you have not matched the Reserve Price set by the Seller. The same case applies with a Quick Win Auction where your bid did not meet the Threshold Price. Reserve Price is the lowest price at which a seller is willing to sell an item, even though the Opening Price may be much lower. If the bidding does not meet or exceed this price, there is no sale. The Reserve Price is never disclosed to Bidders. A Seller might specify a Reserve Price if they are unsure of the real value of their item and would like to Reserve the right to refuse to sell the item if the market value is below a certain price. If the Seller has specified a Reserve Price, the listing will be marked with an If your Maximum Bid has met or exceeded the Seller's Reserve Price, your bid will be set at the Reserve Price. If your bid is lower than the Reserve, it will be displayed as entered. The high bid above the Reserve Price is marked with a Winning status while the bids below the Reserve Price are marked Losing. Note: Reserve Price is not applicable on Dutch Auctions. We only accept online bids at this time. Once you have bid once on an item in an AutoMarkdown Listing, you are blocked from bidding on the item again. You have the chance to buy as many of the item as you need by entering the appropriate Quantity when you bid the first time. Blocking further bidding helps prevent fraud and excess returns and allows Sellers to continue to offer these items at substantial discount.  symbolize next to the User's Name?[top] If you see the Alias Icon ( We encourage all Sellers to list in accordance with the Terms and Conditions. However, we cannot guarantee that Sellers will follow all Terms including the completion of their sales. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your transaction, or your transaction was never completed, we recommend leaving appropriate Comments for the seller. This page can be instrumental for Buyers who are considering bidding on items from vendors they have not dealt with before. Although email is sometimes the most comfortable means of correspondence, it is not necessarily the most expedient. Some people do not read their email every day so please do not assume that your Seller is intentionally not responding. You may want to contact the Seller by phone so you can personally introduce yourself and discuss the details of your transaction. What should I do if I've sent money to the Seller and I still haven't received my item?[top]Once your item is shipped, package carriers may experience unforeseen delays (i.e. holidays, weekends, bulk-mailing periods, etc.) so your package may take extra time being delivered. Also, if you are paying by check, most Sellers will wait for your check to clear before sending the item. Please contact the Seller if you have questions about when or how the item was shipped. If the Seller has shipped your item via UPS or FedEx you can request a tracking number for your package. This will allow you to track your package. If you feel that you are dealing with a fraudulent Seller, we suggest the following:
If you feel the situation needs to be escalated we suggest that you access these links:
Note: We cannot file any complaints on your behalf. To Rate a Seller, go to My Account. Under "Bidding Activity," you will see a list of your Recent Bids. Next to your Winning Bids will be a Comment link (if you do not see the link, click the "Refresh" or "Reload" button on your browser). Click on the link to Rate the Seller. If you need to Rate a Seller from a transaction that is not listed under Recent Bids, click the "Search other bids" link and search for the transaction you need. Note: You can also get the Seller's Contact Information from this page by clicking on the Bid#. We encourage you to use this information to resolve any disputes you may have before Commenting.
How do I list an item?[top] Go here to begin by selecting your Listing Type and Category. You'll then be asked to enter your Title, Description and other information. For more information on Placing Listings, see the Help Desk. A credit card is required for any incurred Listing, Transaction, and/or Merchandising Option Fees that are applicable to your Account. Since your credit card is charged for these fees, you must have a credit card on file before you can list any of your items. You may check your Monthly Invoice at any time from the User section of My Account. Click on "Invoices" and then choose the months you want to review. Each Invoice provides detail on the Lot Number, Description, Date and amount charged per listing. To post the same listing for another day, go to the Selling section of My Account. Select Clone/Relist. Scroll down to see the items that you have listed and then click on the listing you would like to Clone. Enter the new Date and click Submit. You can Clone multiple listings by Searching your Listings, then checking the boxes next to each of the listings you would like to Clone. For every listing you sell, we will send you an email with all of your Buyer's Contact Information included. If you have posted a Dutch Listing, you will receive a separate email for each Buyer. However, there are sometimes unpredictable delays in transmission of email; it is best to visit the auction site often to check on the Listing Status yourself. In the Selling section of My Account, there is a "View Winners" link. Your last five Auctions will appear with the UserNames of the Winning Bidders along with their Contact Information. You can also Search for other Auctions or export the information to a text file by using the "Search" link at the top of the page. When the listing closes, contact the Buyer using the information we provide you and finish the transaction as soon as possible.
In My Account, select "Auction Listings," and you will see a Comment link next to any Recent Listings that have winners. Click on the link to leave your Comment (if you do not see the link, click the "Refresh" or "Reload" button on your browser). If you need to Rate a Buyer in a transaction not listed on this page, use the "Search other listings" link to search listings by Date, Number or Name. You can also use the "Commenting on Others" link in the User section of My Account to search for Buyers or Sellers with whom you have past transactions. We recommend that you Rate all your Buyers so that other users know about your experience, whether it was Positive or Negative. If a Buyer backs out of a deal or fails to respond after repeated contact attempts, there are several steps you can take. First, report the incident to Customer Service. This affords you a Credit for your Seller Transaction Fee and alerts us about the situation. Our Seller Credits page provides you with specific details on what information to include in your email. Second, make sure you give the user appropriate feedback. A user with too many Negative Comments will be invalidated on our site. In the meantime, your Comments serve as a warning to other users. We offer Minimum Bid functionality and a Reserve Price option. The Minimum Bid is your Opening Bid; it is the lowest amount that a Buyer can bid for your item. It can be set as low as you want and the Reserve is set so that the item does not sell unless the bidding exceeds this number. The Reserve Price (displayed as an If you are posting a Classified Ads Listing and must get a certain price, choose "Firm" rather than "Best Offer" in the Negotiability box. If you do not have a price in mind, you can enter "0" as the Desired Price and select "Best Offer." You must always enter an amount in the Desired Price field. If your listing is still open, you can close it if you wish. Use the "Edit" link in My Account to access the listing you want to close. There is a Close Listing button at the bottom of the page. You can then choose to accept any Winning Bidders or mark them as "Losing". All parties will be informed of the closure by email. Once the Listing is closed and has a Winning Bidder, however, you are obligated to follow through with the sale. Note: We recommend that once you list an item, you should commit to selling that item. You may risk both potential legal exposure if you refuse to sell, as well as receiving Negative Comments from the Bidder(s). All Comments, Negative and Positive are visible for all users. Once you lose your reputation as an honorable Seller, it can be difficult to regain.
Microsoft Network Frequently Asked Questions Do all sites on MSN follow these privacy principles? How will users know which privacy statement applies to their personal information? Does Microsoft belong to any other privacy organizations? Do all sites on MSN need Personal Information? How do MSN sites collect the Personal Information? How do MSN sites use Personal Information? Does that mean MSN sites sell my Personal Information to other companies? What if I do not want my Personal Information shared with another company? What about companies that partner with MSN sites to provide the products or services on a site? What about the privacy of children? Do MSN sites collect other forms of information about its users? How do I correct or change Personal Information that I have given to an MSN site? Is my Personal Information secure from others using the MSN site? How else might someone learn of my Personal Information while visiting an MSN site? Do all sites on MSN follow these privacy principles? MSN is made up of many sites, and new ones are added all the time. At this time, the MSN privacy statement applies to those sites which display this statement in conjunction with the privacy notice on the site's Web pages. While MSN encourages other site operators on MSN to comply with these principles, users should carefully examine the privacy statements of sites appearing on or linking to or from MSN which do not display this statement. Personal Information that you choose to provide to other sites will be subject to the privacy policies of that Web site. How will users know which privacy statement applies to their Personal Information? Pages throughout MSN display a "Privacy Statement" link which identifies the statement applying to the site. Users may click on the link at any time to read the applicable statement. Why is TRUSTe so important? TRUSTe is an independent organization whose mission is to build users' trust and confidence on the Internet. Businesses that display the TRUSTe logo have agreed to privacy principles developed by TRUSTe and to periodic reviews to make sure that the businesses' privacy practices are in keeping with the policies. In the event TRUSTe learns of serious violations of a businesses' privacy practices, TRUSTe takes steps to insure compliance. Microsoft strongly believes in the TRUSTe mission and is a premier sponsor of the organization. Does Microsoft belong to any other privacy organizations? Microsoft has taken a leadership position on privacy, working closely with both policy and technology organizations to create standards and best practices for putting people in control of their Personal Information online. Amongst others, Microsoft is a member of TrustE, the Online Privacy Alliance and the P3P Working Group at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Do all sites on MSN need Personal Information? No, for many MSN sites it is not necessary for you to provide any information in order for them to provide their services. In other instances, the MSN site may request minimal information, such as your ZIP code, in order to personalize the site. ZIP codes allow the site to provide targeted services, such as the local news or weather, but do not provide the site with any information regarding who you are or how to contact you. Other MSN sites need more information about you in order to operate their service. For example, CarPoint needs your name and other contact information in order to allow its service partners to respond to your request for more information about a particular vehicle. How do MSN sites collect Personal Information? Personal Information is collected by specifically requesting it from you. Generally this occurs when you register at a site, request a service, or enter an online contest. What about Cookies? Cookies are pieces of information that a Web site transfers to your computer's hard disk for record-keeping purposes. Cookies can make the Web more useful by storing information about your preferences on a particular site, such as your preferred chart settings for Encarta. The use of cookies is an industry standard, and many major Web sites use them to provide useful features for their customers. Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a user's computer. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you'd prefer, you can set yours to refuse cookies. However, you may not be able to take full advantage of a Web site if you do so. For example, the subscription services of Encarta may only be accessed if you accept cookies. How do MSN sites use Personal Information? Usually, MSN sites and their necessary service partners use your Personal Information to operate the site and to deliver their services. For example, if you are using HomeAdvisor, a completed mortgage application may at your request be forwarded to potential lenders. MSN sites also use your Personal Information to inform you of other products or services available from Microsoft and its affiliates. Some MSN sites also use Personal Information to allow other companies to contact you regarding products and services that may be of interest to you (Secondary Uses). If an MSN site proposes to use Personal Information for Secondary Uses, you will be provided an opportunity to instruct the MSN site to not allow such contact. Does that mean MSN sites sell my Personal Information to other companies? No, MSN does not sell customer lists. However, individual MSN sites may partner with businesses to provide special services to our customers. This type of use of Personal Information is called a "Secondary Use" because it is not necessary to the operation of the business or site. For example, a site may offer discount coupons for services or related products. In many cases these discounts would be an added benefit to our customers. What if I do not want my Personal Information shared with another company? If an MSN site proposes to make a Secondary Use of your Personal Information you will be given an opportunity to instruct the MSN site not to allow such contact. A list of aliases that allow you to decline this service follows. You may contact these aliases at any time in order to terminate this service. Secondary Use aliases or locations: MSN.com: MSNPrivacy@msn.com Computing Central: MSNPrivacy@msn.com MSN Plaza: MSNPrivacy@msn.com UnderWire: MSNPrivacy@msn.com MSN Gaming Zone: Zprivacy@microsoft.com Encarta: encweb@microsoft.com Sidewalk: contact@sidewalk.com Expedia Maps: exmaps@microsoft.com MSNBC: webmaster@msnbc.com Slate: help@slate.com HomeAdvisor: homeadv@microsoft.com CarPoint: no permitted Secondary Uses Expedia: notice is given at the member registration page MSN Internet Access: notice is given at the member services area MoneyCentral: notice is given at https://investor.msn.com/secure/members/account.asp What about companies that partner with MSN sites to provide the site's products or services? An MSN site may have several necessary service partners who assist in providing the service or product associated with the site. As part of the operations of the site, these companies may have access to your Personal Information. These companies may provide routine services, such as credit card processing, or may provide essential elements of the site. For example, CarPoint must provide contact information to automotive dealers in order to respond to specific requests made by customers. Without this relationship CarPoint could not provide its service to you. These uses of Personal Information are primary to the operation of the site and are not considered Secondary Uses. What about the Privacy of children? Safeguarding the Personal Information of children is extremely important. For those MSN sites specifically directed at children, and where users have indicated they are younger than 18, MSN sites will collect the minimum amount of Personal Information necessary to the operation of the service. These MSN sites will also send follow up mail to the user's e-mail address instructing them to seek parental permission for their use of the site. A child's Personal Information will be used for the operation of the service but it will not be used for Secondary Uses without a parent's permission. There are a number of emerging standards in the area of children's privacy that will affect how we process a child's Personal Information in the future. Through its participation in the Online Privacy Alliance and TRUSTe, MSN is monitoring these changes and is redesigning its systems so as to comply with these new requirements. Do MSN sites collect other forms of information about its users? In addition to the use of Personal Information to operate MSN sites, an MSN site may also gather anonymous information, which may be used by Microsoft or shared with third parties. This is information which does not personally identify you, but which may be helpful for marketing purposes or for improving the services we offer. For example, MSN might tell its advertisers how many users visited a particular advertisement, and for how long, so they can measure whether the advertisement was effective. This information is also used to generate advertising rates. Generally this information is collected through "traffic data" and may entail the use of "Cookies" "IP addresses" or other numeric codes used to identify a computer. How do I correct or change Personal Information that I have given to an MSN site? Some MSN sites operate registration pages that allow you to review and update the Personal Information you have submitted. Elsewhere, you are simply given the option of unsubscribing to the service for which you signed up. In all other cases where you need to correct Personal Information you have submitted to an MSN site, please contact the service address published by the particular MSN site. Is my Personal Information secure from others using the MSN site? Personal Information collected by MSN sites is stored in secure operating environments that are not available to the public. In many instances, such as in the case of credit card numbers, the Personal Information is encrypted before you conduct your transaction. How else might someone learn of my Personal Information while visiting an MSN site? In addition to directly providing information to an MSN site, you might also provide Personal Information through chat sessions, e-mail exchanges or bulletin board use made available to you on MSN. The Statement of Privacy does not cover this type of transfer of your Personal Information. You should always be careful when distributing your Personal Information in this manner. |
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- Indicates that a picture or graphic has been included with the listing on the Detail page. 
- Indicates a 
- Indicates an 
- Indicates a 
- Indicates a 
- Indicates a 
- Indicates an 
- This designates an 
- Indicates an item that has generated a high level of bidding interest. All "Hot" listings can be found grouped together on the 
- Indicates an auction user who has been registered within the last 30 days. 
- Indicates an auction user who has a member AuctionPlace. 
- Identifies Merchants who are selling their items. Merchants will provide customers with a secure environment to complete their auction transactions as well as deliver all merchandise in professional packaging. 
so you know immediately that your leading bid may not be a Winning Bid.| ©2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use Advertise TRUSTe Approved Privacy Statement |