Guest Author - Kim O´Shea

Online Auction Language
Bid Cancellation: The cancellation of a bid by a seller. During online auctions, sellers can cancel a bid if they feel uncomfortable about completing a transaction with a particular bidder for example if the buyer has a negative feedback rating.

Bid History: A historical list of all the bids made on a particular auction during or after the auction. This can provide valuable information to the seller especially if they have similar items they intend to list in the future.

Bid Increment: The standardized amount an item increases in price after each new bid. The auction site sets the increment, which rises according to the present high bid value of an item. Lower value items have a lower bid increment than higher value items.

Bid Retraction: The legitimate cancellation of a bid on an item by a bidder during an online auction. There are several instances where this may be necessary for example if the bidder placed a bid of 100 dollars instead of 10 by mistake.

Bid Rigging: Fraudulent bidding by an associate of the seller in order to inflate the price of an item. Also known as shilling and collusion. This is not tolerated by any of the auction sites and members found guilty of doing this will have their accounts suspended and further action may be taken depending on the evidence.

Bid Shielding: Posting extremely high bids to protect the lower bid of an earlier bidder, usually in cahoots with the bidder who placed the shielding bid. The high bidder retracts the high bid and if things have gone according to plan the lower bidder then wins the auction. There are harsh punishments for bid shielding as this can ruin the reputation of the auction site.

Bid Siphoning: The practice of contacting bidders and offering to sell them the same item they are currently bidding on, thus drawing bidders away from the legitimate seller´s auction. There are many dangers here, the seller may not be legitimate or the goods may not be as described. There are no safety nets such as can be provided by a well run auction site.

Bulk Loading: Listing a group of different items in separate lots all at once using an online auction site´s bulk loading tool or another piece of software developed to do this. Bulk loading can save time and is an essential tool for top sellers who list hundreds of items a month.

Buying Up Lots: The practice of buying all quantities of an item during a Dutch auction. This is typically done for resale purposes and allows the bidder to decide how many of the item he requires.

Caveat Emptor: The Latin phrase meaning "let the buyer beware." This usually applies only to second hand goods as new items are covered by your statutory rights. – The right to expect the goods to be fit for the purpose for which they are sold.

Cookie: A piece of information sent from a Web server to a Web browser that the browser software saves and then sends back to the server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the server. Enabling cookies can help pages to load faster.

Deadbeats: High bidders who fail to pay for the item they won. These can be a hazard in any auction but by checking bidder feedback during the auction the seller can often avoid being stung.

Escrow: Money held in trust by a third party until the seller makes delivery of merchandise to the buyer. Used for high value items this can give the bidder peace of mind as they have the chance to physically check the merchandise and refuse to accept it if there is a problem.

fdbk/fk: Feedback. One user´s public comments about another user in regard to their auction dealings. Feedback comments cannot be removed or changed once submitted to an auction service. These comments can be invaluable to both buyers and sellers. Feedback should be honest and factual and should not contain references to other items available for sale.

Featured Auctions: Auction listings placed prominently on the home page and category pages of an auction service. Sellers pay for this prime placement and it helps to increase the amount of potential bidders viewing the item.

Feedback Padding: One user posting fraudulent positive feedback about another user’s auctions. This type of activity is against the rules as it can seriously damage the online auction site’s reputation.

Final Value Fee: The commission charge the seller pays to the auction service after his or her item sells. The rates vary depending on the type of item sold.

FVF Request: Final value fee request. This is the online auction site’s invoice sent to the seller requesting payments due.

Grading: The process for determining the physical condition of an item. Different items have different grading systems. Research should be done to ensure that the grading is relevant to the item.

IMO/IMHO: The message board abbreviations for "in my opinion" and "in my honest (or humble) opinion."

Initial Listing Price: The opening bid price a seller attaches to his or her auction. Usually this is kept to a minimum to attract interest.
Insertion Fee: A fee paid by the seller to the auction site in order to list an item for auction, calculated as a percentage of the opening bid or reserve price.

LOL: Message board abbreviation for "laugh out loud."

Lot: A single auction listing.

Market Value: The highest price an item will bring in the open market.

Maximum Bid: The highest price a buyer will pay for an item, submitted in confidence to an online auction service´s automated bidding system to facilitate proxy bidding.

Minimum Opening Bid: The mandatory starting bid for a given auction set by the seller at the time of listing.

NARU´d: An auction user term to describe users whose memberships have been discontinued. NARU is the acronym for "not a registered user."

Neg: Short for "negative user feedback."

Net Cops: Auction users who actively attempt to report instances of fraud, such as shilling or bid shielding, to online auction sites. By reporting these offences the net cops help to keep auctions honest and fair.

NR: Short for "no reserve." This indicates in the item description line that the auction has no reserve price specified.

Opening Bid: The seller´s opening bid, which sets the opening price.

Outbid: To submit a maximum bid that is higher than another buyer´s maximum bid.

Proxy Bidding: This is the system where the bidder can place the highest amount he is prepared to pay but as the bids are placed in increments he may win the item at a lower price than he is prepared to pay.

Registered User: A person who has registered as a member of an online auction site. All online auction sites require registration prior to buying and selling.

Relisting: The relisting of an item by a seller after it has not received any bids or met its reserve price. The first relisting is usually free.

Reserve Price: The minimum price a seller will accept for an item to be sold at auction. This amount is never formally disclosed.

Retaliatory: The user term for retaliatory negative feedback, posted by one user in response to another user´s negative feedback.

S&H Charges: Shipping and handling charges. These are set by the seller but will be investigated if they appear to be unusually high.

Secondary Market: The buyer market for secondhand goods. Online auctions serve the secondary market.

Shilling: Fraudulent bidding by the seller (using an alternate registration) or an associate of the seller in order to inflate the price of an item. Also known as bid rigging and collusion. These actions will result in termination of membership if the parties are found guilty.

Sniping: Outbidding other buyers in the closing minutes or seconds of an auction. This does not give the original high bidder the chance to bid again and thereby reduces the potential profit to the seller. Special software is often used by the sniper so that they do not miss the opportunity to net a bargain.

Starting Price: The mandatory starting bid for a given auction set by the seller at the time of listing.

Terms of Service: A legally binding agreement that outlines an auction site´s operating policies. All registered users must agree to a site´s terms before using the service.

User Info Request: A request for user´s background information, which provides personal information, such as a phone number.

Certificate of Authenticity (COA): A paper certifying either the item is genuine. Particularly important with limited edition items.

Certificate of Provenance (COP): A paper giving the history of an item. Applies mainly to antiques and can increase the value of an item.