| Tips for Buyers Buying
items off the Internet can be a pretty unsettling experience. The Lily
Auction is here to assist you
in any way possible. We have compiled some tips of the trade to make your purchasing experience a
pleasant one. All buyers and sellers are encourage to read Tips for Sellers
as well.
Be Familiar with the Item You Bid On
Details will take you a long way when it comes to purchasing an auction item. Read
the description of the item very carefully. And don't read anything into the
description that isn't there! E-mail the seller if you have questions.
For example, if you are concerned with the number of number and size of
the plant you would get and these facts are not mentioned in the seller's
description, email the seller and specifically ask him , how many fans and
what is the approximate diameter of the plant at the crown. You may be
specific in your questions but please do not be unreasonable.
Protection From Fraud
The Lily Auction is the people’s garden trading community. Our mission is to promote a
site that provides fair and honest trading with each auction. Unfortunately, online
fraud is becoming an issue in the Internet auction industry as it is with online banking
and cyber-shopping. In an effort to continue our good name and protect the buyers
and sellers in the Lily Auction community, we want to clearly address our policy on fraud.
All auctions are subject to fraud. The bid process can be exposed to several
dishonest practices. Bid shilling occurs when an individual schemes with someone
else or creates a false identity in order to drive up the bidding prices on behalf of the
seller. Bid shielding takes place when a buyer and partner artificially inflate the
bids. This discourages other bidders from bidding. Then, at the last minute,
the shielder cancels their high bid whereby his/her partner wins the auction with a lower
offer.
Our stance on these practices is simple-- shilling and shielding will not be tolerated!
In fact on the Lily Auction, unlike many other auctions, we do not allow
our users to cancel a bid automatically. The cancellation must be reviewed
by the auctioneer before the bid can actually be retracted. Generally, a
bid will not be allowed to be retracted after 24 hours from when it was
made nor within 24 hours of closing.
The Lily Auction has zero tolerance for fraud! After investigating a complaint and the
allegations are found to be correct, our policy is to suspend the user on the first offense.
We will also maintain a ban list to chronicle the errant users.
Self-regulation is the best prevention against fraud.
We will make every effort to enforce our fraud policy and we encourage our
Lily Auction community to join us. Please don’t hesitate to
Contact Us whenever fraud is the
issue. If you don’t complain, there exists a possibility that we don’t
know. Let’s all take a stand!
For additional information about fraud, please consult the National Fraud Information
Center (www.fraud.com).
Be Courteous to Other Traders
Being courteous and giving others the benefit of the doubt are essential elements for the
Lily Auction community. We ask that everyone treat other traders like you want to be treated and
we can't help but to have a pleasant trading community. "Flaming" and
profanity are not tolerated on this site.
Do Your Homework!
First, check the current minimum bid price. This is the is
the minimum amount that you must bid. Be certain that you are willing to pay the
seller at least this amount for this item should you become the winning bidder.
Please remember that placing a bid is a legally binding contract in many states.
Be sure that you have enough time to put in another bid should you get outbid.
The Lily Auction items close at the closing time or 5 minutes after the last bid to prevent auction snipers. If you enter a maximum
bid amount, the proxy bidding will place bids for you.
Get more information on the seller, particularly if this is a high-priced item.
Review his/her Lily Auction seller rating and feedback. E-mail the seller if you need more
information about the item you wish to bid on.
Monitoring the Auction
The bid history for an auction gives up-to-the-minute information about the bidding
activity for the item. Within 24 hours of auction close, the winning bid history is
posted into the closed
auctions. The winning bidder and the seller's e-mail address are also posted
in the closed
auctions at this
time. To prevent spamming, the winning bidder's contact
information is available ONLY to the seller of the auction. Only the
seller's email address is available to the public. The remainder of the
seller's contact information is available only to the winning bidder of the
auction.
Within 24 hours after auction close, the Lily
Auction sends a confirmation e-mail to both the seller and the winning bidder.
In the event you do not received our congratulatory note, you may contact the other
party using the contact information posted in the closed
auctions.
Contact the Seller
As stated above, within 24 hours
after auction close, the seller and winning bidder are notified via
e-mail. The notice contains the e-mail address so that each party may contact the
other. The winning bid history remains on the site indefinitely so it is the
responsibility of all parties to verify who won. We request that all parties in the final
sale contact each other within seven days after the close of the auction. In the event the
winning bidder does not contact the seller within seven days, the seller reserves the
right to sell the item to the second highest bidder.
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