Q and A's - HELLLLP!

[ubeaut]

This thread is for anyone to ask questions about the NEW Market Place/Auctions...
All other threads in this forum are closed to posting.

This is not for the old market place, but the new Auctions Forum which has now been renamed Market Place/Auctions .

Please put forward any questions or problems you may have in this thread and we'll endeavour to answer or fix any problems that are reported in here.

Please do not use this forum as a whinging point because you don't like it, but rather as a place to try and iron out any problems that you may encounter.

I have had this program for almost 2 years and it has been worked on and refined to iron out a heap of bugs. It was in testing on our test site for many months and was working like a charm until it was changed to this site where it has had a heap of problems come to light. There is a lot of money invested in this and many, many, many, hours of hard work and late nights well into the wee small hours. So please help us to help you by reporting any genuine problems and concerns in here.

Suggestions about what should be added or taken away will in most instances not be doable as the program has some reasonably tight constraints, but we will do what we can when and where we can to iron out all the problems.

Suggestions about scrapping the new Market Place/Auctions and going back to the old one will fall on deaf ears, as this new one has the potential to be many times better and save the Moderators and Administrators many hours of extra work a week. Mods and Admins do a fantastic and mostly thankless job on these forums and they no longer need the extra hassles and concerns that went hand in hand with the old Market Place.

Hope this is used as requested.

Cheers - Neil :U

PS Negative posts with such things as, I don't like it. It's garbage. I won't use it. "the Auction is a dud what bright spark thought to do it?" etc, etc, will all be deleted. They don't help and if you don't like it don't use it. Go and pay for your ad on ePay or another site instead of using this one for free.

[delbs]

Okay well first off, im sure im not the only one that experiences this or nor the first to report this but I csnt access any posts in the new auction page in Tapatalk. Is there a work around for this or just try and access it from a Web browser when I can instead of Tapatalk,?

I don't get an error it just sits there 'loading' indefinitely

Cheers
Delbs

[ubeaut]

Problem appears to be with Tapatalk as per this thread Any section I can try some testing Tapatalk post (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f36/any-section-i-can-try-some-testing-tapatalk-post-176401/)

Try going to www.woodworkforums.com via google or the internet without Tapatalk and you should get the default skin which seems to work fine as per my last post in the above link.

Cheers - Neil :U

[TermiMonster]

I was just looking at an auction and noticed that the small tool bar containing 'Forum Actions', 'Quick Links' etc does not work (only on the auctions page).
I am using Firefox on win7.
All other toolbars, links, etc seem fine.
Not mission critical but thought you might like to know.
TM

[Toymaker Len]

Great to see an auction platform for woodworkers. I've put a few things up for sale and quickly recieved email confirmation of bids but they didn't come up on the thread. Then I had to go into 'bid history' and confirm the bids and then they appear on the thread. I would prefer if the bids appeared automatically in public. Ideally I wouldn't have to look at the thread for two weeks. The bids would just tot up until someone was the winner. Thanks, Len.

[ubeaut]

Hi Len - You need to click on the box next to Auto-accept non-conditional bids when you set up your auction. This can be found in the Auction Settings section below the text box where you enter your ad.

There are a number of different sections to the listing screen where you set up your ad. Those sections are listed below and each has a number of things that may need to filled in or clicked on.


Your Message This is the bit where you enter your ad

Auction Settings this is where you Auto accept bids
Payments that you will accept


Upgrade Options


Additional Options


Cheers - Neil :U

[Toymaker Len]

OK thanks for that. I will get it next time. For now though the items I have up are not showing the bids that have been attracted. They are still listing 'no bids' and 'reserve not met' even though there are lots of bids well over the reserve and I can't find a way to fix it. (PS I am not very computer savvy) Len.

[CAG]

Hi Neil,

I have bid on items with Toymaker Len and received new bid and outbid notices via email when some of the subsequent bids are only of equal value to mine. This was after I put bids in that were after other bidders begun with a higher bid than mine anyway.

Is there a way for my lower bids to be rejected automatically before the seller has acknowledged earlier bids that are higher or of equal value?

Thank you for setting up this Q and A; it will be a useful resource for all of us,
Craig

[ubeaut]

G'day CAG - There is a whole section on Bids in the FAQ under Auction Rules HERE (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f276/auction-rules-176599/) Please anyone starting an auction have a look at it to sort out the approval problems.

Short answer for you CAG is in the second line of the Accepting and Rejecting Bids section where it says:


"Bids not accepted or rejected within 72 hours will automatically be rejected on behalf of the auction holder by the system."


Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil :U

[ubeaut]

Toymaker Len

You need to get in and approve some of your Auctions.
To do this click on bid history then click on the ammount of the bid and box will come up in which you can approve, refuse bids, etc.

I have reset approvals to be automatic in your auctions, but this won't happen until you get in there and approve any already made bids manually. Once that's done they should carry on automatically. Should.

You definitely need to sort out the following auctions:

Dovetail Jig Which has 7 bids with a number waiting to be approved.
Nova Cole Jaws Which has an offer to buy immediately. Because you didn't have a Buy it Now price you can not use PayPal as stipulated. You will need to contact the prospective purchased by Private Message to organise payment or at least let him know if his offer is refused. If you accept his offer you will have to close the Auction as described by Stevens post in that auction.


Cheers - Neil :U

PS If you are going to have an auction and don't choose the Automatically Accept Bids option, you will need to keep a close eye on it or you may lose bids if not manually accepted by you.

[ubeaut]

I was just looking at an auction and noticed that the small tool bar containing 'Forum Actions', 'Quick Links' etc does not work (only on the auctions page).
I am using Firefox on win7.
All other toolbars, links, etc seem fine.
Not mission critical but thought you might like to know.
TM

Sorry for the delayed response. Been a bit under the hammer today and missed this one earlier.

As you will have already noticed this is all fixed now, along with other problems with tabs and Navigation bar.

New navigation system installed and updated today which should eventually make the forum a bit easier to navigate and stop crowding of tabs etc.

Cheers - Neil :U

[Eamon]

Hi there, I think I may have found a bug with the auction system.

See http://www.woodworkforums.com/f275/hafco-dc-3-dust-collector-176000/

I had a "Buy now" price of $150 on this and this was clicked by "bigmickm" who is shown as the buyer now. Paypal payment has gone through and I'm happy to sell it to bigmickm.

BUT.....looking in the bids section, it shows that "lushy" also put a bid in for $150 at 9:17pm (this happens to be the same time the paypal email came through so I assume the same time bigmickm clicked "buy now"). I'm not sure who actually bid the $150 first. I take it that bidding at the "Buy now" price doesn't close the auction.

Anyway, just thought I'd point it out, maybe its something that just can't be helped.

regards,
Eamon

[ubeaut]

Buy it Now takes precedent over auction and should close the Auction once the payment has been finalise. This may leave enough time for a bid to be made.

Once the reserve price has been met it's up to the seller to remove it or it would be possible for someone to but at a lower price than the Auction price. There is no way to automate this.

Bottom line... A sale isn't a sale until you have the money in your account or your hand, weather by auction or Buy it Now. Once payment is made it is sold.

As the seller you can accept or reject any bid, but Buy it Now is final.

Cheers - Neil :)

[ClintO]

I am not complaining about the seller but I think there is confusion over how the new system works
Some timber was listed and the first thing I did was to bid the requsted price, I dont recall a "buy it now option"
there was a delay while my bid was processed but I lost to someone who posted they wanted to buy it, presumably instead of bidding as I had done.
Can we have some clarification please, the sticky doesnt cover it.
What is the official end, a bid or a post

[ubeaut]

G'day ClintO

Unfortunately we have no control over sellers and what they choose to do. Seller has the right to accept or refuse any bids or offers.

If bidding acceptance is not set to Auto then the seller is in control of whatever the end result will be.

The following is from Auction Participants Guidelines in the FAQ and is an extracted from beneath the heading The Role of Woodwork Forums:



This site does not enter into monetary transactions or business dealings between marketplace buyers and sellers. This site is a neutral facilitator only, and will not be responsible for the failure of either party to follow through with their obligations, agreed or otherwise.


Pretty sure I know the thread of which you speak and the seller did sell to the first person who said they wanted it, the seller bypassed the bids. He would have made more money by accepting the bids rather than the first person who said I'll take it as there was a pending bid for $50. However that is his prerogative.

He did not have Buy It Now set up and was obviously manually accepting not accepting the bids as there were 6 bids in there and all were left as pending.

Hopefully sellers will eventually realise an Auction needs to constantly watched and bids manually accepted/rejected regularly or set Automatically Accepted to work properly and fairly. "I'll take it", does not necessarily mean it has to be the end of a sale unless the seller says he will settle.

People need to read the FAQ's and hopefully eventually things will be sorted out and it will all run seamlessly. Like that will ever happen. :roll:

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil :U

PS We are still trying to sort out a lot of little things that aren't really sortable due to restrictions of the program.

[FenceFurniture]

G'day Neil. Coupla things:

I notice that my ads/auctions don't come up with a pic thumbnail in the listings. Would that be because I'm using BB-Code to link to the pics (as I always do), rather than attaching them to the thread?
In composing the auction, if I go to "preview" it wipes out the info I have put into the fields from "new or Used", "Shipping" etc. The top set of fields remains ok.


Cheers
Brett

[ubeaut]

G'day FF - You need to use the manage attachments button to put pics in an ad.

The "new or Used", "Shipping" etc stuff is an add on we put in there and not part of the original program so will need to be restored if you preview and most likely if you edit your post. most of the rest is part of the original progremming and should remain when you edit or preview.

Cheers :U

[FenceFurniture]

Rightio Neil, thanks for the explanation. (still reckon it should say "Bid Increment" rather than minimum bid, but I suppose it should only fool a guy once :;)

[steven]

Rightio Neil, thanks for the explanation. (still reckon it should say "Bid Increment" rather than minimum bid, but I suppose it should only fool a guy once :;)

That is a good idea and something I can change easy enough. Will wait to see what the boss thinks before I do it though.

[FenceFurniture]

Yes, in the first Auction I put up I had $40 as the Starting price, and so put the same for "Min Bid" (thinking "how stupid is that - having to specify it twice" :doh::D Then, when the first bid of $40 came in and the next requested bid price was $80 I realised what it all meant (and the item was only ever going to sell for about $50.

So, Steven, going back to Neil's answer on why I didn't get display pics (because I used a BB-code) is it possible to add a little window to input the BB-code for the thumbnail display? I almost always use BB-Code because it positions pics the way that I want them, and I think, but not too sure, that non-members can see the pics this way, but they can't see pics attached to the thread.

[FenceFurniture]

G'day FF - You need to use the manage attachments button to put pics in an ad.I just posted a test auction (which has since been deleted). The solution to my problem is pretty simple:

Main pic as (my) usual with BB-Code
Add a thumbnail of the same pic of perhaps 20kb or less in size via the attachments button in the thread (as you recommended)
Problem solved.

[ubeaut]

Yeah... Or add it the way I said via the Manage Attachments bit, get the same result and save time.

We don't really want non registered people to see the pics. No reason for them to join up and participate if they get it all handed to them on a platter.

[Air-Dried]

This thread is for anyone to ask questions about the NEW Market Place/Auctions...
All other threads in this forum are closed to posting.

This is not for the old market place, but the new Auctions Forum which has now been renamed Market Place/Auctions .

Please put forward any questions or problems you may have in this thread and we'll endeavour to answer or fix any problems that are reported in here.

Please do not use this forum as a whinging point because you don't like it, but rather as a place to try and iron out any problems that you may encounter.

I have had this program for almost 2 years and it has been worked on and refined to iron out a heap of bugs. It was in testing on our test site for many months and was working like a charm until it was changed to this site where it has had a heap of problems come to light. There is a lot of money invested in this and many, many, many, hours of hard work and late nights well into the wee small hours. So please help us to help you by reporting any genuine problems and concerns in here.

Suggestions about what should be added or taken away will in most instances not be doable as the program has some reasonably tight constraints, but we will do what we can when and where we can to iron out all the problems.

Suggestions about scrapping the new Market Place/Auctions and going back to the old one will fall on deaf ears, as this new one has the potential to be many times better and save the Moderators and Administrators many hours of extra work a week. Mods and Admins do a fantastic and mostly thankless job on these forums and they no longer need the extra hassles and concerns that went hand in hand with the old Market Place.

Hope this is used as requested.

Cheers - Neil :U

PS Negative posts with such things as, I don't like it. It's garbage. I won't use it. "the Auction is a dud what bright spark thought to do it?" etc, etc, will all be deleted. They don't help and if you don't like it don't use it. Go and pay for your ad on ePay or another site instead of using this one for free.

How do I edit my listing? Thanks Alan

[ubeaut]

How do I edit my listing? Thanks Alan

G'day Alan

There's a few things you can do in the Listing Owner Options link but after the first 24hrs there isn't much you can edit yourself.

Send me a Private Message with any changes you want and I'll do them for you or you can send a PM to any of the moderators or admins and get it done.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil :U

[ubeaut]

Rightio Neil, thanks for the explanation. (still reckon it should say "Bid Increment" rather than minimum bid, but I suppose it should only fool a guy once

Minimum Bid, changed to Next Minimum Bid.

:U

[RoyG]

Now that there are a few entries in some of the categories, you often have to page through a few pages of sold and ended entries to find active auctions. Is there a way of filtering the display to exclude sold ans ended auctions?

Thanks,

Roy

[Mulgabill]

A new member recently bid and won an item I had For Sale, but to-date I have not heard from him. I cannot contact him by PM as his mail box is full (limited as a new member) and he has not logged on since placing the bid.:~

Question: Assuming that I do not hear from him shortly, is there a waiting period before I can call that sale null and void and then relist the item?

[Big Shed]

Russell, PM me a link and I'll see what I can do from this end.

[Mulgabill]

Russell, PM me a link and I'll see what I can do from this end.
Thanks Fred, PM on the way!

[Shedhand]

Í sold an Item and couldn't see how to mark the sale and price as such. All I could was Close the auction. Any clues.
Thanks
Mike

[DJ’s Timber]

Í sold an Item and couldn't see how to mark the sale and price as such. All I could was Close the auction. Any clues.
Thanks
Mike

That is the same as sold.

[Des.K.]

Just a quick question, and it may very well be just a senior's moment, but for my latest listing (magazines) I wanted to have the auction end after a week, instead of the default two weeks. On the marketplace FAQ page it says 'The auction holder can also shorten the length of the auction at any time by clicking on "Edit Auction Details" and reducing the auction duration.' but I can't for the life of me find where the "edit auction details" button is. I clicked on the "Extend Listing" on the "Listing Owner Options" menu hoping it would allow me to adjust the length rather than just extend it. Unfortunately for me, it did exactly what it said, and extended the listing by a further two weeks. Is there any way I can reduce the length to a week?

Thank you.

Regards
Des

[ubeaut]

G'day Des - It is in the Administrative link/dropdown (top Navigation Bar above the gavel) as Listing Timeline.

Not sure if this can be accessed by you as the thread starter or not. I have changed sale to end 20th Feb for you, but have a look and let me know in here if you can see the Admin9strative link and can can access the timeline bit.

Hope this helped.

Cheers - Neil :U

[Des.K.]

Thanks very much for that Neil.

The Administrative drop down was another one that I tried, but it only allows me to delete the listing. It has a small radio button for "Delete Listing" and beneath that are buttons for "Proceed" and "Reset". "Listing Timeline" seems to be above my pay grade. :D

Thanks again for changing it to a week for me.

Regards

Des

[Polski]

Oops, posted in wrong section, so I'll try again.
Can anyone point me in the right direction as to how I go about making a straight out sale, no auction ,bids etc.
I'm selling a number of machines and offering them as individual items or cheaper a one lot and would prefer not
to go the auction route.......thanks, Polski. ....

[Chrism3]

This is not a complaint, but rather a suggestion. I have made two bids on an item, and they show up in bidding history as Pending. But the No of bids still shows as zero. Wouldn't it help the seller to see if bids have been made, and let others know that the auction has some action, if pending bids were included in the Total Bids?
I await a head biting.
Thanks.

[ubeaut]

Not really sure why you're waiting for a head biting.

That's a good comment/question/suggestion.

The bids most likely are not showing because the seller hasn't allowed for Automatic Bid Acceptance or has made them private.

Please list the url for these sales and I'll have a look.

Cheers - Neil :U

[Chrism3]

Neil,
the owner has since recognised the bids. I hadn't realised that he could hide them, either deliberately or unintentionally. But either way, it seems to me that by not showing them the system is distorting the truth. Bids are made when they are made, not when they are accepted. Perhaps the label should be changed from "Total Bids" to "Bids Accepted"
regards
Chris

[ubeaut]

G'day Chris - No one but the seller has control over how the seller sets up his/her auction/sale. If for some reason they want to have private bids then that's they're business and nothing to do with the admin or moderators.

Unfortunately not everyone who sets up an auction goes through all the settings carefully, reading all the different option and making the right choices, so often the bids are not automatically accepted and have to be done manually. This puts bidders at the mercy of the sellers online time and often the seller is ignorant of the fact they have to manually accept a bid.

There are a lot of settings that come into play when creating an auction/sale and I urge sellers to carefully read through them all before making a final choice. Having private bids can be frustrating to those bidding especially if they have to wait for manual approval.

As I said above none of the admin team have any control over the settings in a sale. I'm pretty sure the number of bids show even if the bids haven't as yet been accepted, so the system is not distorting the truth and neither is the seller.

It's not a perfect system but it's the best available for this application, not only that but it's a system run by the users. This has saved the moderators many hundreds of hours work, angst and headaches since it went a little over 6 mths ago.

The new Market Place was set up to be run in it's own right, by the buyers and sellers who use it.

Love it or hate it... It has done what we set out to do with it and that was to free up the admin and mods to do what all members should be doing and that's enjoying the forums instead of policing something that shouldn't need to be policed.

The NEW Market Place a free service for forum members. No longer is it a burden on the moderators or a battle field for buyers and sellers.

Cheers - Neil :U

PS
From Classified listing Guide (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=176601) and Auction Participation Guidelines (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=176600) :

THE ROLE OF WOODWORK FORUMS
This site does not enter into monetary transactions or business dealings between marketplace buyers and sellers. This site is a neutral facilitator only, and will not be responsible for the failure of either party to follow through with their obligations, agreed or otherwise. The content of a listing is the responsibility of the respective sellers including compliance with all laws and not engaging in misleading and/or deceptive conduct and therefore This site is not liable for any violations of rights of a third party, in particular intellectual property rights, trade mark rights, and copyright resulting from a marketplace listing. This site reserves the right to remove or edit an auction listing at any time and may ban users from participating in the auction.

[Chrism3]

[QUOTE=ubeaut;1760413]. I'm pretty sure the number of bids show even if the bids haven't as yet been accepted, so the system is not distorting the truth and neither is the seller.

Thanks Neil, but the bit above about bids showing in Total Bids when not accepted is not correct, which is why I raised the issue in the first place. But I don't want to add to anyone's burden. I'll know next time how things work.
regardss
Chris

[Carry Pine]

Neil,

I'm sure I read somewhere that sellers should name the state where the goods are? I noticed today that 3 of the top 5 sellers have no state mentioned and one person's home town is not in my atlas.

Graham

[Chrism3]

I've noticed that sometimes, including today, selling threads are closed that are not auctions, and which have received no reply indicating an interest.
Are they closed by the seller or admin?

[riverbuilder]

is there a way to simply post an ad for sale without going through the whole Auction business? have been trying for hours but keep coming up against setting reserve price which is equal to or greater than 1 ????? thanks.

[riverbuilder]

Still no luck, "please enter a value which is equal to or greater than 1" I need to be instructed here obviously.

[Lplates]

How do I edit my listing once posted? When i posted it said that the last image is used for the 'post image' but it's the opposite, the first image is used. Also on re-reading the posting several days later I would like to change some of the wording in the summary/title.

In terms of the marketplace, a few options to allow for easier searching might be an idea. At the very least you should be able to narrow the view to only items in your state. Perhaps you can do this already but i could see it, i would expect it to be in the left hand menu.

Cheers

[Treecycle]

Can't help with the pictures and wording, but you can refine your search by going to the very bottom of the page below the last listing. There you will find some options on the left to refine your search, including states.

[Chrism3]

I searched for my posts using the search box at the top right of the home page, and my user name. It didn't find the most recent ones. I then tried an advanced search, and it didn't find any for the last month. Is there a time delay before things are consolidated?
If i click on my user name at the top of page they all show up.