Auction Beginners Guide

Auction Jargon

Befuddled by all that insider lingo used in online auction listings and message board discussions?

Appraisal: The act or process of estimating an item's value via expert authentication and comparative pricing in the open market. Appraised values can change as the marketplace valuation of an item increases or decreases.

As Is: Selling an item without warranties in regard to its condition and fitness for a particular use. The buyer is responsible for judging the item's durability and lifetime. Also known as "as is, where is" and "in its present condition." Typically, this is a sign that no return privileges will be granted.

Bid Cancellation: The cancellation of a bid from a buyer by a seller. During online auctions, sellers can cancel a bid if they feel uncomfortable about completing a transaction with a particular person.

Bid History: A historical list of all the bids made on a particular auction during or after the auction.

Bid Increment: The standardized amount an item increases in price after each new bid. The auction service sets the increment, which rises according to the present high bid value of an item.

Bid Retraction: The legitimate cancellation of a bid on an item by a buyer during an online auction.

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.

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.

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.

Bulk Loading: Listing a group of different items in separate lots all at once using an online auction site's bulk loading tool.

Buying Up Lots: The practice of buying all quantities of an item during a Dutch auction. This is typically done for resale purposes.

Caveat Emptor: The Latin phrase meaning "let the buyer beware."

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.

Deadbeats: High bidders who don't complete the sale by paying for the item they won.

DNF: Discuss Auction's Newest Features board. This is one of the more lively, if not cantankerous, message boards in the online auction community.

EOA Notice: End-of-auction notice. These are email notifications that are sent by the auction sites (as well as sellers) notifying the buyer that he or she is the winning bidder. EOA notices also include information about the auction, such as the final bid amount and how much shipping will cost.

Escrow: Money held in trust by a third party until the seller makes delivery of merchandise to the buyer.

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.

Featured Auctions: Auction listings featured prominently on the main page and category pages of an auction site. Sellers pay for this prime placement.

Feedback Padding: One user posting fraudulent positive feedback about another user and his or her auctions.

Final Value Fee: The commission charge the seller pays to the auction service after his or her item sells.

FVF Request: Final value fee request.

Grading: The process for determining the physical condition of an item. Different items have different grading systems.

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.

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 a property 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: A 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.

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: To submit a confidential maximum bid to an online auction service's automated bidding system. The system's electronic "proxy" will automatically increase the buyer's bid to maintain the high bid. The proxy bidding system will stop when it has won the auction or reached the maximum bid.

Registered User: A person who has registered as a member of an online auction service. All online auction services 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. Typically, the first relisting is 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.

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.

Sniping: Outbidding other buyers in the closing minutes or seconds of an auction.

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 terms of service. All registered users must agree to a site's terms before using the service.

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