Bidding automatically terminates at the end of the auction and the current high bidder at the auction's close wins the auction.

When the auction ends, the seller and high-bidder are notified via e-mail. Auction results are also available for everyone to examine. These results indicate the final bid price and the seller's and high-bidder's e-mail addresses. The complete bidding history is also available as a link from the page showing the item's description. The high-bidder and seller should contact each other within 3 business days of the end of the auction. A seller may contact the next-highest bidder if the seller is unable to conclude the transaction with the high-bidder within 3 business days. Therefore, high-bidders may lose their place as winning bidder if the high-bidder does not contact the seller within 3 business days of the end of the auction.

Registration
You must complete the Registration Process to become a member of ePier.com. You will be required to provide us with true and correct contact information. Your information will only be available to other registered users, so they may contact you about item and transaction related issues. Once your correct data has been entered, you are given the option to choose a User ID. We recommend choosing a User ID so your e-mail address is not publicly displayed.

Selling / Listing an Item
It's easy and fun to run your own Auction. Start by clicking on the "Sell your Item" icon, on the ePier.com home page, and fill out the Sell an Item form. Fill in a brief, descriptive title in the "Title" field. In the area provided for your Description, input a complete description of your item(s). You should include as much information about your item as possible, (e.g. size, year, color, condition, quality, etc.), as well as all terms and conditions of the sale to the highest bidder e.g. who pays shipping, shipping costs, what countries you will ship to, methods of payment you will accept (credit cards, money orders, or escrow service).

HTML tags cannot be used in the "Title" of your listing, however, you may use HTML tags anywhere in your items' "Description". You may use HTML here, to create links to your photos, or personal Web-Page. Please note: the content of any link that is part of your item description, must be in compliance with our User Agreement.

You are expected to be honest and truthful in your descriptions. Failure to do so, may result in unsatisfied buyers, and result in your receiving a negative feedback comment from the buyer. Negative feedback comments can hurt your credibility as a seller, and ultimately hurt your business.

To encourage bidding activity, we recommend that you set the minimum bid on your item at an amount lower than you expect the item will sell for. Setting your minimum bid too high, may discourage people from bidding. Please keep in mind, that the minimum bid you specify, states the minimum amount you are willing to accept for that item.

Our program will automatically determine bidding increments. To promote more bidding, these increments are set low.

You are welcome to sell just about anything on our site, considering your item(s) complies with the ePier.com User Agreement. Each item you list on our site, must be placed in the appropriate category.

By placing an item(s) up for auction, you are legally and irrevocably (except as described below) committed to accepting the highest bid placed for that item (or the highest bidder that does not back out) at the end of the auction. If one or more bids are received on your item(s) above the minimum price you have advertised, you are legally obligated to complete the transaction. Failure to complete the transaction is considered a violation of the ePier.com User Agreement, and may result in legal action being initiated by one or more of the bidders.

Sellers reserve the right to cancel a transaction with any bidder/ buyer with whom they feel uncomfortable.

Remember that good communication, creates positive results. If a potential bidder/buyer e-mails you with a question(s) during your auction, we recommend that you answer them accurately and promptly.

You can advertise your auction over the web, and to others, by referring them to the following URL http://epier.com/bidding_form.asp?ITEMNUMBER

Simply copy this URL and then replace the words ITEMNUMBER after the ? sign, with YOUR item number.

Bidding/Buying
You should always use good judgement before bidding on or buying any item listed on ePier.com. Before placing a bid on an item(s) you should be certain that you understand everything about the item(s) as well as the sellers credibility. Do not hesitate to e-mail the seller with any questions you have about an item(s). Be certain you understand the seller's payment terms (do they accept credit cards, personal checks, etc.) as well as the Shipping terms (who pays for shipping and how much).

By placing a bid on an item(s), you are making an irrevocable and legally-binding offer to purchase that item at a price up to your maximum bid. You are legally required to complete the transaction with the seller. Failure to do so is a violation of the ePier.com User Agreement, and may result in legal action by the seller. You will be required to provide a valid e-mail address and User ID when placing a bid.

When placing a bid on an item which you are viewing, your bid amount should indicate the maximum you would be willing to pay for that item(s). That amount will be hidden. Our auto-bid system will automatically bid on your behalf as other bidders increase the bid price, up to the next bid increment, in order to outbid other bidders for you, up to the maximum amount you entered. This procedure is different for Dutch Auctions.

If your maximum bid is outbid by another bidder, our system will automatically notify you via e-mail (subject to the reliability of the e-mail system). Because your maximum bid may be outbid during the final seconds or minutes of an auction, you should keep track of when the auction ends, so you may monitor any bidding activity that takes place just before the auction ends.

Please bid responsibly. Once you place and confirm your bid, you may not retract or withdraw it, unless exceptional circumstances occur, such as the seller changes the material description of the item after your bid is placed, or there is a clear typographical error. Exceptional circumstances DO NOT include bids you have placed, or auctions you have won, on a similar item, changing your mind, or not having the money to pay for the item.

End of Auction Notice
When the auction ends, both the seller and the high bidder(s) will be notified via e-mail (subject to the reliability of the e-mail system). If you are a bidder, you are responsible for checking back on ePier.com to see if you have won that auction.

Once the auction is over, you will be notified via e-mail. However, if you are bidding on an item, you are responsible for checking back at ePier.com to see if you have won. If you do not receive notice and think you are the high bidder, you need to check the auction status at ePier.com for the auction results. After the auction has ended the high bidder needs to contact the seller within 3 days, to acknowledge they are aware of their winning the auction.

Completing a Transaction
Once the Auction ends, you should e-mail or call the seller to confirm the shipping and payment terms. If you are the high bidder/buyer you should send the seller your payment promptly!

Setting Prices
It is recommended that sellers set the minimum bid for their auction at the lowest fair price at which they are willing to sell their item.

Sellers may set a Reserve Price on their Auction.

Sellers may not bid on their own auction. If the seller starts an auction and decides they no longer wish to sell the item, the seller should cancel all bids on the auction and then end the auction.

Reserve Prices
A seller may specify a Reserve Price if he or she is unsure of the real value of the item and would like to have the option to refuse to sell the item if the market value is below a certain price, and that price has not been met by the highest bidder at the close of Auction.

The seller specifies the Reserve Price when they list an item. This price should be set above the minimum bid price. The auction begins at the minimum bid price.

A Reserve Price is the lowest price at which a seller is willing to sell an item. The Reserve Price you set, is not disclosed to bidders. During an auction where the seller has set a Reserve Price on an item, an annotation will be displayed in the item information screen indicating the seller has set a Reserve Price on that auction.

The words (Reserve not met) will appear on the listing page, next to the current price of the item, until a bidder's maximum bid is equal to or greater than the Reserve Price, at which time the item's current price is raised to the Reserve Price. At this time, the words (Reserve met) will appear next to the current high bid. The bidder is also notified that their bid has met the reserve.

Reserve Pricing is not available for Dutch Auctions.

Private Auctions
When listing an item, a seller may choose for the auction to run as a private auction. This means bidders' e-mail addresses will not be available for public view on the item screen or bidding history screen. Only the seller and the high-bidder will be notified via e-mail when the auction is over. This option is used when a seller feels that bidders might prefer not to have their identities visible to the public.

Dutch Auctions
Dutch auctions are a specific auction format where a seller has multiple, identical items they wish to sell. The seller specifies the minimum price (the starting bid) and the number of items they are offering. Bidders bid at or above that minimum for the quantity they are interested in purchasing. At the close of the auction, the highest bidders purchase the items at the lowest successful bid.

For example, let's say there are 25 Cameras being offered at $200 each. Now assume that 50 people placed a bid of $200, for one Camera each. In this case, only the first 25 people will be the successful bidders, since the bid amounts are the same, and earlier bids take precedence.

Now, say that one of those people bid $250 for one Camera. Since their bid is higher than all the others, they will certainly be one of the successful bidders. The other 9 Cameras will be claimed by the earliest bidders who bid $200, and the final price for each camera will be $200.

If enough people bid above the minimum bid, the final price of the item will increase as well. On the other hand, if less than 25 people bid in our example, then only that number of Cameras will be sold at the opening price of $200. For the selling price to increase past the opening price specified by the seller, there must be an equal or higher level of demand than the supply indicated. In our example, the selling price would only increase if 26 or more Cameras were bid upon, no matter what the amount of each bid was.

In the case of multiple quantities bid for by a bidder, the lowest bidder may not earn the right to purchase the complete quantity, since there may only be one left by the time the higher bidders have been processed. In other words, if the lowest bidder requested a quantity of 3 Cameras, they might only be entitled to one Camera, since 22 other Cameras could be allocated to higher bidders. To avoid this problem, you should bid in a manner that ensures you are not the lowest bidder. In some cases, a bidder may have the right to decline purchasing only partial quantity. In this case, the seller can skip that bidder, and offer to accept the next bidder's offer.

Within Dutch Auction Listings, the current standings are always visible after the description of the item. A complete bidding history (which includes all unsuccessful bids), is also available.

Bidder Block
Sellers may choose to prevent a particular user from Bidding on their auctions by choosing the Bidder Block option. This should only be done if one or more of the following circumstances exists. (1.) The seller has had problems in the past with a particular user that has placed a winning bid on one or more of your previous auctions, and failed or refused to complete the transaction; (2.) The User being blocked has a history or reputation for not following through with winning bids in the past. (The best way to check this is to view the bidders feedback comments.)

User Information
For the Safety of our Members, ePier.com only makes your contact information available to other registered users.

When requesting contact information for another member, you should keep a record of this information, in case you need to contact that member again, or have any questions.

Feedback
Buyers and Sellers are encouraged to leave feedback comments about their dealings with each other. The feedback system is an important part of your credibility as both a bidder or seller. Please be careful of what you say about others, when leaving feedback. Although you are able to retract a feedback comment you have left about another user within 30 days after leaving the comment, this privilege should not be abused or used to "scare someone" with the threat of a negative comment, or to retaliate against someone that has left a negative comment about you.

Fraud
Fraud can occasionally take place both on and off the Internet. By using good judgement and common sense, you will decrease the likelihood of becoming a victim of fraud. Contact between members should be made before beginning any transaction.

Most fraud complaints end up being a misunderstanding about the product, shipping terms, or shipping addresses. We recommend open communication and contact between users, before bidding or buying any merchandise listed in an ad. Sellers should always specify shipping and payment terms in the description of your item(s). Before placing a bid, or sending payment, you should be certain you understand all necessary information about the item(s) you are bidding on.

Any acts of fraud or suspicions thereof, should be reported to ePier.com, as well as the proper authorities. ePier.com will not tolerate any type of fraud on our site, and will cooperate fully with any investigation regarding claims of fraud.

Illegal Items
Items that are considered illegal, may not be sold or offered for sale on ePier.com. Please do not attempt to sell illegal items on our site.

Spam
Unsolicited, commercial, or private e-mail, otherwise referred to as Spam, is not tolerated by the ePier.com Community. Unless you have received permission from a specific member of the community, do not add any user's e-mail address to your address book.

Defamation
Please be careful of what you say about other people online. Once you post on the discussion board or in the feedback forum, you cannot erase or delete what you have written. Unless you have received permission from a specific member of the community, do not add any user's e-mail address to your address book.