FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Popula's Auction Site

What are the fees for participating in Popula auctions? How are they paid?
There are no fees for bidders. Sellers are charged a listing fee of 25 cents for each item put up: except that any seller who lists 100 or more items in a calendar month will pay no listing fees for that month. An exception to this is the Hothouse category, a special category for higher-ticket merchandise, where listing fees are a non-refundable $2.50 per auction. In addition, when the item sells, the seller is charged a small commission (up to 5% of the sale price). See Fee Information for exact details.
You can run up a tab of $10 before opening an account. Once this figure is exceeded (by listing fees and commissions), you must open an account with Popula in order to add more listings. We have two types of account in addition to the Basic Account above: a Cash Account and a Credit Card Account.
With a Credit Card Account, your credit card is automatically billed $10 on opening the account. This credit balance is then reduced as you incur fees; you can request a refund for the balance at any time. You'll still receive a bill by e-mail each month that you have activity, but you need not do anything further: your credit card will automatically be charged at the end of each calendar month.
With a Cash Account, you'll be billed once a month by e-mail and must settle your bill within 15 days of the end of the calendar month.
How can I avoid paying listing fees?
If you list 100 or more things in a single calendar month, you'll pay no listing fees for that month. Your account status will show a credit entry as soon as you reach this threshold. (You will still have to pay the standard commission on items sold, though.) Note, though, that listing fees for Hothouse are non-refundable.
How do I monitor things that I have offered for auction or bid on?
Go to Private Eye. This automatically tracks things you have offered for auction. It also shows any comments from or about you, your account status, and other personal stuff. You can also view here your "A-list" of items you want to keep an eye on, but may not have placed a bid on yet.
Can I change anything in my offerings once I have listed them?
Yes. On the Seller Options page, you will find links enabling you to go back and change the category on your listing. You can also add to your description (for example, in response to e-mail questions you might have received). If you made a mistake with the picture URL, e-mail us with all the grisly details, and we'll attend to it prontissimo.
How can I make a link to my Popula auctions?
The URL for your auctions on Popula is:
http://www.popula.com/search/search_by_seller.cfm? form_submit=true&vendor_username=your_username
Just plug in your Popula username where it says "your_username". (An easy way to get this URL is to go to any of your items on Popula, click the link which says "See this seller's other auctions", and copy the URL from your browser window).
If you would like a graphic to link from, please feel free to use this one:

Save it from your browser, or contact us and we'll e-mail you a copy.
Exactly what happens when I place a bid?
Say you see a book you like, and the minimum bid on it is $4.00. When you fill out the bid form at the bottom of the item screen showing your book, you enter the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay (say, $5.00.) Popula automatically keeps track of your bid. You'll see right away on the screen, when you confirm your bid, that you're now the high bidder; the published bid amount will go to $4.00. (That's because Popula keeps track of your maximum bid, but will only raise the published bid enough to top rival bidders for you.) So if no one else bids, you'll be able to buy the book for $4.00. If someone else comes along and bids $7.00, of course, you will be toppled from your lofty position as High Bidder. (In that case, the new published bid would automatically rise to $5.25; just enough to beat your maximum.)
As soon as you bid, you'll also receive an email confirmation stating the amount of your published bid, your maximum, and auction details such as the item number, description and the ending date of the auction. If you are outbid, you'll also receive an email about it. If you catch your outbid email in time (before the auction ends), you'll be able to come back and bid again, if you'd like to.
Note that Popula uses a flexible ending time for auctions. Auctions don't end until three minutes after the last bid is placed. So your auction won't be cut off arbitrarily, without giving you a chance to make that last bid if you want to.
Why doesn't the price go all the way up to my bid?
The Popula system knows that your bid is the maximum you are prepared to pay, but you won't necessarily have to pay that much. If you're the only bidder, your published bid will be the seller's minimum price. Every time you are outbid, the system will raise your bid just enough to match your rivals--and no more--until you have reached your maximum. So, you could win the auction without paying anywhere near your maximum. Note that you can raise your maximum at any time before auction end, just by bidding again at a higher level.
Please explain bid increments.
Bidding on an item starts when a bidder puts in a bid equal to or more than the starting bid. The published bid on the item, however, goes up in small amounts called "increments".
For example, if the starting bid is $3.00 and you bid $7.00, the bid shown on the page will be $3.00. If a rival comes in and bids $4.00, he or she will get a notice saying "You have been outbid by a previous maximum bid", and the published bid will then be $4.00 (your rival's top bid, but since you already bid higher than that, your equal amount of $4.00 takes precedence). If the other person then raises his bid to $8.00, you will get a notice saying that you have been outbid, and the published bid will go up to $7.50 - your maximum bid plus the $0.50 increment. Bid increments are not fixed; they increase in stages with the current price of the item.
Can I take back a bid?
Shame on you! Bidding is a serious business. When you bid, you are entering a binding contract to pay the amount of your bid if nobody outbids you by the end of the auction. So, retracting a bid is not looked upon kindly. However, if you have a legitimate reason for retracting a bid, you can do so from the Take Back a Bid page. A legitimate reason might be:
(a) The seller has materially altered the description of his item after you bid;
(b) You made an obvious typo in entering your bid. For example, you might have entered $100.00 instead of $10.00.

Do not attempt to retract bids frivolously. Other users will give negative feedback and you may become a known Rat or have your registration revoked.
As a seller, can I cancel someone's bid?
Remember, by publishing an auction on Popula, you are entering a binding contract to fulfill the terms of your offering. So, in order to cancel someone's bid, you must have a valid reason. For example, the bidder may have contacted you and asked you to release him from his bid - i.e. from his binding contract with you. Or, the bidder may previously have failed to pay you in a previous auction. You will have to provide an explanation in the Cancel a Bid form. Your remarks will be visible on the item screen's Bid History.
What is Hothouse?
Hothouse is Popula's category for higher-ticket vintage, rare and collectible merchandise. Couture and designer vintage apparel and textiles, estate jewelry, rare books, art and collectible furniture and decor are included. This category is vetted by a group of category editors, who are pledged to toss out any stray Beanie Babies or other inappropriate merchandise that might wander into the Hothouse category. Each auction in the Hothouse category has a non-refundable $2.50 listing fee. Exception: if an auction should be removed from the Hothouse by Popula editorial staff, applicable listing fees will be refunded.
What is the Orphanage category?
Things that didn't sell on their initial listing, and didn't sell when they were relisted, qualify for appearance in the Orphanage category. In this category, all starting bids are $1.00 and there are no reserve prices; so it's a bit like the Clearance section in the store: this is the place to look for real bargains.
Please explain the Reserve Price.
You might be worried that your $200 antique pocketwatch will sell for $2. Yet you don't want to put in a starting bid of $150 because the ball will never get rolling. So you put in a low starting bid (say $10), but you also put in a Reserve Price of $200. This means that unless someone bids $200 or more, the deal won't go through. Note that the $200 reserve price is secret. Nobody looking at the auction knows what the reserve price is; all they know is (a) that there is a reserve price and (b) whether the reserve price has or hasn't been "met" by the current bid.
Although using a Reserve Price protects you from having to sell too cheap, you should know that it may also deter potential buyers from bidding. So we suggest you use it sparingly.
When there is a reserve price and your bid meets or exceeds the reserve, the published bid will be the reserve price (ie just enough to ensure that you win, in the absence of higher bids). Subsequent bids will be incremented as usual.
What if the reserve price is not met?
Your item won't sell if nobody bids up to the reserve price. You will get a notice telling you that the item hasn't sold. If you haven't already relisted the item for free, you will be able to do so (provided you don't raise the starting bid or reserve price). If a relisted item doesn't sell, you can put it in the Orphanage category, except that there are no reserve prices in the Orphanage.
What happens after the auction closes?
The high bidder gets an e-mail notice telling him the good news. The seller gets the same notice. The two of you are then arrange to finish the deal together.
On items that don't sell, the seller can relist the item (with no additional listing fee) if he hasn't already done so, or list it in the Orphanage category (with no additional listing fee) if it hasn't already been there.
What if nobody bids on my offering?
If your offering doesn't sell, you can re-list it once for free (provided you don't raise the minimum bid or reserve price, if any). If it still doesn't sell, you can re-list it in the Orphanage category. In the Orphanage, however, the starting bid is $1 and there is no reserve.
What is List-o-mat? Can I do my laundry there?
List-o-mat is the free system for preparing online auctions -- fast. (List-o-mat requires Microsoft Access 97, though, and a valid Popula credit card account.) You can download this free, cool invention here. Using List-o-mat, you'll be able to prepare, edit, and upload 100 Popula auctions at a time, including URLs for photos. Also, you'll be able to save all your auction information on your hard disk, either as a spreadsheet or in an Access database.
You cannot do your laundry there.
Why did the auction go past its scheduled finish time?
Popula auctions end either (a) at the advertised "approximate" ending time or (b) three minutes after the last bid. The reason for this is that we want everyone to have a chance to put in his bid, rather than have some bidder just "get lucky" by timing his bid for the last seconds of the auction.