Vendio Daily - Getting Started

Once you take the plunge and start swimming in the online auction world, you'll quickly realize that there's a lot to know. One of the first things you'll want to do is master the lingo. Our handy-dandy glossary will teach you how to talk the talk!

A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U V W Y

Absentee Bid: A bidding procedure that allows a bidder to participate in a physical auction that he or she will not be able to attend. Generally, the bid is submitted prior to the sale.

Absentee Bidder: A person who submits a written or oral bid prior to a physical auction that he or she cannot attend. This bid is understood as the bidder's top offer.

Absolute Auction: An auction in which the item up for sale is sold to the highest qualified bidder with no limiting conditions or minimum preset price. Typically, the opening price is $1. Also known as an auction without reserve.

Accounting of Sale: An auction summary issued to the seller by the auctioneer, detailing the financial aspects of the final sale.

Agent: A person who is authorized to act on behalf of another individual or entity during a public auction.

Agreement: An expression of mutual assent by two or more parties on a given proposition.

American Auction: An auction in which a quantity of items are offered for sale at the same price. The highest bidders for the largest number of items in the group win the auction. If there is no high bid or largest quantity, the earliest bidders win the auction.

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.

Auction: n (1) A method of selling a property in a public forum through open, competitive bidding. v (2) The act of putting an item up for sale in a competitive public auction.

Auction Block: The podium or platform from which an auctioneer conducts a physical auction. To place an item on the auction block means that it is available for competitive bidding.

Auction Listing Agreement: A contract executed by the auctioneer and seller, authorizing the auctioneer to conduct the sale. It also delineates the conditions of sale and the rights and responsibilities of each party. Also known as listing agreement.

Auction Plan: The itinerary for preauction, auction day, and postauction activities, set by the auctioneer and seller.

Auction Subject to Confirmation: An auction in which the seller has set a reserve or minimum price for his or her item. This price must be met before the item can be sold. See reserve price and reserve auction.

Auction Value: The current price of a property during a competitive public auction.

Auction With Reserve: An auction in which the seller has set a minimum price for the item and reserves the right to accept or decline any and all bids. The minimum acceptable price may or may not be disclosed. Also known as an auction subject to confirmation and reserve auction.

Auction Without Reserve: An auction in which the property is sold to the highest qualified bidder with no limiting conditions or minimum price. Also known as an absolute auction.

Authentication: (1) The act or process of determining if an auction item is genuine and accurately represented by the seller. (2) A mark on an article to indicate its origin and authenticity.

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Bid: An indication and offer on an item up for sale at a competitive public auction. Bids are typically made in predetermined increments.

Bid Acknowledgment: A form executed by the high bidder, which identifies the bidder and confirms that he or she won the auction. It also verifies the item's bid price and description.

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. Typically, the auction site or auctioneer sets the increment.

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

Bid Rigging: An unlawful practice in which two or more people agree not to bid against one another in order to deflate the potential value of an item. See 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.

Bidder Acknowledgment: A high bidder's confirmation that the item for sale was listed at its fair market value.

Bidder Search: An online search that will generate a list of items a user has bid on at an online auction service.

Bidder's Choice: A method of sale in which the high bidder earns the right to select his or her item or property of choice from a group of similar or identical ones.

Bidding: To make an offer on an item that is up for public auction.

Big-Ticket Item: An item with a bid of at least $5,000 on eBay.

Broker Participation: An arrangement in which a third-party broker registers potential bidders for an auction. Upon completion of the auction, the seller typically pays the broker a commission.

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

Buyer's Broker: A broker hired to represent the buyer during an auction.

Buyer's Premium: An advertised percentage of the high bid or a flat fee, which is added to the high bid to determine the total price of the item or property.

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

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Carrying Charges: The costs associated with holding an income-generating property. Examples include insurance, taxes, maintenance, and management.

Category Listings: The categories in which an online auction site organizes its auctions.

Caveat Emptor: The Latin phrase for "let the buyer beware." It is a legal maxim, meaning that liability is transferred from the seller to the buyer in regard to the quality or condition of the item or property up for sale.

Collusion: An unlawful practice in which two or more people agree not to bid against one another in order to deflate the potential value of an item. Also known as bid rigging.

Commission: A fee paid by the seller to the auction site at the completion of an auction, calculated as a percentage of the final sale price. Also known as final value fee.

Conditions of Sale: The legal terms that govern the conduct of a given auction. The conditions might include a reserve price, specific method of payment, or buyer premium.

Contact Information: The user information, including name, address, email, and phone number, provided when registering at an online auction site. All online auction sites require registered users to submit valid contact information.

Contract: A binding legal agreement between two or more persons or entities.

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.

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Deadbeat Bidding: The failure to deliver payment on an item after securing the high bid in an online auction. Repeat deadbeat bidding will result in the indefinite suspension of a user from an online auction site.

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

Due Diligence: The process of gathering information about the condition and legal status of items to be sold.

Dutch Auction: An auction format in which a seller lists multiple identical items for sale. All winning bidders pay the same price, which is the lowest successful bid.

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

Estate Sale: The sale of personal property or real estate left by a person at the time of his or her death.

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Featured Auctions: An online auction site's most prominent auctions of the day. Generally, a single auction will not earn this distinction unless the seller has a positive user feedback rating.

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 online auction site. Abbreviated as fdbk/fk.

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

Final Value Fee: A fee paid by the seller to an auctioneer at the completion of an auction, calculated as a percentage of the final sale price. Also known as a commission.

FVF Request: Final value fee request.

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Grading: Notating the physical condition of an item with a specific set of labels, such as "poor quality" or "mint condition." Different items have different grading terms. For instance, trading cards are graded from "A1" to "F1," while coins are graded from "poor" to "perfect uncirculated."

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Hammer Price: The final price of an item up for sale at a physical auction. The high bid is acknowledged by the auctioneer with a drop of the hammer or gavel.

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IMO/IMHO: The message board abbreviations for "in my opinion" and "in my honest (or humble) opinion."

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.

Item Lookup: An online search by item number. Every lot on an online auction site is assigned an item number.

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Listing Agreement: A contract executed by the auctioneer and seller, authorizing the auctioneer to conduct the sale. It also delineates the conditions of sale and the rights and responsibilities of each party. Also known as an auction listing agreement.

LOL: The message board abbreviation for "laugh out loud."

Lot: A single auction that is in progress.

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Market Value: The highest price a property will bring in the competitive, open market. See bidder acknowledgment.

Maximum Bid: The highest price a buyer will pay for an item, submitted in confidence to an online auction site's automated bidding system to facilitate proxy bidding. 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.

Minimum Bid Auction: An auction in which the auctioneer will accept bids only at or above a predisclosed price.

Minimum Opening Bid: The mandatory starting bid for a given auction, set by the seller at the time of listing.

Multiseller Auction: Properties owned by multiple sellers, auctioned in a single event.

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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.

No-Sale Fee: A fee paid by the seller if his or her item does not sell in a reserve auction.

NR: Short for "no reserve." This indicates in the item description line that the auction has no reserve price specified.

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Opening Bid: The first bid offered by a bidder at an auction.

Outbid: To submit a maximum bid that is higher than another buyer's maximum bid.

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Private Auction: An auction in which the identities of the bidders are anonymous.

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.

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Registered User: A person who has registered as a member of an online auction service. All online auction services require registration prior to participation in an auction.

Relisting: The relisting of an item occurs when it has not sold within its allotted auction time. A fee is usually associated with relisting.

Reserve Auction: An auction in which the seller has set a minimum price for the item and reserves the right to accept or decline any and all bids. The minimum acceptable price may or may not be disclosed. Also known as an auction subject to confirmation and auction with reserve.

Reserve Price: The minimum price a seller will accept for an item to be sold at a reserve auction. This amount may or may not be disclosed.

Retaliatory: The user term for retaliatory negative feedback, posted by one user in response to another user's negative feedback.

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S&H Charges: Shipping and handling charges.

Sealed Bid: An auction in which confidential bids are submitted and opened at a predetermined place and time. This is not considered a true auction because it does not support competitive bidding.

Secure Server: A server that uses Secure Sockets Layer encryption technology to protect users' credit card information.

Seller List: A list of items a seller has put up for sale on an online auction site.

Seller Search: An automated search that retrieves a list of all the items a seller has put up for sale on an online auction site.

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: Bidding in the closing minutes or seconds of an auction to outbid other buyers.

Starting Price: The mandatory starting bid for a given auction, set by the seller at the time of listing.

Straight Auction: An auction in which there is no reserve and only one item is up for sale. This is the most common type of auction. The seller sets the opening bid and must respect the final price at the end of the auction.

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Terms: The period of time that an agreement is in effect.

Terms of Service: A legally binding agreement that outlines an auction site's operations and policies. All registered users must agree to a site's terms before using the service.

Tie Bids: When two or more buyers bid exactly the same amount at the same time.

Trustee's Sale: A sale at auction by a trustee.

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Upset Price: The bid amount that exceeds a seller's reserve price. See reserve price.

User Discussion Boards: Public message boards where online auction site users can post their comments and questions.

User ID: A moniker that identifies a user while on an online auction site.

User Information: Personal data provided by a user when registering for an online auction site, including name, address, email, and phone number.

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Verification: Confirming the identity and evaluating the condition of an item.

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Withdrawal: A bidder's withdrawal from an auction after failing to meet the reserve price on an item.

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Yankee Auction: An auction in which a seller lists multiples of an identical item. Unlike a Dutch auction (in which all winning bidders pay only the lowest successful winning bid amount), in a Yankee auction each winning bidder pays his or her exact high bid.