Buying Help

Bidding and Offering

What is the difference between making a bid and an offer?

Bids and offers are contracts. Buyers enter into a legally binding contract if their bid is a winning bid. While you can make a bid up until the close time of an auction, an offer can only be made if an auction has no bids. Once the first bid is made on an auction, the "Make a Counter Offer" option is no longer available. If an offer was made for an auction, the Buyer only enters into a legally binding contract once the seller has accepted the offer. Sellers have two business days to respond to offers and, unlike bids, are under no obligation to accept offers on their auctions.

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At the bottom of each open auction there is a bid box for you to place your bid. You may also use this box to place a proxy bid.

Alternatively, you may add an auction to your "Watchlist", by clicking on the "Add to Watchlist" icon on any auction page, or by clicking on the checkbox located next to the auction description in any auction list view, such as Search Results or Hot Deals. Then click on the "Add to Watchlist" button at the bottom of the page. These auctions appear in the Watchlist section of My Account. You may then bid on these auctions from My Account by entering your desired bid amount, in the Bid field.

Please remember that it is Liquidation.com's policy to allow first time buyers to have no more than 2 outstanding transactions that requires payment at one time. Once your outstanding transactions have been paid, you are free to continue bidding until you win an additional auction. As soon as your first transaction is complete, you will be able to bid without any restrictions. A completed transaction is one that has been paid, received, and the merchandise has been approved.

Once you click "Submit Bid", we will ask you to provide your shipping and credit card information. You will only need to submit this information once per auction, and this credit card information provided will only be used for the purpose of bidding on this auction. Upon winning an auction, you will still need to use the designated payment options. After you have provided us with your shipping information, the system will display a confirmation screen of all your desired bids, allowing you to verify your desired bid, before you click on "Confirm Bids" to place your bids.

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This information is used for validation purposes and for your protection. Buyers can feel secure that a validated bidding environment protects their interest and ensures that only qualified buyers are bidding against them. Should you be a winning bidder, this information is needed to ensure timely processing of your transaction and rapid receipt of your merchandise.

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You can use Proxy Bidding by entering your maximum bid amount (highest bid that you are willing to pay) into the bid box on the auction page. Our system will record your "maximum bid" amount and place a bid at the current LOWEST minimum bid. If another bidder outbids your LOWEST minimum bid, the system will automatically place another bid for you putting you back as the current winning bidder. The proxy bidding system will continue to make LOWEST minimum bids on your behalf until you are the winner of the auction or another bidder bids higher than your proxy bid. There is no Proxy Bidding in a Dutch Auction. Proxy bids are completely private and are never displayed to other bidders

Please remember that it is Liquidation.com's policy to allow first time buyers to have no more than one outstanding transaction that requires payment at one time. Once your outstanding transaction has been paid, you are free to continue bidding until you win an additional auction. As soon as your first transaction is complete, you will be able to bid without any restrictions. A completed transaction is one that has been paid for, received, and the merchandise has been approved.There is no Proxy Bidding in a Dutch Auction or in Sealed Bid Auctions.

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At the bottom of each open auction, with no bids, you will find the "Counter Offer Now!" box located right next to the "Place a Bid" box. Follow the instructions in the Counter Offer box to make a counter offer on the auction. You will be notified by e-mail if the seller has accepted or rejected your offer. Bids take precedence over offers therefore, once there is a bid on an auction, you will not be able to place an offer. This means offers can only be placed on auctions with no bids.

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You will receive an email from Liquidation.com indicating the status of your offer. Sellers have two business days to respond to counter offers and are under no obligation to accept offers on their auctions. You will receive an e-mail from Liquidation.com urging you to make a new counter offer if the seller does not respond. Offer status can also be referenced using My Account.

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The bid only goes through after you receive a confirmation page. If this page does not appear, the bid is not valid and was not accepted. If you do not receive a confirmation page please call Buyer Relations immediately at (800) 310-4604 or (202) 467-6868.

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You will receive an email notifying you that someone has outbid you. After you have been outbid, if the auction is still open, you will have a chance to place a new bid or proxy bid by going to the auction page or logging into My Account.

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You can monitor the auctions you have bid on using the My Auctions tab in the My Account section.

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After you have won the auction, you will receive a congratulatory email notification with payment instructions. Once we receive and process your payment, we will notify the seller and instruct them to prepare the merchandise for pick up and ship it to the shipping address on file.

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A bid is a binding contract. Once the bid has been placed, it cannot be cancelled or retracted.

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When a bid is submitted in the final 3 minutes of an auction, Liquidation.com automatically extends the auction closing time by 3 minutes in order to prevent auction sniping - the practice of placing a bid just as an auction is about to close. The auction will be extended as many times as necessary until there are no bids (manual or proxy) in the last 3 minutes before closing. The automatic auction extension benefits buyers because it gives you more time to respond with a new bid, rather than losing the assets to a sniper.

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I am a new/first time buyer on Liquidation.com, and I have already won 2 auctions. Why can't I place a bid on any additional auctions?

A buyer can place an unlimited number of bids on auctions until the buyer wins 2 auctions. The buyer cannot place any additional bids on other auctions until payment is received by Liquidation.com for their winning auctions. This cycle will repeat until the Buyer completes one entire transaction. A completed transaction is one that has been paid for, received, and the merchandise has been approved by the Buyer.

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What is a quantity variance?

Quantity variance is the percentage of items that are deemed to be either in abundance of or less than the amount listed on the auction; ranging between 1-10% per auction. The quantity variance is calculated on a per unit price, and pertains to all merchandise within an auction, including missing or damaged items. However, asset condition of the merchandise within this variance may differ from the rest of the auction items.

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What is a Sealed Bid Auction?

A Sealed Bid Auction is an event in which each bidder may submit a confidential bid to purchase an auction prior to the au