• Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

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    Posted 08/15/2025
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    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
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    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Status check

So what you saying is un contributing members can post replys in the auction forum?
Do I have to delete the add off the ball forum?
No one I know really even looks at the auction forum. How will they know that I'm even trying to auction my ball off?
Having it like this is only going to hurt the sellers and better the buyer.
Plus you have to look through all kinds of different reptiles to find what you looking for.
I would at least like to advertise that I'm auctioning my animal in the right category. Like under ball pythons so everyone that only like ball pythons can see that there a good deal on a particular ball.
 
RulingReptiles said:
So what you saying is un contributing members can post replys in the auction forum?
Click to expand...
They've been posting bids, haven't they?
Do I have to delete the add off the ball forum?
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Not necessarily...but you were the one complaining about wasting bumps on it. Right now, the two are linked - which probably shouldn't have happened, but that's how the system works.
No one I know really even looks at the auction forum. How will they know that I'm even trying to auction my ball off?
Click to expand...
People that are interested in auctions look there...we can't help that the people you know don't. If you want to sell to people you know, and they don't look at the auctions, maybe a straight ad is better for you.
Having it like this is only going to hurt the sellers and better the buyer.
Click to expand...
Nobody is forcing you to use the auction section if you feel that it is a poor choice for you.
Plus you have to look through all kinds of different reptiles to find what you looking for.
Click to expand...
:shrug01: What do you expect? It isn't as if the section is hugely popular. If you looked at this thread, you know it is a trial...and Rich isn't going to sink a bunch of time and money into special auction script to pretty it up if it isn't going to be well utilized. I believe there is still a search function that people can use if they don't want to scan through the various auctions.
I would at least like to advertise that I'm auctioning my animal in the right category. Like under ball pythons so everyone that only like ball pythons can see that there a good deal on a particular ball.
Click to expand...
You're doing that, sort of...
Rich has said that, for the time being (ie, during the trial), ads can be placed directing people to the auction. Of course, that isn't the same as having the ad in two places - it's basically a title, pictures, and a link to the auction thread. (to clarify for other readers, that is only allowed for auctions posted on this site...directing people to your auctions on other sites will get your ad deleted).
 
Ah. All question answered thank you.
I like the fact they are linked. At this time there's not vary many auctions going on so ill stay in top of that forum and use all my bump on the ball python forum to get attention to the auction forum.
But when and if this snake auction thing takes off and get big and popular separate forums for types of snakes would be a good idea. But not if there's only a few auctions going on like it is now. That way people can just click ball python auctions or other herps and see what's there real quick.
 
They are only linked because your original ad got moved to the proper area.
(I'm guessing that the image no longer shows in the BP classifieds because the ad was removed from that location...for whatever reason, it still shows in the Classifieds Panel as being in the original spot - I've noticed that in the past, and played around with it; it's just a quirk of the system that causes minor problems)
 
Anyone else having issues with people not paying? I had someone win my auction to not respond to any of my PM's and emails. I pm him if he's not intending to pay and he just quoted it with a dot. Hopefully this isn't a widespread issue. Possibly if this section stays around make that a bannable offense like the Facebook auction groups do.
 
Chewy said:
Anyone else having issues with people not paying? I had someone win my auction to not respond to any of my PM's and emails. I pm him if he's not intending to pay and he just quoted it with a dot. Hopefully this isn't a widespread issue. Possibly if this section stays around make that a bannable offense like the Facebook auction groups do.
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I think your talking about the 9 level adult XPVC rack auction that ended 3/25/12 8pm EST. I would try contacting him again & explaining that he won. If he refuses to pay I guess you could tell the BOI of your experience. If I personally were to auction an item off I would request the bidders be member's of the site for a certain amount of time or have some kind of trader rating present.
 
It's doubtful they'll consider banning people for not paying, but there are still things you can do to warn everyone else.

The BOI as mentioned above is a good start. A big ol' "deadbeat bidder" thread is what people who bid and don't pay deserve. If you were to become a paying member, you would also be able to leave him a negative trader rating that would follow him everywhere he posts.
 
I have no money to do so, ended up when seeing someone won buying the materials since I was at the XPVC supplier anyways. Now I have an extra adult rack :/. Ill try to BOI, thanks!

I contacted him and he has no intention on paying for the item.
 
:)
Chewy said:
I have no money to do so, ended up when seeing someone won buying the materials since I was at the XPVC supplier anyways. Now I have an extra adult rack :/. Ill try to BOI, thanks!

I contacted him and he has no intention on paying for the item.
Click to expand...

So you have the money to buy materials to build racks, but can't come up with $25.00 a year to allow you the ability to leave appropriate trader ratings?
 
i like the idea but im a little confused by the auctions that say no reserve then start the auction price themselves why not just say its reserved oh well its trivial i know just pointing it out but all in all i like it gives me a chance to pursue my dreams as a breeder some day :(
 
That makes more sense to me than setting a reserve, and starting the bidding at some ridiculously low price.
Ifyou want to talk about auction practices that don't make sense - how about the people that post their stuff for sale for weeks, then post it as an auction... using their sale price (that didn't work) as the starting point.
 
spunkeymonkey357 said:
i like the idea but im a little confused by the auctions that say no reserve then start the auction price themselves why not just say its reserved oh well its trivial i know just pointing it out but all in all i like it gives me a chance to pursue my dreams as a breeder some day :(
Click to expand...

A reserve is a minimum price that the seller sets before the auction. It is the least amount the seller is willing to accept. The seller usually keeps that price secret unless the reserve is met during that auction. If the auction ends and the final bid doesn't meet that reserve price, the seller doesn't have to sell what they auctioned.

Let's say the seller decides his reserve is $50 and starts the auction at $20. If the bidding ends at $40, he can say the reserve was not met and refuse to sell it. If the bids hit $50 or over, he will say "the reserve has been met" and it will go to the highest bidder.

It has nothing to do with setting a starting price. That's why those auctions are not labeled as a reserve auction.

I agree with Harald. I don't know why some of these people think those practices would work. As annoying as it is, luckily we are not obligated to bid or hand them our money.
 
I forgot to add that it's called reserve as in the seller "reserves the right to accept or reject the highest bid."
 
I think the idea of a reserve price is fine...but, when it isn't preset, users are stuck with whether the seller decides to sell at the end price or not. If I was considering bidding in an auction, I'd be more inclined to do so with a no reserve auction that had a (higher) preset starting point.
 
Definitely. What it comes down to is buyers want to find a bargain and sellers want to protect their investments. Having a reserve auction can be a benefit for some. But it's important for sellers to factor in that they may draw fewer bids because of the uncertainty and inconvenience.
 
OK. That is that, I guess. Any doubt in anyone's mind that this auction idea here is a complete bust?
 
I still think the auction forum should be removed and things be put back the way they were. Most don't even look at it. As far as I know there no way to publisize it on the regular sales forums to advertise that there is an auction going on. I'm way to scared to even try and post a ball on the auction forum because I'm to afraid the only people that are going to fined it are the lowest paying people ever. And most serious buyers are only looking at the main sales forums. At first I thought this was just a way to shrink the posting traffic on the regular classified forums but it's been a long time in the making and still not catching on.

Better way to shrink the posting amounts so people stay on the front page a bit longer is to make sellers post multiple animales on one add instead of individual adds. Some sellers post snake after snake after snake taking up an entire page of listings then bump there adds everyday ruining the odds of others ever being seen.

Don't mean to be a pain but I still don't like the auction forum and want to post my auction on the regular sales forums like I started a few years ago.

Just my little opinion :) August
 
I'm not sure where you got the idea that the intent of the auction section was to reduce postings in other areas. It was started because some people wanted to post auctions; and there are too many issues with running them via PM. It was separated from the regular classifieds because that was necessary allow posted bids.
As was stated at the time, better auction formats would have been considered IF there was enough interest shown in that feature. That interest wasn't shown.

As far as your worries about low bidders - one can't advertise without encountering them. If you want to hold an auction without worrying about selling to low, you've got to set a reasonable starting bid.
 
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