• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    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

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    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
    =====================


    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

WebSlave

WebSlave

It is what it is, but certainly not what it was.
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Well this auction section has been alive for nearly 6 months now. Looks very lightly used to me.

I'm certainly glad I didn't spring for a commercial auction script to be incorporated here along with the attendant costs of purchase and installation.

Feedback on whether this section should stay or go bye-bye?
 
WebSlave said:
Well this auction section has been alive for nearly 6 months now. Looks very lightly used to me.

I'm certainly glad I didn't spring for a commercial auction script to be incorporated here along with the attendant costs of purchase and installation.

Feedback on whether this section should stay or go bye-bye?
Click to expand...

Hey, I know a good programmer that could set up a penny auction script for you. He does quality work, is a pleasure to deal with, and I bet he's gonna be needing the work pretty soon. Email Marty Kerstetter: [email protected]. :thumbsup:

Sucks that it didn't catch on. If it's not really hurting anything by being there, I'd say let it stay.
 
I like the auctions myself. Unfortunately I am not very interested in royals or amphibians so most auctions are pointless to me.

Another thing that makes me leary is the undisclosed reserve. I guess I don't trust people to be honest.
 
I dont think its common for reserve's to be disclosed prior to bidding. I do agree though, it would be nice if they started at a price they would actually let the animal or item go for though. I seen a few good auctions for great benefits but I worry a lot of people see it as an opportunity to try to "sell" more then "auction" items. Hopefully we can let it be, since its not hurting anyone like Dan said, maybe it will catch on better with a few more months.
 
I like it, got a great buy myself, and sold some items.. I think it is great for the smaller breeder/hobbyist to buy/sell/dump on a trusted site and I think it will only get better with time as more people catch on.
 
I like it.
I got some great shipping supplies dirt cheap and the animals I posted on my first auction sold without a hitch.
 
KORBIN5895 said:
Another thing that makes me leary is the undisclosed reserve. I guess I don't trust people to be honest.
Click to expand...

Durante said:
I dont think its common for reserve's to be disclosed prior to bidding. I do agree though, it would be nice if they started at a price they would actually let the animal or item go for though
Click to expand...

No, reserves aren't disclosed prior to bidding...but in a true auction format, they are entered in the system. Since this is a trial run, without a lot of bells and whistles, a few things are left to the honor system. I wouldn't bid on an auction without the reserve not being locked in, unless I really had faith in the seller's integrity.
 
What if you made all auctions "no reserve"? That would force sellers to start the auction at the lowest price they would take for their animal(s). I know personally I don't look at auctions that have a reserve, as I too feel a little uneasy bidding on one knowing the reserve isn't truly set in stone.

Another detractor from bidding imo is the varied lengths, times, bid increments, etc. Maybe there could be a way to make everything more uniform and consistent?

I agree with BCI Joe though, if it isn't hurting anything or costing too much money, leave it for now - it could still catch on.
 
In the very beginning when Rich was setting this all up, sending the reserve somewhere was something I had mentioned. I see no issue's with reserve's but I do feel it would be a much more reliable format if the seller emailed their reserves to a person or group of persons who were to be trusted. Kinda like auction moderators.
Obviously that would cause for more mods or even for the same mods to have more work. Being a trail run, I completely understand why Rich left some things alone to see how it all went. Unfortunately, with such little use I am doubting there would be any point for doing this anyway.

As far as reserves, bidding increments and time's go - I say leave all that how it is. The only auction site's I have ever sold or bought on are sites that allow people to do their own auction format. I believe being a free market and anyone being able to sell anything for whatever they want really makes it so the auction itself should be run to the auctioneer's liking. It's their animal, their price, and their reserve- or lack there of; so I don't see any reason to limit how exactly someone sets up their auction.
 
There should certainly be a seperate section for ball pythons since they will drown out any other snake auction which in turn kills of the motivation for people not selling BP's to post.


Also - there should be an infraction system set up for high bidders who fail to purchase the animals they bid on - it's quite annoying and really ruind the auction. i.e. The "winner" of my female spider bp bid $250 and is now nowhere to be found. He bid $250 and the bid before that was $205.... a $45 gap... that may or may not have been partially filled by other bidders..
 
There's nothing wrong with making a BOI post outing somebody as a deadbeat bidder...in fact, I would recommend doing so (as long as you have made reasonable effort to contact the person). I might even leave him a negative trader rating, if that didn't prompt him to complete the purchase.
Personally, if a person known to have done that bid in one of my auctions, I would make it quite clear that his bid is not accepted due to his history...and the only way sellers can get that knowledge is if things like this are brought to light.
 
AggielandReptiles said:
What if you made all auctions "no reserve"? That would force sellers to start the auction at the lowest price they would take for their animal(s). I know personally I don't look at auctions that have a reserve, as I too feel a little uneasy bidding on one knowing the reserve isn't truly set in stone.

Another detractor from bidding imo is the varied lengths, times, bid increments, etc. Maybe there could be a way to make everything more uniform and consistent?

I agree with BCI Joe though, if it isn't hurting anything or costing too much money, leave it for now - it could still catch on.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on the points bolded. I am uneasy about the reserve, though to be honest it isn't going to hurt anything if they do not meet the reserve. You won't lose money.

I also agree with you and Joe that it isn't hurting anything and may catch on. At the moment, I have naught to list, though I fully plan on utilizing it once I start getting some babies.

hhmoore said:
There's nothing wrong with making a BOI post outing somebody as a deadbeat bidder...in fact, I would recommend doing so (as long as you have made reasonable effort to contact the person). I might even leave him a negative trader rating, if that didn't prompt him to complete the purchase.
Personally, if a person known to have done that bid in one of my auctions, I would make it quite clear that his bid is not accepted due to his history...and the only way sellers can get that knowledge is if things like this are brought to light.
Click to expand...

I agree with you wholly, Herald. Deadbeat bidders do nothing but inflate the prices and cause a lack of bids. To me, bidding and not buying is worse than calling someone to buy something and not following through. Buy bidding without buying, you have messed up the entire auction. Backing out on a normal sale, however, has only delayed the time of sale.

A BOI should be posted with a link to the auction and copies of attempted contact and/or refusal to purchase. I would definitely not allow a deadbeat to bid on my auctions.
 
Also, if I may, one might consider limiting auctions to being hosted by contributors. I know it won't do much, but it may help some.
 
I have noticed that most of the auctions did not post that the auction was over and if the item had been won or not. And I agree with the reserve price, PM whoever the admin in charge is during that time and that way its on file. Great idea and I think the more ppl who find out about it the more ppl will use it. Great idea!!!
 
Fantom6 said:
PM whoever the admin in charge is during that time and that way its on file.
Click to expand...
I don't think admin has any intentions of allowing the auctions to take away from time/resources that could be devoted to the running and moderation of the more popular areas of this website. Also, I don't think they want to be quite so involved with the respective listings. At this point, as far as the reserve system goes, it is what it is.

I'm having trouble seeing why some think it's such a big deal. Even if someone does decide to change their reserve price, you're really not losing anything. Hell, you'd never even know it happened. If the reserve isn't met, you simply don't win the auction, and you're out nothing more than what time it took to place your bids. No one's forcing anyone to bid higher.
 
:iagree:

May I make a suggestion of a 3rd prefix of [ENDED!!]? I realize it would be up to the auctioneers to edit that afterwards, but maybe it would help deter the considerable amount of people who fail to read the end times and bump old auctions. Also, I've never posted an auction so I don't know if closing the thread is an option. If it is, maybe it should be encouraged :shrug01:
 
there is an 'Auction Ended' prefix that the seller can use (they would still need to be a contributing member in order to edit the ad and make the change).
 
Oh wow, I had no idea; I've never seen it used! I also wasn't aware that they had to be a contributor to edit there. Regardless, I am a fan of the auction forums.
 
I didn't know about this auction forum when I posted last night. I havent been on in a while. I see its still on the ball python forum when I bump it. But there no picture on the list anymore and I now have two adds running and I only made one. Do I have to bump them both? That a waste of bumps if I do. There not enough traffic on the auction forums to make this worth it for the seller. Not having a pic on the ball python list is bad for biz if you want to control excessive adds on the ball forum maybe you should make the people that are posting hundreds of single listings to group them up in at least four listing per thread. They can have four pictures and four animals forsale that will eliminate some of the adds.

Not that big of a fan of the auction forum yet.
 
I believe what happened was your auction got moved to the proper section, but your bump reposted it in the classifieds. Delete the one in the classifieds, unless you want to make it a straight sale. (You posted all bids must be posted in the ad - that is very limiting outside of the auction area, because only contributing members can post replies in the classifieds...you're effectively blocking the majority of the membership from participating)
 
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