Bidder's Guide
Registration
You must register to bid with a valid email address.
Passwords MUST meet all of the following criteria: be at least 8 characters long containing at least 1 capital letter, 1 lowercase letter, 1 number and 1 special character. If you are having trouble completing your registration, check that your password meets all of the criteria. You can click the box to "show password" to see what you have entered.
After registration, you will receive an email to confirm your account creation.
Credit Card Required
Entering valid credit card information is required to bid or purchase a horse. This information is encrypted and kept securely and can/will be used for payment.
Favorites
Click the Add to Favorites button to add horses to your list of Favorites. Click the Favorites button at the top to view ONLY your Favorite horses. Then to see all, click the View All horses button.
Maximum Bidding
You can enter a Maximum Bid at any time just like eBay. Your increasing bids will be made automatically in the minimum bid increment whenever you are outbid until your maximum bid is reached. You will receive an email anytime Maximum Bidding takes effect. Your maximum bid will be listed on your account dashboard so you can easily see your current status.
Changing Your Maximum Bid
If you want to go back and change your maximum bid, go to the horse you wish to update and select "CHANGE BID".
To RAISE your maximum bid: Enter a new higher bid amount in the UPDATE YOUR BID field. If the new bid is higher than your current maximum bid, the "Maximum Bid" field will automatically change to match your new bid amount. Click on UPDATE BID. You will receive a confirmation popup, and then the new Maximum Bid will display. PLEASE NOTE: the auction will continue to bid automatically by the minimum bid increment, even if you enter a much larger number.
To LOWER your maximum bid: Enter your new bid amount in BOTH fields - UPDATE YOUR BID and MAXIMUM BID. The bid must still be higher than the next minimum bid to be accepted. Click on UPDATE BID. You will receive a confirmation popup confirming the new maximum bid. The auction will continue to bid on your behalf by the minimum bid increment until it reaches your new maximum bid.
Winning the Bid
You must bid MORE than any other bidder's maximum bid by the minimum bid increment to have the winning bid.
Example: The Minimum Bid Increment is $100. Bidder #1 has a Max Bid of $2000. Bidder #2 must bid at least $2100 to be the winning bidder.
You will be outbid when your bid is not high enough over another bidder's Maximum Bid.
You will be outbid when your bid is the SAME as another bidder's Maximum Bid since theirs was bid first. Your bid will be accepted, however, you will still be outbid.
Extended/No Rush Bidding
When a bid comes in within the last 5 minutes, that horse's auction will be extended an additional 5 minutes. This extended bidding will continue as long as there are bids coming in. This eliminates trying to get your bid in at the very last second and allows everyone a chance to bid. Horses that are extended will display their own countdown clock.
Don't depend on extended bidding. You never know when technology might fail. Instead, set your maximum bid at the highest amount you are willing to pay and let the auction bid on your behalf!
Email Notifications
You will receive emails when registering, bidding, being outbid, when you won and if you buy a horse after the auction concludes. Be sure to mark the emails as NOT SPAM so you see them as they come in. Also, PLEASE do not count on emails for bid notifications as emails can be delayed for many, many reasons! Logging in and refreshing the pages are the keys to keeping track of all the bids!
Bid Notifications
There are a few ways you are kept up to date on your bids. After your successful bid, the horse you bid on will have a different color border. It will also say whether you have the winning bid, or if you have been outbid. Plus, you will receive an email with your bid information.
Remember, if your bid is not high enough above another bidder's Maximum Bid, your bid will be accepted, but you will still be outbid until your bid is more than the other bidder's Maximum Bid.