I’m interested in bidding. What do I need to do so I can bid?
Go to the auction site by clicking on the yellow bar on our Home Page that says “Click Here to Bid Online.” There, you’ll see all the auctions that are active or upcoming. Click on the auction that you’re interested in. Browse through the auction items and if you decide that you’d like to place a bid, you can click on the link that says “Get Approved to Bid” (top right section of the website in blue). The registration process takes approximately 2 minutes. Click here for a quick VISUAL TUTORIAL.
How do I place a bid?
Once you have signed up for an account (by following instructions above) you are ready to bid. Click on any item in the auction. They are organized by lot numbers. Lot 1 is the first auction item. Lot 2 is the next. All the auction lots are organized in numerical order. Click on the Lot you’d like to bid on. Where it says “Enter Your Maximum Absentee Bid” you can either submit (as your bid) the amount that is show in the box, or you can submit a bid that is higher than the dollar amount shown in the box. To eliminate any mistakes, in the next step, the system will ask you to verify the bid amount that you would like to submit. If it's the correct amount, click on "Confirm Bid." If it's the wrong amount, click on "Cancel Bid," then you can go back and enter the correct amount. When you enter an amount that is higher than the amount shown in the box, it means that you submitted a "proxy bid".
The proxy bidding system is explained in more detail directly below here:
When I placed a bid, it says I’ve been outbid within seconds of placing my bid. How could someone else have placed a higher bid so quickly?
What you’re seeing is the Proxy Bidding system in motion. When you see the “You’ve Been Outbid” notice immediately after placing your bid, this means that someone has already entered a higher bid amount than the bid amount you’ve just placed. This means that someone else entered a higher proxy bid amount earlier (maybe 2 days ago or 2 hours ago, for example). Here’ an example of the proxy bid system works:
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Bidder A placed a bid on Lot 1 a few days ago for $200. The current bid is showing up as $50. You (Bidder B) come along and place a bid of $53. You immediately receive a “You’ve Been Outbid” notice because someone else (Bidder A) has already placed a higher bid. You then enter a bid of $60 and get the same instant message that you’ve been outbid. If the auction were to end now with no one else placing a bid, Bidder A will have won Lot 1 for $61 (even though he entered a proxy bid of $200), if the system is set up to move up in one-dollar increments.
Note: When you get into the $100 to $500 bidding range, bidding is set up to move up in five-dollar increments. When you get into the $500 to $1000 bidding range, bidding is set up to move up in ten-dollar increments.
Note that there are often more than two bidders bidding on any given lot, so you may see the immediate “You’ve Been Outbid” notice more commonly on popular items especially within the last few hours of the auction closing.
How do I know if I am winning an item or if someone has bid over me? How do I know if I’ve won something after the auction ends?
While an auction is still active you can click on the Your Account tab on the menu bar of the auction page. There you’ll see everything you’ve bid on that you’re currently winning on and ones you’re currently losing on. By default you will receive an e-mail alerting you when someone has entered a bid higher than yours. You can also enable text alert notification when someone places a bid higher than yours after you have gone in to bid.
Once the auction has completely ended, meaning every single lot has ended (i.e. the countdown timer for each lot has been exhausted and there’s no longer any bidding activity), we send out invoices via e-mail to those who won something in the auction. The invoices are sent out the night the auction ends. ALWAYS. Our confirmation reports tell us that all e-mails are sent out successfully and we also copy in another internal e-mail address so we know that invoices were sent successfully. If you did not receive an invoice via e-mail, please notify us and we can re-send it. If you have a filter through your e-mail server, it may go into an spam folder automatically. If you know or think you won something in the auction and did not receive an invoice, to to the Your Account tab on the auction page and you will see exactly what you won (if any).
How do I know where I’m supposed to pick up something I won in the auction?
When we send out the invoices the night the auction ends, we provide pick-up instructions on the invoice: where to pick up, what days/times you can pick up, and other relevant details. We also post these details on the front page of our website (OahuAuctions.com and IslandBid.com) the day after the auction ends, since pick-up days are usually scheduled for the two days following the end of the auction.
How do I pay for the things I’ve won in the auction?
An invoice is sent via e-mail to all who won something in the auction. Most of our auctions are set up to charge all winning bidders automatically at the conclusion of the auction via the credit card that you used when you signed up to bid in the auction and agreed to the Terms and Conditions of the auction. When we have large auctions with significantly more valuable items (such as heavy equipment, vehicles, high-dollar assets), we may accept cashier's checks and other certified funds, cash or wire transfers (we would still accept credit card payments, but may decide to add a 3% fee. For such auctions, we will not be automatically charge your credit card on file. If payment is not submitted by the payment due date (which is usually by 3pm the day after the auction has closed), we will charge the credit card that you have on file. Each auction is slightly different with regard to our payment policies, so please read the details on payment structure when signing up to bid in an auction.
If I cannot make the pick-up time, can someone else pick up for me?
Once payment has been made, we can issue your items to anyone you designate to pick up your items on your behalf. You will need to provide us with that person’s name (via text or e-mail). We will check that person’s ID at the time of pick-up.
The countdown timer for the item I was bidding showed that there were only 4 minutes left. When I placed a bid, I noticed that the timer had changed and there was now 6 minutes left. Why did this happen?
It’s noted in the Terms and Conditions along with the Auction Details, that if anyone goes in to bid within the last 5 minutes of a particular lot’s scheduled ending time, there will be 5 minutes added to the clock for that particular auction lot. The idea behind this is so that someone can’t sneak in and place a bid within the last 10 seconds. That way, people who are still interested in bidding can have a chance to react and still have time to place another bid should they choose to. When there is no bidding activity within the last 5 minutes of the timer, it will wind down and come to a conclusion when it reaches 0.
I live on another island. Can items be shipped to me?
Yes, please contact us. We can provide recommendations for third party shippers. We do not handle shipping in house.
I won something in the auction that needs to be taken apart and disassembled.
Are you able to do this for me?
Bidders are responsible for disassembly but we can recommend an independent 3rd party who can take provide this and deliver to your door.
I am bidding on two tables that are exactly the same. I only need one. If I am the high bidder on both can I pick one and not take the other?
No. You are responsible for paying for all the items you win in the auction.
Do you conduct auctions outside of Oahu?
We commonly conduct auctions from the various Hawaiian islands (including Lanai and Molokai), encompassing estates, restaurants and commercial and industrial personal property.
I have some items that I would like to have auctioned off. How do I go about doing this?
We have auctioned off a diverse array of goods, estates, restaurants and industrial and commercial equipment. We can take a look at what you have and figure out a strategy. Please also see the “Want an Auction?” page of our website to see more details.