This article describes the Bidder Guarantee Program, including identifying Premium Bidders and how non-paying bidders are addressed.
This article contains the following sections:
- What is the Bidder Guarantee Program?
- Premium Bidder Auto-Approval
- About Premium Bidders
- Non-Paying Premium Bidders
What is the Bidder Guarantee Program?
LiveAuctioneers has introduced the Bidder Guarantee Program to ensure the best bidders can bid right away in their favorite auctions, without the hassle of undergoing an approval process. We want to delight bidders and auction houses by facilitating high-value bids when intent is strongest, and we’re willing to absorb the risk in the unlikely event there’s a dispute.
Program Details:
- LiveAuctioneers has identified some of the best bidders on the platform (based on their previous auction history) and labeled them as “Premium Bidders”.
- All Premium Bidders will be automatically approved for upcoming sales, saving you time on manual approvals, while also protecting you in the event of a dispute or non-paying bidder.
- We recognize that no bidder is perfect, but with our carefully designed criteria, we’re willing to back purchases made by Premium Bidders with our Bidder Guarantee.
This program is free and exclusively available to auction houses using LivePayments. If you are not yet enrolled in LivePayments, contact our Support Team to begin the enrollment process.
Once an auction house opts-in to the program, it will be enabled for any upcoming sales. Purchases made by Premium Bidders that have been auto-approved will be covered under the program.
Please thoroughly read our program Terms and Conditions for more information.
Premium Bidder Auto-Approval
When an auction house joins the program, we ensure that they have the Bidder Guarantee Program auto-approve rule turned on.
Who gets auto-approved:
- All Premium Bidders who register for your auctions
Who is not approved:
- Any bidder on your Blocked Bidders list
- Any bidder who may have an open dispute with you
If a Premium Bidder is auto-approved, but then loses their Premium Bidder status before the auction, their registration status will be moved from "Approved" to "Pending". You will then have the option to manually approve them.
About Premium Bidders
Determining Premium Bidder Status
Premium Bidder status is indicated by a Gemstone icon on the Bidder Approval page (or by a star on the classic dashboard).
Premium Bidder status can also be found on the End of Auction report (EOA). In the Premium Bidder column, you will see either a “yes” or “no” indicating each bidder’s status for the auction. If the Premium Bidder column on the EOA shows a “yes”, then that bidder can be covered by the Bidder Guarantee Program in the case of a dispute. If there is a “no”, then that bidder cannot be covered.
Bidders are not currently aware of their Premium Bidder status. We don’t want to inform Premium Bidders of their status in case they view it as a way to get out of paying for a won item.
Status Changes
Premium Bidder statuses can change as bidders are active on LiveAuctioneers, Their status shown on the End of Auction report (EOA) is essentially a snapshot of their status at the time of registration approval, for that specific auction.
As a bidder spends time on LiveAuctioneers, their bid and purchase history may change. Based on the actions they take, this could remove their Premium Bidder status.
If a Premium Bidder is auto-approved for auction, but then loses their Premium Bidder status before the auction, their registration status will be moved from "Approved" to "Pending". You will then have the option to manually approve them.
If a Premium Bidder loses their status, the Premium Bidder icon will no longer be present for the bidder and purchases made by them will no longer be covered under the Bidder Guarantee Program.
Can a Premium Bidder Have Open Disputes?
A Premium Bidder may only have one open dispute. Any bidder on our platform (Premium or not) will be suspended by LiveAuctioneers once they have two or more open disputes. Getting suspended means that the account is no longer in good standing, which is one of the requirements to be a Premium Bidder.
Premium Bidders who have an open dispute will still be auto-approved EXCEPT for when the open dispute is with that particular auction house. Additionally, Premium Bidders who are on your Blocked Bidders list will not be auto-approved for that house.
Non-Paying Premium Bidders
The Bidder Guarantee Program is designed to save you time, but also protect you in the event a bidder doesn’t pay for an item.
If a Premium Bidder has not paid for their item, you will need to mark a dispute on the End of Auction report (EOA) - our team will receive a notification and work with you to resolve the issue.
Once a dispute is filed, LiveAuctioneers will attempt to facilitate the transaction with the winning bidder.
In the event the winning bidder cannot complete the purchase, LiveAuctioneers will contact you with options:
- Attempt to complete the sale with the underbidder, if applicable.
- Re-list the item yourself in which case, LiveAuctioneers will close the claim.
- Re-list the item with LiveAuctioneers as the consignor.
Re-Listing with LiveAuctioneers as the Consignor
If you choose this option, LiveAuctioneers Finance will apply credit of the original sold price to your account, up to $5,000.
Once the item sells, the original credit amount will be taken back. If it sells for less than the original price, Finance will take back credit of the new sold price, leaving the difference from the original and new sold price, up to the amount of $5,000. If it sells for more, LiveAuctioneers will take back the original credit and the Auction House will get to keep the additional amount.
- The credit can only be used for marketing or the reduction of the LiveAuctioneers commission.
- For invoices exceeding $5000, LiveAuctioneers will only cover up to $5000 of the sold price total.
- LiveAuctioneers will only cover five invoices during any twelve month period.
The Auction House will be responsible for coordinating shipment of the item to the new Buyer, and the claim will be closed.