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Frequently Asked Questions

Look here for answers to your frequently asked questions.
For Sellers For Bidders For All Registered Users

For Sellers

For Bidders

For All Registered Users

For Sellers:

Q. How do I find out how my auction ended?

A. Auction results are available on the original item's auction page, for up to 30 days after the scheduled close of the auction. If you have the item number, you can use the Item Lookup feature on the Search page to look up the item directly. Even if you've lost the item number, the Title Search feature will let you look up the item by name. You can also search on your UserId as seller or the bidder's UserId as bidder.

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Q. Can I change my item's starting price or quantity?

A. Yes, you can change your item's starting price and quantity by going to the Revise Your Item page.

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Q. How can I end my auction immediately?

A. Sellers can end their auction immediately from the Buying and Selling Services page.

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Q. Why doesn't my item show up right away?

A. Your auction item page will be immediately available via Item Lookup or Seller Search. The Category Listing pages are updated on a regularly scheduled basis. Your item will appear on the first update following the time that your auction started.

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Q. How are bid increments determined?

A. Here's how the bid increments are figured.

Bid Increments 
Current Price Bid Increment
$0.01 - $0.99 $0.05
1.00 - 4.99 0.25
5.00 - 24.99 0.50
25.00 - 99.99 1.00
100.00 - 249.99 2.50
250.00 - 499.99 5.00
500.00 - 999.99 10.00
1000.00 - 2499.99 25.00
2500.00 - 4999.99 50.00
5000.00 and up  100.00

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Q. What do I do if I can't contact the seller/buyer by e-mail?

A. If you are both registered users, you can ask OcuSource to send each of you both persons' contact information. One e-mail message will be sent to both of you containing the contact information each user entered when he or she registered. This information is for use only in handling OcuSource-related matters. Follow this link to the OcuSource user query page. If one of you is not a  currently registered user, then unfortunately we will not be able to provide contact information. You might try contacting the user's service provider, or using a search engine to track down the name and location of the other user.

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Q. What if the high-bidder backs out?

A. If you've been unable to contact the high-bidder, even after requesting their personal contact information, then you may move on to the under-bidders. If there are other bidders for your item, you can contact them in the order in which they appear in your item's bidding history. Please be sure to allow at least three business days before moving on to the next bidder.

The complete bidding history of any auction is always available via a link from the auction item page. You can use the Item Lookup  from the Search page to look up an item by number.

Keep in mind that many people don't access their e-mail daily, so they may not be intentionally ignoring you if you don't hear from them. Use our user query form to get personal contact information.

If all efforts to sell your item fail, request a credit for the listing fee due.

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Q. How much does it cost to sell?

A. There are two primary selling fees at OcuSource:

The insertion fee is figured for each auction using this table:

Minimum Bid,
Opening Value or
Reserve Price		 Insertion Fee
All postings $4.99

The Final Value Fee is figured using this formula:

For example, suppose an auction closes with a high bid of $1,200. The Final Value Fee would be figured as follows:

6.0% of the amount up to $25 $01.50
5.0% from $25.00up to $999.99 ($975.00) $48.75
3.5% of the balance over $1,000.01 ($199.99) $06.00
Total Final Value Fee on $1,200 $56.25

These charges are calculated when the auction ends and billed on a monthly basis to account holders, so you don't have to worry about tracking multiple small charges. (Don't be confused that the final value fee is 5.25% + 2.75% + 1.50%, or 9.50%. That is not the case at all. In fact, as you can see, the percentage actually decreases the more the item sells for. In this example, at $1,200, the final value fee amounts to approximately 2.59% of the selling price, or $31.12.)

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Q. How do I "jazz up" my listings with colored fonts like other sellers?

A. You can add different colored and sizes of fonts to your item description by using HTML (HyperText Markup Language) . HTML is a very easy-to-learn tool for formatting text to display  in interesting ways inside a web browser. HTML uses what are called "tags" to determine the type of formatting. Here is an example. To make a word appear as bold, you place the word in between the HTML opening and closing  tags for Bold, <B> and </B> like so:

<B>OcuSource!</B>

This makes the word "OcuSource" look like this:

OcuSource!

Here are some other tags:

Tag Effect
<em>OcuSource!</em> OcuSource!
<span style="text-decoration:underline;">OcuSource!</span> OcuSource!
<span style="COLOR:RED;">OcuSource!</span> OcuSource!
<strong">OcuSource!</strong> OcuSource!
<H6>OcuSource!</H6>
OcuSource!
<H5>OcuSource!</H5>
OcuSource!
<H4>OcuSource!</H4>

OcuSource!
<H3>OcuSource!</H3>

OcuSource!
<H2>OcuSource!</H2>

OcuSource!
<H1>OcuSource!</H1>

OcuSource!

Try some of these on your own. To learn more about HTML, use any search engine to locate one of the hundreds of free, "how to" pages on the web! Or go to a page that contains interesting formatting and select View, Document Source or Page Source from your browser's Command Menu Bar.

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Q. How do I pay OcuSource?

A. All fees are applied to your account as incurred. At the beginning of each month an email invoice is sent to each account with a current balance due. To insure uninterrupted service, we encourage sellers to provide a Visa or MasterCard via our Secure Server. Once on file, your card will  be automatically debited monthly. If we do not have a your credit card on file, you are subject to a $10 balance limitation. An alternative is to submit Advance Payments which will be credited to your account and used as auction fees are incurred.

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Q. How do I put pictures in my listings?

A. You can insert photos to your postings by either directing the auction to go to a website to pull in the image.  This done by the Image URL.  Find the image of your choice (with rights to use it of course), right click to view the properties and you will see the url of the image.  Highlight and copy all of the URL including the http://.  Go to the posting page and paste the URL you just copied into the Image URL box.  You may also upload an image to the site.  Either go to your file system and copy the exact file location to the image, or use the browse button to find the image on your computer.  Once showing the exact image location in the box, you may move on to the rest of the posting process.  The image will be uploaded when you submit the item

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Q. What happens if my item doesn't sell?

A. The majority of transactions on OcuSource are completed successfully! But, if your item doesn't sell the first time around, OcuSource can help.

You can relist your item one more time. If your item sells the second time around, you'll get a refund of the insertion fee for the second listing. Please make sure the following conditions apply:

Since this offer is only good for one re-listing, you'll want to make the second try a good one! You may want to come up with a snappier title, change the bid price, or add a more detailed item description. Check out OcuSource's Tips for Selling Relisted Items.

Here's how to relist: Go to the item page for your completed auction, and click where it says, "now that the auction has ended, you can easily relist this item by clicking here." If you originally had a reserve price on your item, you don't have to relist it with a reserve price again. But if you choose to have another Reserve Price Auction, the new reserve price needs to be the same or lower than the original one. Please be sure to re-enter any reserve prices because this information will not be copied to the new listing. Reserve Price Auction fees will apply again if your item does not sell.

Note: This re-listing offer does not apply to Dutch Auctions.

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Q. What is a "Reserve Price Auction?"

A. Some auctions may be run with reserve prices. The reserve price is the lowest price at which a seller is willing to sell an item. The reserve price is never disclosed to bidders. A seller might specify a reserve price if he/she is unsure of the real value of his/her item and would like to reserve the right to refuse to sell the item if the market value is below a certain price. During an auction, an annotation will be displayed in the item information screen if the seller has specified a reserve price.

The seller specifies the reserve price when he/she lists an item. This price should be above the minimum bid price. The auction begins at the minimum bid price. When a bidder's maximum bid is equal to or greater than the reserve price, the item's current price is raised to the reserve price. At this time, the item information will indicate the reserve price has been met. The bidder is also notified that his/her bid met the reserve.

Please note, reserve price auctions are not available for Dutch auctions and reserve auctions are not eligible for display in the Hot Items section.

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Q. What happens if the reserve price is not met?

A. If an auction ends and the reserve price has not been met, both the seller and the high bidder are released from any further obligation to complete the transaction.

As stated in the OcuSource Rules: "The reserve price is the lowest price at which a seller is willing to sell an item." The buyer must be able to assume if they did not meet the reserve price, then as stated, the seller will not be willing to sell the item.

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Q. Can I edit my item after the auction starts?

A. The information you can change in your listing depends upon the time you have left before your listing ends and whether your item has had bids or purchases.

If your item has received no bids or purchases and does not end within 12 hours, you can revise anything in your listing except the selling format (for example, you can't change your auction-style listing to a fixed price listing).

If your item has received a bid or ends within 12 hours, you can only:

To change or add information or upgrade your listing to attract more buyers, please go to the Revise Your Item page.

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For Bidders:

Q. How do I find out how my auction ended?

A. Auction results are available on the original item's auction page, for up to 30 days after the scheduled close of the auction. If you have the item number, you can use the Item Lookup feature on the Search page to look up the item directly. Even if you've lost the item number, the Title Search feature will let you look up the item by name. You can also search on your UserId as seller or the bidder's UserId as bidder.

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Q. What do I do if I can't contact the seller/buyer by e-mail?

A. If you are both registered users, you can ask OcuSource to send each of you both persons' contact information. One e-mail message will be sent to both of you containing the contact information each user entered when he or she registered. This information is for use only in handling OcuSource-related matters. Follow this link to the OcuSource user query page. If one of you is not a  currently registered user, then unfortunately we will not be able to provide contact information. You might try contacting the user's service provider, or using a search engine to track down the name and location of the other user.

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Q. What if the seller doesn't want to sell anymore?

A. Although this does not happen that frequently, since normally sellers are eager to sell their merchandise, it can be disappointing when it happens.  Keep in mind that although OcuSource cannot "force" a seller to honor the final auction results, you as the bidder can and should leave appropriate feedback for the seller using the Feedback Forum.

Keep in mind that many people don't access their e-mail daily, so they may not be intentionally ignoring you if you don't hear from them. Use our user query form to get personal contact information.

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Q. Why did my bid not show up?

A. To place a bid on an item at OcuSource entails three distinct steps.

  1. On the auction listing page, scroll down and enter your email address, password, and maximum bid amount in the spaces provided. Then select the "review bid" button.
  2. Review the information to insure it is correct, read the auction rules, and near the bottom of the page select the button which reads "agree to terms and place bid" to confirm your bid.
  3. You are then presented with a page advising that you are either the current high bidder, or have been outbid by another bidder (the proxy bidding system at work).

If all of these steps are not completed, your bid will not be recorded. You might also want to review our New User Tutorial; it's fast, fun, and will give you a good start at OcuSource!

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Q. Every time I make a bid, it says I was outbid immediately. What's wrong?

A. Actually, there is nothing wrong. Being immediately outbid means that an earlier bidder specified a maximum bid higher than the maximum you just specified. When you confirmed your bid, the other bidder's "proxy" immediately placed a bid on his behalf, just enough to outbid your maximum, to ensure his position as high bidder. When you place a bid with a maximum high enough to outbid all other bidders, your proxy will protect your position in the same way.

For more information please visit our Proxy Bidding Example page.

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Q. I bid against myself, and yet the bid increased. Why?

A. Normally a bidder cannot bid against themselves but there are two cases where this will occur:

Increasing your maximum bid by placing a second (or later) bid in this auction will cause you to lose your earlier bid position. If you are tied with another bidder for the high bid, and you hold the official high bid position due to your earlier bid, your new bid will cause you to lose that position. Consequently, as a later bidder in this auction, your bid will have to be increased to one bid increment more than the previous bidder, in order for you to keep your position as high bidder.

The other case is when the current bid amount is between round bid increments. A round bid increment is any amount that is evenly divided by the current bid increment amount. For example, if the bid on you at $15.51 with your current maximum bid set at, say, $20 and you rebid your maximum to $25 (any amount over the current maximum), the current bid will raise to the next round bid increment, in this case, $16.

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Q. Can I reduce or retract my bid once it has been placed?

A. It is not possible to reduce your bid once it has been submitted. Your only option is to retract your bid  and rebid the correct amount.

As stated several times during the bidding process, bids should not be retracted frivolously. Please read the OcuSource Guidelines for complete information.

There are certain legitimate cases where a bid retraction may be acceptable. Please see this document for a description of these cases.

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Q. Can I increase my maximum bid after I've placed a bid?

A. Yes. Simply place a new bid with your new maximum. Except for some special cases, you won't be bidding against yourself, so there is no need to worry.

In Dutch auctions new bids must have a higher value than previous bids. The value of the bid is determined by multiplying the amount bid by the number of items bid for. Reducing this total value in subsequent bids is not permitted, and your new bid will be rejected.

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Q. Why was I outbid by less than the bid increment?

A. The key to understanding how the proxy bidding system handles new bids is to remember that the determining factors are the current high bid and the new bid about to be submitted, NOT any maximum bids held in reserve on the server in your name. For example,

You are the first bidder and the opening bid is $5 so you bid a maximum of $20. The current bid is now $5 on you with a $20 maximum bid held in confidence on the server. Another bidder comes along and decides to bid $6 and discovers he his immediately over bid (by the server executing your maximum) and you are still the current high bidder at $6.50. So he bids again, say $10 this time and again he is outbid by .50 and you are still the high bidder at $10.50. The other bidder now starts to suspect that you have left a minimum bid of $20 or so so he tests it by bidding $20.01 and he is now the high bidder at his bid of $20.01. Why? Because the difference between the current high bid (not your reserve) and the new bid submitted is greater than the minimum bid increment in force at this level of bidding (.50)

$20.01 minus $10.50 = $9.51 which is greater than .50

If the bidder had bid $20, then the bid would have been tied with you as the current high bidder and the other bidder's next acceptable bid would have been $20.50. Again, it is the current high bid and not any maximum bids held on the server that determine the acceptability of any new bids.

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Q. What is a "Reserve Price Auction?"

A. Some auctions may be run with reserve prices. The reserve price is the lowest price at which a seller is willing to sell an item. The reserve price is never disclosed to bidders. A seller might specify a reserve price if he/she is unsure of the real value of his/her item and would like to reserve the right to refuse to sell the item if the market value is below a certain price. During an auction, an annotation will be displayed in the item information screen if the seller has specified a reserve price.

The seller specifies the reserve price when he/she lists an item. This price should be above the minimum bid price. The auction begins at the minimum bid price. When a bidder's maximum bid is equal to or greater than the reserve price, the item's current price is raised to the reserve price. At this time, the item information will indicate the reserve price has been met. The bidder is also notified that his/her bid met the reserve.

Please note, reserve price auctions are not available for Dutch auctions and reserve auctions are not eligible for display in the Hot Items section.

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Q. Why is my Dutch auction bid not being accepted?

A. In Dutch auctions new bids must have a higher value than previous bids. The value of the bid is determined by multiplying the amount bid by the number of items bid for. Reducing this total value in subsequent bids is not permitted, and your new bid will be rejected.

This rule protects sellers from unscrupulous bidders who bid for the entire quantity, thereby discouraging other bidders from participating, and then reduce their quantity at the last minute.

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For All Registered Users:

Q. I registered. Why does it still say I am an unregistered user?

A. After filling out the registration form, you will be sent a confirmation message via e-mail. You must follow the instructions in that message to complete your registration. This process ensures that your e-mail address is correct and functional. Please allow at least 24 hours to receive your confirmation message. You'll need to confirm your registration with the information you receive via e-mail, using this confirmation form.

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Q. I never confirmed my registration. What should I do?

A. If you never confirmed your registration by following the instructions given to you via e-mail, you will need to get those instructions again. (The e-mail message contains a special password you will use with the this confirmation form to show that you do in fact control the e-mail address you used to register.)

To get another copy of the registration information and special password, simply go back to the original registration form and enter only your User Id (if you chose one earlier -- otherwise enter your email address in this box as well) and e-mail address in the boxes provided. You will be sent another e-mail message with instructions on confirming your registration.

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Q. I have forgotten my user password. What do I do?

A. You'll need to submit a request on the Forgot Password page. We will send you a special e-mail that will allow you to make the change on line.

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Q. How do I change my User Id?

A. You can find instructions on the Changing Your User Id  page.

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Q. How do I change my e-mail address?

A. A Change of E-mail Address form is available online through our Registered User Services menu, and also directly through this link.

Changing your e-mail address is a two step process. First, you will be asked to provide your old e-mail address or User ID, your password and your new e-mail address at the Change of E-mail Address form. The system will then send you a verification code to your new e-mail address. Second, you will be asked to enter that verification code at another location (as directed in the verification e-mail) to complete the process. This is to ensure that your new e-mail address is correct and to confirm that you have control of it before it is used.

NOTE: Do not register under the new e-mail address! Any information associated with your old e-mail address could be lost, and Customer Support will need to manually combine your old and new accounts which could take up to 2 weeks!

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Q. How do I change my address or phone number?

A. We have an online form which you can use to view or modify your registered user information. The form is on our Registered User Services menu, or you can access it directly by using this link.

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Q. I was very pleased/unhappy dealing with someone; what should I do?

A. If you'd like to give some public feedback, positive or negative, on another OcuSource registered user, you can do so using our user feedback feature. More information about this feature is available at the Feedback Forum.

If you are making a complaint about someone, please try to resolve the conflict with that person directly before using the user feedback forum.

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Q. What does the number next to a person's name mean? And why is there a star?

A. The number in parenthesis beside each person's User ID or e-mail address signifies his/her Feedback Rating.  Everyone at OcuSource has a Feedback Rating that is determined by:

A star may also appear next to the Feedback Rating. Stars are awarded for achieving a particular Feedback Rating.

For more information, please visit our Feedback Forum.

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Q. Why did my feedback rating change? I have no new comments.

A. When a user is unregistered from OcuSource, all feedback they have left is changed to neutral although the comments remain. The reason for this change was to counteract the effect of negative feedback bombing by users employing alias accounts. This is a suspendable offense, as warned on the feedback page itself, but in the past, the damage to a user's score was not fixable. Now it is.

Unfortunately, the only way to implement this policy fairly and equitably was to make the feature automatic and indiscriminate.

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Q. What is OcuSource's policy with respect to users of anonymous e-mail?

A. Anonymous e-mail services, which are typically web-based and free to use, allow customers to sign up and use e-mail services without providing verifiable personal information. Examples of services that OcuSource classifies as anonymous e-mail providers are HotmailTM, Yahoo!TM Mail and MailExciteTM. A very small number of people use the anonymity of such services as a front to abuse web-based services such as OcuSource. (In contrast, non-anonymous e-mail services are generally provided by ISPs like AOL and NetcomTM. These e-mail services require a more formal registration process which provides more accountability).

At OcuSource, we believe that people are basically honest, and we wish to provide an inclusive environment for personal trade. We allow users of anonymous e-mail to use our site. However, we require new users from anonymous e-mail services to provide a valid credit card number in order to register.

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