To bid on and buy an item, you must be a registered user of InternetBid.co.uk. See the ‘Registering’ section of the help pages.
To locate items to buy you can either search for the item, or locate it through categories. You can either do a quick search or an advanced search.
For a quick search enter a keyword in the search box at the top of the screen and press the search button. For an advanced search click the search link next to the quick search box.
Once you have found an item you wish to bid on you can do so quickly and easily by following these steps:-
1. Login to your account – If you have not registered you can do so within 5 minutes.
2. Visit the auction page.
3. On auction description page you will see a ‘place bid’ button and an bid entry box.
4. Enter in your bid, note you must bid above the minimum bid required.
5. Click on the “place bid” button.
6. You will then be asked to confirm you bid, once you have done so your bid will be entered, if successful you will receive a confirmation message. If your bid fails to outbid the current high bidder you will be offered the option to place a higher bid.
Proxy bidding can aid your chances of winning an auction and help avoid you being outbid at the last moment. To place a proxy bid enter in the maximum price you are willing to pay for the item. If another user places a bid on the same auction automatic bids will be placed on your behalf in accordance with your maximum bid amount. With proxy bidding you will pay the lowest possible price until someone else places a higher bid.
There is another way of bidding & buying. Buy it now auctions. Buy it now prices are set by the seller, if you agree with that price, you can click on the “Buy Out” button which is displayed on the auction details page. The buy it now option disappears after a bid is placed. After clicking on the button you will be re-directed to a confirmation page. On a standard auction that auction will end instantly as the item has been sold via Buy it now.
On a Dutch auction, you can enter the amount of items you wish to buy (depending the quantity available). If you purchase less than there are available in total, the auction will remain open with the number of items left available after you have purchased the amount you want.
Once you have won an auction you will need to liaise with the seller regarding payment and delivery. If the seller specified a direct payment method, such as PayPal, you can pay for the item on-line. If you bought an item using ‘buy it now’ you will be immediately given the option to pay for the item using a direct payment method (if specified by the seller).
To view items that you have purchased, log-in to the system, and go to your members area. Select the ‘Bidding’ icon to see the items that you are bidding on or have bought/won. In the Items I’ve won section, there is a link to ‘View won item(s) Details’.
Click on this link to see further details of the item, to communicate with the seller, and to pay for the item.
After clicking on this link, you will see an option to pay with direct payment (if this option was given by the seller). Click this link to proceed to pay for the item. The message board link on the right of the item, allows buyers and sellers to communicate all subsequent details of the transaction, including payment (if not direct payment) and delivery. It is strongly recommended that all communication between the buyer and seller is done through the message board. By clicking on the message board link next to an item, you will be able to see the sellers full contact details, any messages sent and received, and be able to compose new messages to the seller.
