Auction Rules

1 • Bidding To bid on an item, post a comment on the auction item picture. Your bid should be in US dollars and in full dollar amounts. For example, a bid of $10 is acceptable, but a bid of $10.50 is not. We understand that people may be concerned about providing their email addresses to be able to bid.  However, your email address is *not* published and you do not need to use your real name in bidding.  You are very welcome to use a "bidding name", but we do ask that you use the same bidding name throughout. Anonymous comments are enabled on the site only because they are part of the Comments category we are using - the next category down is too restrictive.  However, it is essential successful bidders can be contacted by the administrators.  Therefore fully anonymous bids will not be valid. If you change your mind about a bid you should contact the administrators at kate4rikkis@gmail.com.  Please note you cannot delete your own Comments, as the auction is being hosted on a blog site. 2 • Tag Team Bidding Two or more bidders may combine their bids together when bidding on an item. If the combined tag team bid wins, the auction item will be shipped to the first person in the tag team or any other person chosen by that person. The first bidder in the tag team is responsible for paying any shipping associated with the auction item, if any. For example: Tag Team Jane • $40 • Jane Doe • $20 • Dick Smith • $10 • Spot TheDog • $10 The tag team is for Jane Doe. She receives the item, or chooses its recipient, as she is the first bidder in the tag team. Dick Smith and Spot TheDog pay their tag team bid amounts but do not receive anything in return, other than the appreciation of everyone. 3 • Winning Bids below Reserve Price Auction administrators reserve the right to impose a reserve price on any item, at any point up to and including the end of the auction.  A bidder whose winning bid is below the reserve will not be required to complete the transaction.  We shall attempt to publish reserves as soon as practicable after we are notified by the donor of the reserve price. 4 • Proxy Bidding If you are unable to bid for any reason that cannot be resolved, you may proxy bid by messaging the auction administrator, Vincent Cat. Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org 5 • Following Bidding If you have a Google account you can Subscribe to individual items so you receive email updates when someone comments after you.  You can also Follow the various Collections, so they appear on your Reading List. 6 • Payment Payment for winning bids excluding shipping MUST be made using PayPal (http://www.paypal.com/) to Rikki's Refuge (mail@Rikkisrefuge.org), with 72 hours (3 days) of close of the auction, unless other arrangements have been made. Please specify your payment as a Personal Payment Owed and pay the PayPal fees associated with the transaction to increase the amount that is raised by the auction and to lessen the burden on the PayPal host. If shipping is to be paid for by the winning bidder, whenever possible, the auction winner will pay for shipping directly to the auction item donor rather than to Rikki's Refuge. If the winning bidder does not pay within time stated above, the auction item will then go to next highest bidder. If you are unable to pay using PayPal, please contact the auction administrator, Vincent Cat, as soon as possible after bidding to arrange for an alternate payment option. Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org There is a currency converter at http://www.xe.com/ucc if you wish to convert your bid from US dollars to your local currency. 7 • Shipping Unless otherwise noted for a particular auction item, shipping will be paid for by the winning bidder. 8 • Auction Opening Auction opens at 12:01 am in your local time zone on Monday, November 7. Pre-bids will not be disqualified. **** We'll be up as soon as possible - we're experiencing technical difficulties. 9 • Auction Closing Auction closes at local times (auction close date is subject to change with 72 hours / 3 days notice): Monday, November 21 • 12:00 midnight • UK • 7:00 pm • Eastern • USA & Canada • 6:00 pm • Central • USA & Canada • 6:00 pm • Central • Saskatchewan, Canada • 5:00 pm • Mountain • USA & Canada • 5:00 pm • Mountain • Nevada, USA • 4:00 pm • Pacific • USA & Canada Following Day • 11:00 am next day • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • 10:30 am next day • Adelaide, South Australia • 10:00 am next day • Cairns, Queensland, Australia • 8:00 am next day • Perth, Western Australia • 2:00 am • Cape Town, South Africa • 1:00 am • most of Europe • elsewhere please check your time zone 10 • Fulfillment Item donors will ship the auction items to the winning bidders WITHIN 10 DAYS of close of the auction. 11 • PayPal Fees for transfers by the financial administrator PayPal fees incurred by the financial administrator to transfer funds to the auction recipient will be reimbursed to the financial administrator from the auction funds, except when no such fees are incurred when the financial administrator is the auction recipient. 12 • Policy The auction administrators reserve the right to withdraw any item from the auction at any time during or after the auction for any reason at their discretion. The auction administrators reserve the right to disqualify any bid at any time during of after the auction for any reason at their discretion. 13 • Auction Administrators Vincent Cat (primary), Kate Viscardi, Deb Forrest, Stacey DeGuire, Gilbert Callahan, Wayne Morris, Jenna Marie Watts, Kathy Doucette & Melissa Felts. 14 • Copyright All autographs, pawtographs, photographs, artwork and designs in this auction are © the individual, the photographer, the artist, the designer or the owner of the animal. Do not copy, store or use in any way other than that which is offered without written permission. Adapted by Kate Viscardi from  Darrell Broughton (aka Oscar TheeDog) © 2011 • All rights reserved • Beta version