F.A.Q (Frequently Asked Questions)

Below you will find frequently asked questions and answers, please DO NOT assume anything. If you do not find your answer below please open a support ticket. Click here to open a support ticket 

 

Chris & Caro,

We ran an antiques & collectibles mall and small antiques store prior to this venture. Both in Midland Ontario.

We also sold on ebay as power sellers for over 10 years before opening our own local auction site.

Our business is still called the the SwapShop but these days we sell stuff for everyone else as consignments and it is all sold online by auction.

We have been in the antiques and collectables business for 20+ years and are really good at picking the Gems and knowing current market values!

We are a small family business – good people who are friendly and like to chat. We are honest and personable and we have lots of regular return customers and consignors to prove it!   We do not permit any shill bidding or unethical auction practices, we do not try to hide flaws in items or sell broken items and not disclose the condition (at least not purposely so we always encourage you to check the items before leaving just to be sure we did not miss anything).  You do not need to pay for an item if you find it is not as described and with any product that is sold as working you get 24 hours after paying for the item to take it home and test it out (Sorry anyone paying online and picking up later or having an item shipped will not have this ability but anyone picking up times will).  We do this as we want to be fair with both the buyers and the sellers as we are the “Middle Person” in the transaction. We do not own the items and we do not set the prices or put hidden reserves on items.  Reputation is important to us and we do what we can (within reason) to help everyone out.

With the new items they are usually shelf pulls, misguided freight or a grade ‘A’ and ‘B’ store returns. See Below for what each of those means in more detail. We try our best to list the items as best we can, If the item is in a open box we usually plug it in to test it and see if the lights come on.  We do have a 24 hour guarantee so please take the item home, test it and make sure it all works. If sometime is wrong or it’s missing a important piece or it was not as described in the listing let us know and we will take it back.  We do not take things back that we determine were listed correctly and are in good working order, bidders remorse is not a valid reason to return something. Please see the 24 hour guarantee page for more info.

Shelf Pulls: Say someone opens a package in the store to see the product then decides to buy one and puts the open package down and takes a unopened package to the check out (it happens all the time so much that stores sell these off for liquidation to auctions like ours).  It can also mean when a new product or box design comes out the current inventory is sent for liquidation and replaced with the new product. Shelf pulls can be open boxes, missing parts or damaged by dropping. For what ever reason the store decided to liquidate the item, these are NOT customer returns.  We did have a used razor in a shelf pull once, not sure how that happens but we suspect someone used the razor in the store (could have been a employee or a customer) and put the razor back in the unsealed box and it was put in with the shelf pulls (or maybe it was suppose to go into the returned items bin and a employee put it in the wrong bin, it happened but 99.9% of the shelf pulls are either damaged boxes, open boxes or discontinued product.

Misguided or Lost Freight: Typically these are brand new product as well but some returns can show up in these truckloads as well. These are items that have lost the shipping labels or wrong address on the label, or just generally lost in the mail or by a trucking company.  These often have some really great items in them but sometimes its a truck load of misc auto parts or stuffed teddy bears so we try to avoid doing a lot of this but occasionally we do get it.  Most of it is new as we sort and recycle the stuff that we do not think will sell or looks like damaged goods or salvage.

Graded Items: Typically these are Store returns and are considered salvage goods by the stores, they do not go back on the shelves.  They send them out to be liquidated.  Typically they are graded A, B and C.  We deal with Grade A and B returns at times, these are usually complete and working “as new” items that were purchased and returned.

  • Grade ‘A’ is in the box and factory sealed (returned before being opened) or it could be a open box but the contents are still wrapped and unused.
  • Grade ‘B’ is “AS NEW” unused or really lightly used such as a store display unit usually with a box still but the box may be damaged or missing, could be missing instructions or some optional or unnecessary part or maybe a screw or something that can easily be replaced if needed. It may have a cosmetic flaw but we would mention that in the listing.  the main item is sold as functioning as new.
  • Grade C is salvage only, broken or damaged goods.  We avoid these but not everything is tested and we do occasionally get a C grade item in with he A and B grade stuff that slips by. We do our best to prevent this

 

Returns or Salvage Items: These are items that were used, opened and removed from factory packaging and handled or found to be broken or defective.

If a bid is placed in the last 3 minutes of the auction, the auction is extended 3 minutes past the current close time if another bid is placed it is extended another 3 minutes and keeps doing this till bidding stops and the auction is won by the highest bidder. This keeps the auction fair for everyone and turns the bidding into a live back and forth auction at the end. We may adjust this as time goes on to optimize the best time. We have adjusted this over the years from 5 minutes down to 2 minutes and find that 3 minutes is best

We will send a email notice when a new auction starts and when it is ending along with the occasional newsletter when necessary, emails are also sent out automatically when you bid, when you get outbid, on watched items and when you win. These notification emails are sometimes put into your SPAM/BULK email folders however so please add midlandauctions.ca to your good email filters if you wish to receive these notification emails. We also send out notices for any overdue accounts.

DO NOT BID IF YOU CAN NOT PAY ON TIME PLEASE
You can pay online with INTERAC or PAYPAL but if you choose to be late (Not paid by Saturday at 3pm) you will be invoiced $10.00 PER LOT for late fees and for larger items storage fees as well. 

 

We do not make ANY exceptions for this rule and no we will not lend you money until you can pay for the item (Yes, people ask us to do that too!).

 

We never want to charge the late fees as we want all items to be paid for on time but… if you feel the need to be late please be aware that a $10.00 PER LOT late fee will be added to your invoice!  NO EXCEPTIONS!  If you can not make it in on time for whatever reason you can pay online with interac email money transfer or request that we send you a paypal invoice to pay online with credit card. Please do this BEFORE Saturday.

This unfortunately does happen, We of course always want it running perfect, we never want it to go offline or have any issues at all but it happens. We do our best to make sure this is dealt with in a fair way for the buyers and the consignors.

If the auction lot closes while the web server or software crash (stop working) the auction lot will still close, the second the computers come back online the auction software resumes operation based on the current time.  This means WHOEVER HAD THE HIGHEST BID BEFORE THE ISSUE WILL BE THE WINNER so always used the PROXY BID system and get your bids in early.  If you try to wait till the last minute to SNIPE a bid the softclose will extend the time on the auction anyway so it’s in your best interest to enter your MAX bid early and avoid any issues at the end of the auction.  You are taking your chances if you leave bidding till the end of the auction.

HOW OFTEN DOES THIS HAPPEN?
Thankfully it is rare but it has been an issue in the past from time to time. Especially after the core software or server software goes through an update. All websites have this problem and even the largest online auction in the world goes offline from time to time any they employee hundreds of full time computer programmers and high paid server technicians to tend to the website full time. They spend MILLIONS of dollars every year trying to ensure that the giant power house websites never go offline but they even do even with all that protection and skilled programmers. We do not make a lot of profit from this venture, it’s a small family run business with one computer programmer taking care of it all.

Computers do not always work 100% and as frustrating as it is we have very little control over it. We MONITOR the auction close every week. If any sign of the server slowing down or doing anything it should not be doing we start to look at log files and see if we can find the bug or issue. Our servers are hosted with google in the google cloud system, it is one of the most advanced computer cloud systems in the world and it is very reliable however at times even google has to reboot or update or fix problems with computers. We have all experienced a computer not doing what it is programmed to do so to expect a web server to always perform perfect or auction software to perform perfect all the time is unreasonable.

PAY WHEN YOU PICKUP
If your picking up your items at our location We accept Cash, Debit, Visa and MC, Apple and android pay as well as tap.

PAY ONLINE
If you are sending someone to pick up your items for you and wish to prepay you can send us a INTERAC email money transfer

ALL LOTS MUST BE PAID FOR IN FULL EITHER IN PERSON OR ONLINE BY 3PM SATURDAY OR A 10.00 FEE WILL BE INVOICED FOR EVERY UNPAID LOT.  NO EXCEPTIONS.

A value or an appraisal is an opinion and not the cheapest price guarantee. This is especially true with jewelry appraisals.  Appraisals issued with the jewelry are for insurance purposes and the actual retail value is usually MUCH lower, wholesale of mass produced jewelry is usually 10 to 20 percent of retail value so it has very large mark up prices in stores.  The insurance wants to know what it would cost to DUPLICATE the item in order to replace it exactly and this would involve someone custom making the piece and you can expect to pay a lot more then the retail amount to have this done.

MSRP (Manufactures suggested retail price) is exactly what is says, it’s the price the manufactures suggests that the retail outlets sell the item for.  It does not mean someone will not sell it for less and advertise that sale price.  Please research your items BEFORE placing a bid, if you can find the item for less somewhere else that just means you have done your homework better then the person currently holding the winning bid.

Sorry we no longer offer shipping. Local pickup only please

Factory warranties: even the new items USUALLY do not have factory warranties. You must have a retail bill of sale to register for most warranty programs. They will not accept a invoice from a auction as a retail bill of sale. So no warranty of any kind should ever be expected even on brand new items. We deal with a lot of overstock items and shelf pulls (discontinued items) and also clean returns (someone did not like the colour or misguided freight) none of this however qualified for any warranty.

Our guaranty: We offer a 24 hour guaranty that any Item listed as “new” or “as new” or “working” is In fact working and complete unless the listing for it specifically states otherwise. This gives you 24 hours from the time the item is paid for to test it and let us know if anything is wrong. After 24 hours the funds are released to the consignor and we and you have ZERO recourse so please test the items.  If you have us store the items or have them picked up by a third party delivery service unfortunately all guaranties are off as we pay the consignors our before you receive the items so we and you have no recourse but please let us know if you do receive something broken or not working properly if we have not paid the consignor out we can still freeze the funds if you want to bring it back and if we have paid the consignor at least we can record the issue with the consignor for future reference.

ASIS or “As found” condition: Any vintage or antique item should be considered in ASIS condition. We recommend to the consignors to give details as to the condition of items (working or at least list what is wrong if anything) but they often do not. Any item listed in as found or ASIS condition or any vintage or antique item that does not detail the condition of the item please consider it to be damaged in some way. You may not be able to see the damage in the photos either as our staff shoot thousands of photos every week so we miss stuff too. When we notice any damage we include it in the last photo and sometimes we edit the consignors description if we catch something that we feel needs to be mentioned.  If the consignor says asis or as found and does not say what is wrong just assume the very worst and bid accordingly. This will teach the consignors to give better descriptions! If you bid blind on a asis item please do not have high expectations as we do not want you to be disappointed.

Ask questions if you are unsure before you bid and early in the week: open a support ticket and ask us to have a better look for you or arrange a preview time to view the item before bidding. Be sure to do this early in the week and not on Saturday or Sunday as we may not have time to reply to you and after 3pm on Saturday no one is at the shop until after the auction closes Sunday so by that time it is too late.

Bidders Remorse: If you get in a bidding war with another bidder and end up paying to much for an item or you did not read the description or assumed something that is not true this is affectionately called “BIDDERS REMORSE” In the auction world and it happens to us all at one time or another, some people don’t read the descriptions, some assume things, some just get caught up in the auction and find themselves bidding against someone else who also feels they “MUST OWN” that same item.  Just please keep in mind we are not a retail store and we do not take items back cause you feel you paid to much for them OR you missed something in the description.

We do not set the prices… you do! We are not a retail store, we are the middle person in your transaction. We try to keep the consignors and the bidders happy and honest.  If you do not wrap up your glass item and it chips on the way home please don’t try to return it. The big retail box stores will let you pretty much return anything cause they have HUGE profit margins and they don’t own the items but have these very unfair forced return contracts with the suppliers so they risk nothing by accepting an item for return. Auctions do not have this ability so please do not expect this. It is unreasonable and we will not be able to help you.

Here are some troubleshooting tips…

If it says you must register to bid and you have already been approved?

    Chance are you have not logged in or got logged out.

If the window does not open or show probably

    You may have JAVASCRIPT turned off. The easiest fix is to download a better browser. Many people use the default web browsers (Internet Explorer or Safari). You may want to download firefox web browser
    it’s free and will have java turned on for you by default (works with both mac and pc as well). Another alternative is google’s Chrome browser

If you are using a cell phone (especially one with a small screen) it may not be 100% compatible with the site. The bid window is too large for some devices. Tablets and personal computers work great! 

If the POP UP bidder window is not fully visible your screen resolution is large or you have the disability option for enhanced or large text running.

    To fix this hold down your CTRL button and click the MINUS (-) sign a few times. This will force the screen to shrink to fit on your page.

Further issues see below under (KNOWN TECHNICAL ISSUES)

You have until SATUDAY at 3pm to pick up your items (Saturday after auction closes). Most online auctions only have 2 days at most with very limited hours! Not us! We give you PLENTY OF TIME. If you can not make it in by SATURDAY you can pay for your items ONLINE by PAYPAL or by INTERAC EMAIL MONEY TRANSFER.

Hours:



APPOINTMENT MANDATORY

We have PICKUP TIMES available each week at the following days and times.

Tues - 10am to 2pm
Wed - 5pm to 7pm *Evening*
Thurs - 10am to 2pm
Fri - 10am to 2pm

No Weekend or Holiday Pickups


Friday pickups do not require a booking time


Pickup Information:
A pickup appointment is required Tuesday to Thursday. Friday pickups do not require a booked time. You can pickup your items at 6493 Highway 93, Waverly Ontario. please book a pickup appointment time at least 12 hours before you plan to come pickup your items if that is not possible please drop by on a Friday where you do not need a pickup time or contact us to make arrangements.

GPS ISSUES: Please note that some GPS systems do not recognise our address so just enter "Waverly" as we are at the only intersection in town. You can also try Elmvale instead of Waverley with our address as some GPS systems accept that as well.

MAP: Click here for map

We do at times have boxes and newspaper but if possible you should bring some with you too as we can easily run out or not have the proper size boxes for your items.
Bring help with you if you buy large furniture or heavy items. We are not always able to assist you in loading your car but we will always open the door for you if needed. Especially on cold wet days… No one wants to be inside all day in wet clothes! We move a LOT of heavy items… it’s hard on the back, knees and muscles! so sometimes we physically can not help either. Please bring help with you if you will require it.

PLEASE DO NOT BE LATE PAYING: Consignors do not get paid till you pay for your items, we want happy consignors as they keep bringing us all good stuff, please help us keep them happy and make sure your lots are paid for on time. We really do not want to charge anyone the 10.00 per lot late fee when they are late…. but we ALWAYS do! No Exceptions! so please pay on time. Thanks.

WE BAN ALL NON PAYING BIDDERS.  NON PAYING BIDDERS WHO ARE BANNED CAN REACTIVATE THE ACCOUNT BY PAYING THE LATE FEES AND LOST COMMISSIONS AS A PENALTY. ONLY THEN WILL WE REACTIVATE THE ACCOUNT.

If you BID for someone who has a BANNED ACCOUNT your account will be banned as well.

A consignor has the choice to take back or relist the items if not paid for within the allotted time
Non paying bidder gets suspended from bidding and can no longer place any bids on the site until the account is in good standing

You will be billed 10.00 per lot for late payments even if the consignor takes back the item
You will be billed for the commissions lost 4.00 or 25% whatever is higher even if the consignor takes back the item

You will be billed 2.00 per sq foot per week for storage and any handling fee’s for storing, packing or moving your items even if the consignor takes back the item
A security deposit or credit card may be required with permission to automatically bill for all winning auctions on accounts that are frequently late.

If a value is mentioned on a listing please do not assume this is the best price you can find this item for anywhere in the world!  Yes, Some people seam to think that.  With new products if a price is mentioned it is usually the going rate taken from either another auctions site, a popular online retailer, a MSRP or a estimated value.  Used items may indicate the item was originally purchased for a value, this does not mean it currently holds that value. Some things go up in price and some go down.  If it says the price is 100.00 and you find it online for 60.00 then we suggest you stop bidding at 58.00 (or keep bidding we don’t mind!) just do your homework before bidding as once that bid is placed we WILL NOT retract it cause you found it cheaper somewhere else.

Yes, we are human and we make them too.  We really try not to as it usually causes a lot more work for us and we try to make it as fair as possible.  We do not want upset bidders or consignors so these things are not good for the site or our customers so we will try our best to make everyone happy.

 

IF A LOT WAS LISTED WITH THE WRONG PHOTOS OR DESCRIPTION
If we catch it in time we will remove the bad lot and let the bidders know what happened.   If we miss it and it’s sold to two different people the winning bidder is under NO obligation to take the items if the photos or the descriptions do not match the actual items.  Unless it is a lot where we have multiples (Sometimes with jewelry and new products we have or can obtain more of the same items from the consignors or suppliers) we will do our best to appease each bidder.

 

Most of what we sell is used goods so we would not have TWO the same to award to each bidder.  so… If we accidently put TWO lots with the SAME photos and the SAME lot numbers we will contact each winning bidder and try to resolve the issue fairly if no resolution can be made we will relist the item.

 

IF AN ITEM IS LISTED TWICE AND SOLD
We contact both bidders and explain what has happened and ask if they wish to have a silent auction between them or have us put the auction listing back up. If both agree to have a silent auction the highest bidder takes it. if any disagree with the silent auction option we will relist the item in next week’s sale to be fair.

 

IF BOTH PARTIES IN A DISPUTE DISAGREE ON RESOLUTION
We simply relist the item and apologise for our mistake. Putting up 300-500 lots each week we are bound to make a mistake once in a while and boy are we embarrassed and apologetic when we do.

Smart phones do not always work for the bidding window. Use the FULL PAGE bidding window when on cell phone not the quick bid.

INTERNET EXPLORER OUT OF DATE??

Check here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/upgrade-your-browse (you will want unternet explorer 8 or better) or better yet download firefox (it works better) http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

LOGIN DOES NOT WORK?

Some browsers and devices are stalling out when you login. If you use the TOP RIGHT login (Where the menu is) uses a technology called AJAX that is not 100% compatible with everyone’s devices. If it just shows the loading icon spinning endlessly simply click the LOGIN link in the TOP menu (Under the logo) this link does not use AJAX. Here is a shortcut, click this and bookmark it. [Click Here]

AUCTION NOT SHOWING UP?

Your JAVA is not working in your web browser, try a different browser or go to https://www.java.com/en/ and download java and reinstall it. Java is pre-installed on all web browsers however if you change your security settings or at times java will become unstable or out of date and stop working you will need to update it. Java controls 90% of our website and without it you can not bid or even watch the auction. You can still see pages like this and the preview but that is about it.

Invoices are generated a few hours after the auction closes. If you are bidding on items this week please check your INVOICE page on Monday to confirm the items you won.  Items will be moved from your bids and status page to your invoice page. Please do not rely on email to tell you if you won or were outbid. Emails often get stopped or filed as spam/trash/bulk so they are unreliable. Check your INVOICE page on Monday to see if you won anything that needs to be picked up.  If you do not see the item on your invoice on Monday then contact us but chances are you were outbid and just did not realize it in time.

Email is UNRELIABLE at best.  The system tries to send out emails any time you are outbid but at times emails get lost, sometimes they get delayed, sometimes junk/spam/bulk filters block or miss file them… lots can happen.  It is best to watch your auction items close Sunday nights or place a LARGER proxy bid so that the system can bid for you.

If you use Hotmail/live/outlook it appears to have the most aggressive spam/junk mail filter of them all. Here are some instructions to assist in preventing our emails from going to spam/junk this is very similar in other emails as well. Yahoo, sympatico and Gmail can also have some issues with spam/junk to just whitelist or safe sender list us.

Prevent Hotmail From Spamming Email

To choose from which addresses Hotmail should never send email to spam, access the Safe senders list and type our website domain name midlandauctions.ca into the list. Here is a step by step for you.

Click the settings gear icon at the top right of Outlook.com.
Click View all Outlook settings at the bottom of the pop-out menu.
Go to Mail > Junk email.
Type midlandauctions.ca into the text box in the Safe senders area.
Click Add.
Click Save at the top of the page.

That should help.

BID MISTAKES:
You are responsible for any bid error that exposes a persons proxy.  Once a NEW price is set on an auction listing we will not RETRACT or LOWER the public bid amount shown.  This would be unfair to the owner (consignor) of the item.  If you place a bid by mistake we can remove the balance of your proxy if you make a mistake but you will hold the winning bid when we remove the proxy so be careful not to enter 170.00 instead of 17.00 as it may be a costly mistake if someone runs you up!

Contact us by support ticket or email and let us know the LOT NUMBER of the item you messed up the bid on, we will as soon as possible back out the excess proxy on the bid.

Sorry, some countries are blocked for security issues.  (Hackers) and since we do not ship items it is best to just lock out the known bad areas around the world,  If you are a new bidder and have someone local in the Simcoe County area that can pick up your items regularly and are in an area that is unblocked just message us when registering and let us know you have someone local to pick your items up. please note that not all features work properly when outside the EST timezone.

We opened up the shop in Midland in 2011
Before that time we did mostly ONLINE auction sales (Started in 2001)

(This is a PROXY BID or ABSENTEE BID)

  • We use what is known as a PROXY BID engine. This is much like leaving a ABSENTEE BID at a live auction when you can not make it to the live auction. Proxy bidding allows you to enter your MAX BID (Meaning the MOST you wish to bid on an item). The system will automatically advance your bid against other bidders like a absentee bid would do at a live auction (This is done on your behalf until your max is reached or you have won the lot).For example:All auctions start at 5.00 so if you are the first bidder and you enter a MAX BID of say 30.00 the amount showing would be 5.00 with 1 bid placed (and you would be currently winning that auction). If another bidder places a bid of lets say 20.00 the system will automatically advance your bid for you (absentee bid) to 22.00 (and continue to advance it when more bids are placed until your competitors bid either exceeds your MAX BID or the auction ends with you winning the item. It will bid in increments of 2.00 up to 100.00 and after the auction reaches 100.00 it may switch to 5.00 increments.Q: How could someone beat me by a PENNY!?
    A: The standard BID INCREMENT is 2.00 (or 5.00 over 100.00) but if you place a PROXY bid (Choose a higher bid yourself of over 2.00) then the next bidder comes and enters a bid at least .01 cent higher then your proxy they become the current winner. This only happens when you or the other person use a proxy bid. Example below.- User1 bids 5.00
    – User2 bids 15.00 (Proxy bid over 2.00) but holds the current winning price of 7.00 (2.00 above the previous 5.00 bid)
    – User1 bids with a proxy and places a bid of 9.50
    ** SYSTEM PLACES A ABSENTEE PROXY BID FOR User2 of 11.50 (2.00 over last bid but withing the proxy amount) and shows still winning
    – User1 bids a proxy again at 15.50 (.50 cents over the maximum proxy but still more then 2.00 over current bid of 11.50) and takes the winning amount at 15.50You can actually take over a bid with .01 cent if your lucky. If User1 in the above example bid 15.01 when he would have the winning bid at 15.01 and you would need to place your bid at 17.01 or higher. May seam unfair but a penny is a penny. If the other bidder bids the SAME as your PROXY then you continue to WIN as they placed the bid for that amount first. It’s not a bad idea to bid a few cents over your bid.

Anyone can sell with us. Please visit our consignors page [Click Here]

REGISTER: First you must register (and wait for us to approve your account to bid). You do not need a credit card to bid here however we do need a valid phone number.

STEPS TO BID:

  1. First step is to go to the main active auction listings http://midlandauctions.ca/ and scroll down till you see your item.
  2. Click on the photo of your item (or the BID NOW green button)
    This should open a window in the middle of your screen. (If no window appears see troubleshooting below)
  3. In this window is a BID HERE button… click it
  4. It will then say Enter Your Maximum Bid … enter your maximum bid amount
  5. Click the PLACE BID button and a window will open to tell you if your bid is not the high bid or not.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL TO PUT THE DECIMAL PLACE IN THE CORRECT SPOT.

A: As long as a bid is over 2.00 it is valid so a bid of 2.01 is a valid bid.

For Example….. you are the first person to bid on a lot that starts at 5.00 and you decide to bid 15.00 as your max. You enter 15.00 and the auction says “you are winning this lot at 5.00” you have another 10.00 in proxy that only you know about so if some one bids 10.00 or less you would continue to win this lot as the system bids for you in 2.00 increments until someone bids higher than your MAX proxy so if someone bid 15.01 they would be the new lead bid by a penny.

You will notice a lot of seasoned bidders bid in odd increments just so they can defeat a proxy bid and get the item for as little as possible. It’s a strategic bidding approach a lot of people now use with online bidding.

….so by entering odd bid amounts (even a penny) you can actually save yourself the price of a coffee if you adopt this strategy.

Are you using a vpn or proxy? are you on vacation?

Common reason people use vpns are to watch USA content on Netflix or anonymous proxy to keep internet secure and private.

if you are not using a proxy or vpn it is possible you have a virus/malware that has installed a proxy without your knowledge.

To check that click this link and it will show you your ip address and your approximate location on a map (should show somewhere in ontario) Here is the link: https://whatismyipaddress.com

If you are using a proxy try to get one that resolves your IP to the USA or CANADA (depending on your needs) it will speed things up for you as well as you do not want a proxy overseas as that causes everything you do online locally to go a lot slower as that is a long distance for data to travel and probably a lot of bottle necks…. plus sites like ours block ip addresses from many foreign countries where hacking is a big nuisance as hackers (especially automated hacking and dos attacks) slow down websites with unnecessary traffic and risk peoples passwords being hacked…. we do not want that.

So, if you are not using a proxy/vpn and you are not on vacation in a foreign country then your computer is probably hacked (bas a virus or mallware or worm) and you should NOT do anything with that computer until it is formatted and reinstalled as it is compromised at that point. You should change all your passwords as well.

If you have a antivirus remember that your computer can get infected before the antivirus even knows how to detect a new virus and by that point the virus could block the antivirus from ever finding it. In many cases the anti virus software is a false sense of security. It does block older viruses and variations of older stuff but not 100% and just because you have it does not mean you are risk free.

We ask that you Please bring boxes and appropriate wrapping material.

 

PACKING ITEMS
We do NOT pack your items for you on pickup. If you require your items to be packed ahead of time a HANDLING fee will apply of 2.00 per lot with a MINIMUM 10.00 FEE this includes third party pick up and deliver services. if we need to pack your items ahead of time a handling fee will be invoices.  Dishes or glass items you must always pack yourself.

Depends. When items are not picked up by the winning bidder we do relist the item if the consignor wishes to relist it and as long as it originally sold for over 20.00 (and yes we BAN the bad bidders if they do not pick up items and pay for them).

If the lot sold for under 20.00 we give the item back to the consignor.  We can also offer it to the runner up bidder and usually ask the consignor what he/she would like to do.

When we RELIST an item we mention in the description that the item is being relisted and why, if you do not see that info then it is simply another lot with the same item.

NOTE: Some items such as the BRAND NEW product such as electronics and much of the jewelry is from a wholesaler so we get almost identical items listed.  These items are not relisted they just supply us with more of them.

Also, If you purchase something from the auction then wish to resell it you must wait 3 months to sell it with us.

General items do not have reserves. Exceptions listed below…

Currency auctions (Stamps, Bank notes or Coins)
If lot is for a 50.00 bank note that is currently accepted by the bank we will start the auction at 50.00 this is not a reserve but a STARTING PRICE equal to face value.

Vehicles
With Cars, Trucks, Trailers, Etc… The consignor can request a START PRICE (Not a hidden reserve price). We will start these auctions with the higher start price but the owner of the item will be required to pay a 10% fee on the reserved start price if the item does not sell…. So if the reserve start price is set to 1000.00 a 100.00 commission is due even if the item does not sell.

On successful sale the standard commission will apply however we cap the commission at a maximum 1000.00.  Even if it sells for 10k our commission stands at 1000.00.

The sellers package must be purchased in advance for vehicles. A signed bill of sale, signed ownership card, the vehicle itself and the sellers package must be dropped off with the keys to our shop parking lot before the auction starts.

Why no other reserves?
Why do we not place reserves on general merchandise? Simple, we establish a fair market value for the items, we have enough bidders that items reach fair prices market value prices. Starting lots at 5.00 adds early interest in the items and creates some excitement for the bidders, sometimes they get lucky and score an item for a incredible price but that is what an auction is all about! If you put a BUY IT NOW price or a reserve price then you might as well try to sell it on one of the classified ad sites. In many cases if the consignor wants a reserve on a great item we will offer to purchase the item instead from the consignor so that we can feature the item in our auction and they do not take any risk or instead of a reserve we implement a higher starting price.

More then 90% of the time the consignor should have put the item in themselves as they would have made more on the item then we paid them for it … but sometimes people want a sure thing.

We do evaluate/appraise Canadian coin collections as well as consign coins in our online auction. For foreign or ancient coins a specialist would be required but we do have access to people who can also assist with these.

If you’re looking to sell a collection with us this is done at no cost to you for the sort and evaluation we just receive a commission at the end of the sale once the sale is finalized. Canadian bills and coins with face values over 5.00 are started at face value on the auction as well.

Coin shops typically pay out 50% of book price on average when purchasing collections as they have high overhead and sit on coins for a length of time before making a sale. When selling at a successful auction that sells a lot of coins you end up making a lot more selling your coins by auction even after the commission is taken from the sale. Typically 10-20 percent more and that is a significant amount with a lot of coin collections.

If you’re looking to just evaluate a collection (for probate, insurance or even to figure out what items are worth or to pull any key date or higher value coin or bank note for grading but no intention of selling the coins at this time) we can assist you with that as well.

We would need to do a quick review of the collection to estimate time required and a price estimate for the appraisal service and discuss with you what your needs are for the appraisal.

If you follow the auction you may have noticed that we do very well with coins. We have coin dealers and collectors that bring coins up to sell with us here regularly.

You’re welcome to send some photos of the collection and let us know your requirements or any questions you can and we would be happy to assist you.

We charge HST on almost everything.

The only items we do not charge tax on is PURE BULLION (.999 or .9999) precious metals such as GOLD, SILVER or PLATINUM bars or coins.

These items are tax exempt under provincial and federal tax laws. Everything else has 13% HST. Our system does not allow us to enter tax exemption status card numbers but our HST number is on every invoice and if you have a status card with a exemption from tax you can use our invoice to claim the HST back. Sorry but we have no way to process this at this time.

NATIVE STATUS TAX EXEMPTION: If you wish to have the 8% Ontario portion of your HST removed from your invoice you must fill out a form each time you make a purchase and show us your status card. This must be done in person as well (No delivery or third party pickup).  If the card does not have a photo you must also include a government issued photo ID to accompany the card.  The card must be in the name of the bidder and the items must fall under the tax exempt allowable items. The card holder must use his/her own vehicle to transport the goods back to reserve land according to the rules and regulations on the government website.  Metis status cards do not qualify.  The Federal tax also does not get removed only the 8% provincial tax.  A declaration will need to be filled out and signed that confirms the goods purchased off the SwapShop/Midland Auctions online auction website are exclusively for personal consumption or use and they comply with the Ontario Tax Exemption laws for native status card holder purchases for a 8% PST portion of the tax rebate. We are not permitted to photo copy your status card so you will need to fill out and sign our declaration for tax purposes. [CLICK HERE FOR FORM]

AUGUST 2020 10% BUYERS PREMIUM

Starting Aug 2020 we must implement a 10% buyers premium (and 13% for PayPal).

WE DO NOT USE BOTS!
Consignment auctions like ours have no reason to use a BOT however some new product auctions in Ontario are now using software that has a “BUY BACK BOT” auto bidder feature in the software. No way to prove the company is using this or not but we assure you WE DO NOT use anything like that here! We find it damaging to all online auctions to even know this software is available and being used.

What is a BOT?
A BOT also known as web robot, is a software application that runs automated tasks (Artificial Intelligence) typically pretending to be a HUMAN.  Bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone. Search engines use BOTS to index websites, many Dating sites us bots to pretend to be ladies responding to guys so the guys pay for memberships, etc… etc… lots of applications for bots but they are complex and very expensive to create and only the top programmers can make good AI bots and they don’t come cheap.

Why do penny auctions and some regular looking auctions use bots you ask??
They own ALL the items (or) they are drop shipping items.  These fake auction sites give you the illusion you are getting outbid to run up your bid to a amount that is preset as the goal sale amount. If the items sell to a BOT they just get relisted at a later date and keep selling the same items till someone bids high enough to reach the sales goal. Some of these sites even charge customers for each bid placed so they are very unethical.

Bots would not work on a consignment auction unless you allowed your customers to set reserves and have the bots bidding up the lots till the reserves were met (some live auctions have ghost bidders or plants in the audience placing bids so I could see why someone would wonder if online auctions did this). We DO NOT and it would only be a matter of time before a consignor spilled the beans and everyone would know that we allowed consignors to bid up items or set reserves.  We assure everyone that WE DO NOT ALLOW THIS.  Sure someone’s friend could make an account and place bids without anyone ever knowing but what if that person’s friend ends up being the winning bidder? It could happen, in fact we have caught people doing it and banned them for it but we do NOT allow it.

If you sell anything with us you know very well we DO NOT allow this.  Your items start at 5.00 with NO RESERVES (unless the item is a bank not, coins, stamps or a Vehicle and we have allowed a face value or higher start price on that item – not a hidden reserve)

It is ridiculous to accuse us of running BOTS. We run an HONEST business, we promote the site as best we can for our consignors and we get fair market value for the items.  If an item sells too cheap… oh well the bidder gets a great deal and something in the same auction will probably perform better then we expected and compensate for the under valued item… that is how an auction should be!

 

DO YOU SUSPECT SOMEONE IS “Bidding you up” HERE IS SOME INFO AND SUGGESTIONS

  • If you think a consignor or family member was bidding on there own item we can review the logs in more detail to ensure this was not happening.  We have software in place to flag this as well incase it happens.  We do NOT allow this and really it rarely happens and when it does we usually catch it right away.
  • We do not allow sellers to bid on items they own nor do we run the bidding price up.

We rarely sell something these days that we purchased for sale in the auction.  99% of the items are consignment sales (meaning we do not own the items we sell the items for other people) we do have “filler items” we add when consignments are slow that we do own but lately we have not needed to add these as we have a steady flow of consignments each week.

We work for both the sellers and the buyers.  We do now own 99% of the items and any item we do own is filler used to benefit the website when consignments are low to keep the bidders happy and keep the site running.  We would rather see a bidder get a few great deals and keep coming back so No logical reason exists for us to “out bid” someone trying to get them to bid more for an item, We do not allow consignors to have reserves or higher starting prices either.

Some people in the past have suggested this happens but if you think about it…. that would be pointless and is silly.  If you think about it you can just imagine what a mess things would be and how bad of a reputation we would get from allowing anything like this.  There is a reason we have so many dedicated bidders and consignors.  It is years and years of ethical trustworthy sales and happy customers.

We do not have any extra sensory physic capabilities to know how much someone will spend on an item, we would have a warehouse of unsold goods if we did that. Seriously people suggest that like its a thing.  It is utter nonsense to think that.  It just does not make any sense and same with the consignors, since we do not allow consignors to bid on there own items or can they pickup there own items for “someone else” it makes it very difficult for a consignor to “run up” someone on an item.  Yes some consignors get nervous when a 500.00 item has a 5.00 starting bid but who would not.  Just have to trust that our bidders will also see the sale value in the item

With 1000’s of bidders logged in each month on our platform the natural course of a sale determines fair market value for both the bidder and the seller.

You only need to register ONE time and you will be per-registered for all upcoming auctions.

All new registrations are reviewed by a staff member and are approved manually. We do monitor new registrations closely during live auctions (especially at the end of a auction) and review & approve new registrations as soon as possible.

We DO NOT require a credit card to register or bid however we do require your FULL legal address including apartment numbers if applicable (so if we have to ship your items we have your correct info) also all bidders must be over 18 years of age, live in Canada and have a valid phone number on file with us.

Sorry no, We NEVER disclose anyone’s personal information.  The consignors names or the winning bidders names are private information.  Please DO NOT ask for this info.

WE WILL STORE YOUR ITEMS FOR 1 WEEK IF NEEDED FREE
You have 5 days to pick up your items (Friday) then your items get moved to our storage area.  If you for some reason can not pick them up we will store smaller items for you for 1 additional week free as long as you PAY for your items on time.

COST TO STORE YOUR ITEMS LONGER
Each additional week will be invoice $2.00 per lot per week up to 60 days, at that time the storge amount will be invoice to your account and your items will be discarded or resold.

60 DAYS MAX (Considered Abandoned at 60 days!)
At 60 days we will consider your paid items abandoned and either resell them, donate them or dispose of them and invoice you the costs involved if we incur any costs over the fees owed for storage. Any surplus over the storage fee if resold will not be paid to the person who had us store the items either so please pick up your items within 60 days. We have a small location and can not store stuff for long periods of time. we also will NOT contact you or chase after you to pick your stuff up, if you forget it don’t expect it to be here after 60 days.

NO STORAGE FOR LARGE ITEMS
Furniture or large bulky items will be invoiced a minimum 25.00/week for anything the size or a chair and dressers, tables, cabinets, etc are 40.00/week.  Large items 14 days will be considered abandoned and disposal fees and storage fees will still need to be paid.

PLEASE BRING HELP WITH YOU
If you purchase a LARGE item such as a appliance or furniture piece or you are unable to lift heavier items you need to bring help with you to load it . Our staff can not assist you in loading items into your vehicle for insurance reasons.  We will bring the items to the counter for you but you will need to bring able bodies to assist you in loading your items if needed.

Due to covid19 we do not have any previews. Please open a support ticket and ask questions bur please dont wait till the end of the auction to ask questions. Tuesday to thursday is best, we can pull the item and better answer your questions.

Yes, online we call this a PROXY BID. In the AMOUNT box simply enter a LARGER AMOUNT and the system will bid for you in 2.00 increments.  Your bid amount will not jump up to the large amount unless someone already has a larger proxy on that item before you.

EXAMPLE OF HOW A PROXY BID WORKS

IN THIS EXAMPLE BIDDER “A” IS THE FIRST BIDDER ON AN ITEM AND PLACES A PROXY BID OF 25.00.

Bidder “A” will be shown as the current high bid at 5.00 as all auctions start at 5.00 (excluding currency and vehicle auctions) Bidder a will have a hidden proxy of 25.00.

if BIDDER “B” comes and places a bid of 7.00 the system will automatically give BIDDER “B” a outbid notice and instantly place a 9.00 bid for BIDDER “A” (Using the proxy to place a 2.00 bid) and BIDDER “A” will still be winning the auction not at 9.00.

If anyone paces a bid of 25.01 or higher BIDDER “A” will no longer be the winning bidder.

If the auction ends and the current bid is still 9.00 then BIDDER “A” will be awarded the auction lot for 9.00.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

You can also NOT get a friend, family or employ someone to do this either. That is a SHILL BID and if caught (and we will catch you) you will loose your items and any sales from those items. You will also not be welcome to consign with us again. If you wish to sell your items with a reserve price sell it yourself on many of the local classified ad sites or papers. If you wish to sell it with us then it is to be offered at no reserve, no shill bidding or tampering. With that said you can also NOT pick up one of your own items for “someone else”.

If you travel outside Canada or the USA and try to log In here it may give you an error screen saying your country is blocked. This is due to excessive hacking attempts from some foreign countries. We can not fix this.

If you are in Canada and you get blocked with this message please read this…

Are you using a vpn or proxy? (Common reason people use vpns are to watch USA content on a streaming service that is not available in Canada or anonymous proxy (used to keep internet activity secure and private) if so you need a USA proxy or vpn.

if you are not using a proxy or vpn it is possible you have a virus/malware that has installed a proxy/vpn without your knowledge. This acts as a middle receiver and transmitter relay and a valid one just relays your data a malicious one records all your data.

To check that you are not unknowingly using a proxy or vpn click this link and it will show you your ip address and your approximate location on a map (should show somewhere in ontario) if it does and your still getting that pop up send us the ip address and I will have our security firewall company look into it further as it does block people from other countries or people using proxy/vpn from various bad hacker countries outside Canada and the USA.

Here is the link: https://whatismyipaddress.com

Auction lots close starting at 8pm EST on SUNDAYS, First lot closes at 8pm and one closes every 30 seconds after that. Softclose listings get bumped 2 minutes so at times more then one auction is closing at the same time due to the softclose. Many bidders log in and make bids during the close of the auction, the server is very busy at that time and pages will load a little slower. We suggest getting your bids in early and using a proxy bid but please feel free to log in at the end of the auction to keep an eye on your items and to sneak in any last minute bids. It does get exciting at the end with everyone bidding.