Poppy Auctions - FAQ
These are some of our frequently asked questions:
Q. Why don't I receive the registration email or outbid/ending item email from Poppy Auctions?
A. We always send out an email to you upon registration, outbid or ending item, unfortunately some Internet Service Providers (ISP's) have too strict controls to prevent you receiving spam (unsolicited emails). To resolve the problem, please login with the username and password that you supplied on registration and then visit our verification section of Poppy Auctions so you can verify your email address manually here. You may also contact us here and we can verify your membership very quickly. You could also add sales@poppyauctions.co.uk to your list of accepted emails and we should get through your ISP's spam firewall. If you still experience problems you will have to contact your ISP and explain that emails from us at Poppy Auctions are to be allowed in to your inbox.
Q. How much does it cost to place an item for auction on Poppy Auctions?
A. No charge! Poppy Auctions is now a free militaria listing site.
Q. Will I get a picture with my auction even though its free?
A. Yes, every item you list on Poppy Auctions allows you an image and a 'gallery style' image that appears on the category page.
Q. I have won an item how do I pay?
A. If you have won an item and the user takes Paypal as a method of payment, you can click on "Won" in your control panel. Within the won section there will be a paypal button already there waiting for you to pay, this will redirect you to a secure payment page for you to send the seller the full amount (plus P&P). If the user does not take paypal there will be a "contact seller" link for you to send the seller a message. The seller may well send you details on how to pay in the meantime, as they too will have a link to contact you in their "Sold" section of their control panel.
PLEASE NOTE: Poppy Auctions will never send you an email that has a link in it for you to pay for an item. This is to protect you against spoof (fake) emails pretending to be from Poppy Auctions, when they are in actual fact from a third party attempting to gain funds or information from you. The only way to make a payment (for an item or account payment) in Poppy Auctions is via your control panel and never through an email link (unless the seller does not accept Paypal and then they will advise you of how to pay for an item). You are advised to always open a new browser window on your PC and type in the URL of our web site www.poppyauctions.co.uk or http://www.poppyauctions.co.uk/.
Q. Is my description of my item limited to only a few hundred characters?
A. No, you can have 2000 characters in your description of your item.
Q. I was highest bidder but why didn't I win the item?
A. If you were the highest bidder but not received and email to say you have won the item, ensure that the reserve price has been met on the item. You can normally see 'reserve not yet met' next to the current price of an item, this usually indicates that the minimum price that the seller will accept has not yet been reached.
Q. Why can't I bid what amount I like on an item for auction?
A. Our auction system works on a increment system the increments work like this:
Current Price |
Bid Increment |
£0.01 - £1.00 |
£0.05 |
£1.01 - £5.00 |
£0.20 |
£5.01 - £15.00 |
£0.50 |
£15.01 - £60.00 |
£1.00 |
£60.01 - £150.00 |
£2.00 |
£150.01 - £300.00 |
£5.00 |
£300.01 - £600.00 |
£10.00 |
£600.01 - £1500.00 |
£20.00 |
£1500.01 - £3000.00 |
£50.00 |
£3000.01 and over |
£100.00 |
Q. Do I have to go through the complete listing procedure for every item?
A. No, once you have listed an item you can simply click on that item (under selling) from your control panel and then simply click on 'Sell Similar'. This will then take you to a listing form that has all the same details for the similar item already filled out. Simply change any details for the new item, select the length of time you want to want the auction to run and upload your picture and that is it you new item is then listed.
Q. What kind of image can I upload to Poppy Auctions?
A. We currently only accept jpeg (.jpg or .jpeg) image files, these are the most common that most digital cameras and scanners use.
Q. Do I need to resize my images before I upload them?
A. No, all images are automatically resized for best results on your auction.
Q. Can I put an item for sale or does it have to be an auction?
A. We hope to offer for sale items soon, please check back for updates.
Q. I missed the end of an auction and failed to bid on the item I wanted because the web site was not available, what are you going to do about it?
A. An auction will generally run for 5, 7 or 10 days and you will have plenty of opportunities to place a bid on an item you wish to win. Our bidding system works on the proxy system so you don't have to sit and wait for them end of an auction, you can simply enter your maximum bid and wait to see if you have bid enough to win an item. You will never pay more than your maximum bid (except postage and packaging) for an item (providing the reserve price is met). If your bid is the highest and the reserve price of an item is met you will win the item for the next highest bidders maximum bid + 1 bid increment, detail of our bid increments can be found on this page.
Q. How will I get paid for my item I have sold?
A. Once and auction has ended and you have sold your item, the buyer will be able to login to their control panel and a Paypal button (assuming you have a valid Paypal account) will automatically be created for the payment to be sent directly to you.
Q. If the buyer doesn't have a Paypal account, can I still receive payments from them?
A. Yes the customer will be able to pay via credit/debit card via the Paypal web site and then be returned to Poppy Auctions.
Q. If I list a single memorial plaque with a picture as an auction, how much does it cost?
A. It is completely free to list single memorial plaques.
Q. I have received an email from Poppy Auctions that is full of lots of code, and doesn't make any sense, why?
A. If your email server only allows plain text email, then you will receive a lot of code that wont make any sense, to rectify this login to your Poppy Auctions account and click on preferences > then de-select 'Receive HTML emails' > click update preferences, this will mean that future emails from Poppy Auctions will be in plain text only.
Q. I am receiving mailing list emails from Poppy Auctions, how can I stop them?
A. See above question regarding logging into your account and entering the preferences section, then simply de-select 'Poppy Auctions Mailing list', click on update preferences and you will not receive email from Poppy Auctions. The same applies for third party mailing list, to stop receiving the emails from selected third parties, de-select 'Third Party Mailing list' and click on update preferences and you will no longer receive emails from our list of third parties we reveal your email address to.
Q. I had a list of items that I didn't win in my 'Listings not won' section, they have disappeared now, why?
A. Listings that you bid on but didn't win will only appear in your listings not won section for 60 days and then they are deleted. this is to optimise the performance of the Poppy Auctions Web site.
Q. I have looked at the web site and everything is overlapping and looks strange, why?
A. The Poppy Auctions web site is built using new CSS technology, and whilst this degrades well with older browsers, for an optimal experience and ultimate security (as there are many security loopholes being fixed with the newer versions Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera) while on Poppy Auctions you are advised to upgrade your browser to the latest version. For Internet Explorer users click here, for Mozilla Firefox users please click here.
Q. Why are there only a few categories in the menu, when other auction web sites have many more?
A. The current categories are only temporary, when enough items are listed in each section we can expand the categories to suit the content of the site, this is to avoid lots of categories and only having a few items in each. If you have any suggestions of categories for Poppy Auctions please contact us.
Q. The current feedback system allows me to improve the feedback of a user by more than one, why?
A. We are currently working on the second phase of Poppy Auctions feedback, soon only one user will be able to improve another users feedback by one. At the moment the customers that win another item from a seller they have dealt with before, can effect the feedback score by more than one, this will soon be corrected.
Q. Why can't I edit my item when it has had a bid?
A. The reason for this is so that the item remains static once a bid has been placed, we will soon introduce aspects of the item you can edit, such as reserve price, post to locations etc, if you would like to comment on this please contact us.
