Hosting an auction, the right way

We all know /ch auc but do we know how to host or bid on an auction? maybe, so here are my tips on hosting and bidding on auctions via /ch auc
Hosting

starting an auction requires a lot of small things to remove confusion for bidders in the auction chat.​

• details on item/s being sold
• starting price for the item/s being sold
• parameters set for bidders
• indicators for bids to be associated to your auction
• ending an auction

Sounds like a lot of work but its not, lets go though a rundown on what each bullet-point means.​

• The details are about the item. Item name, quantity, durability, enchantments, and other "special features" that associated with the item. An example would be "silk 1 diamond pick 1000 durability remains. pick is named bob."
• Now about the starting price, and this is important. most people like to start out at "free" or "no reserve" that means any amount over 0 will be a valid bid. when selling something you have the chance to see the bids fly high or stay low. Nobody wants to get burned on a bad auction so set a reserve. A reserve is an amount that the bid have to exceed to be deemed valid. Few examples are shown. "selling diamond pick starting at 100" or "selling diamond hoe starting at free"
• Parameters are usually set when people are moving the price too slowly such as bidding up by 1's. a parameter is to set an amount of money you want each bid to increase by. setting a parameter is simple just say "please go up by 5's or another number you want each bid to increase by. be careful setting parameters though. if the parameter is set too high people will not want to bid. parameters should be set by the opening bid on the item being sold. 1-100$ no parameter needed. 100-1000$, 25's and 50's are recommended. 1000-10000$, 100's and 500's. any higher than that it would be best not to set a parameter to get the maximum amount of profit from your item.
• And now to the indicators. most people don't use indicators on auctions because most of the time they are not needed. a indicator helps the auctioneers and bidder know what bids go to what item. indicators are used when multiple auctions are being hosted. here are some examples. "selling diamond pick starting at free use @pick." using @pick helps the bidders and the auctioneer know whats the current bid and what the bid is for.
• ending an auction is a bit self explanatory but can also ruin your reputation as a good auctioneer. i usually consists of 3-4 final calls. going once, going twice, final call, and sold. these usually get shortened to a g1, g2, g3, and sold format. these final calls, come when bidding slows down and nobody is calling active bids anymore. its polite to start final calls 10-12 seconds after the most recently placed bid. final calls can include information about the auction to attempt to draw in any final bidder. an example can be " g2 400 for diamond axe." or "last calls 500 on diamond axe" upon completing the auction it is both yours and the buyers responsibility to come to a meeting point to exchange goods.

Bidding

bidding is a lot easier to understand and manage. it comes in multiple parts but is not nearly as complicated​

• placing a bid
• being "hrd"
• valid bids
• calling an "out"

With the 4 indicated above it helps the bidders and auctioneer to not get confused by the sometimes maddening chat.​

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• How to place a bid. placing a bid is quite simple. see something you like? get to auction chat by typing the command /ch auc then type out the amount your willing to bid on the item. remember to use indicators placed on an item by an auctioneer so they can hear your bid upon their auction. an example of this is when an auction is running and the auctioneer says "diamond pick staring at 100 use @pick." now you can say "100 @pick."
• being "hrd" is being heard. Heard has been shortened so the auctioneer can type quickly because bids can sometimes be posted quickly. Being "hrd" does not mean you have won the auction, it mean that the auctioneer has acknowledged your bid as the highest one. when multiple of the same bidding price is posted and "hrd" it will go to who has gotten the bid in first. when a bid is "hrd" it also means the bidding price has gone up the "hrd" price is now the new price that you have to bid above to be recognized as a valid bid. An example scenario is when an auctioneer starts an auction "diamond pick starting at 100 use @pick." you reply with "100 @pick", then the auctioneer will reply with "hrd".
• onto valid bids. when an auctioneer has "hrd" your bid it means its valid and binding. upon having a winning bid that is valid it is the auctioneers responsibility to have the item that was bid on, and its the winners responsibility to contact the auctioneer about a meetup location for payment and item retrieval. rising or legacy spawn are popular meetup spots due to both parties having the ability to /spawn. something that make a bid not valid is when a bid is not "hrd" or acknowledged. this can be caused by a fast chat feed'not seeing the posted bid before the chat gets pushed up, also if it doesn't meet the price conditions set by the auctioneer. examples are if the bid isn't above the current highest bid, or if the auctioneer sets bidding parameters such as go up by 5's 50's or 100's.
• calling an "out" is just being polite to the acutioneer and other bidders. when bidding on something you can get into a back and forth with another bidder. he raises, you raise. a good auctioneer will see this and allow the bidders to fight it out. when one bidder reaches his bidding limit he wont bid anymore, and at that point should be polite and call an "out" this lets the other bidder/s and the auctioneer know that you will no longer be bidding on an item, allowing him to start the final calls to end the auction.

I hope this guide helps people run safer, and better auctions in auction chat.

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dang it i knew i missed something JerichoKross thank you for adding that last part in.

 

ldw116 this is a tutorial on how do do something right. not how to do something wrong

 

ldw116 i didnt want to put in the basic rules of an auction. i wanted to make a guide on how to provide/have a good time when using the auction chat.