Questions
How does the maximum bid work?
The maximum bid is the maximum amount you are willing to bid on a lot. The system will raise your bid automatically if someone else counter bids, but only up to your maximum bid.
What is in the case of two equal bids?
The early bird catches the worm! The bid which was placed first will prevail.
Give me an example how the maximum bid works.
An item has a reserve price of $200. You are the first to post a bid on it. You select a maximum bid of $300 on the bidding page (select the amount from the drop-down box). Now you are the current winning bidder for $200. Your maximum bid is not displayed publicly. Someone else counter bids for the next minimum amount of $220. The system now automatically bids for you and puts you as the winning bidder in place for $240.
Next someone places a bid on this item for $300. However you remain the winning bidder for $300 as you had placed $300 first.
Should you now get a counter bid of $320, then you are out of course.
Can I increase my maximum bid?
You can increase your maximum bid at any time, even while you are still the winning bidder. The system will raise your maximum bid and leave the current bid untouched. There is no way of counter bidding against yourself with artelino auctions.
Any recommendations for successful bidding?
Bidding is more of a psychological game than a matter of rational acting. We often experience that first-time bidders and experienced bidders alike focus on counter bidding. Excellent prints that do not get a bid during the first hours after the auction started, often remain unnoticed for no reason. Smart bidders concentrate on items that do not have a bid yet.
I want to bid on several items. Which is the fastest way of bidding?
Create your own catalog with the items you are interested in bidding. From this catalog click on the PLACE BID button and you are on the bidding page. Everything is preset and all you have to do is to click on the SUBMIT BID button. After you are finished with your first item, click on the MY CATALOG link on top of the bidding page to get back to the MY CATALOG page and initiate the bid for the next item ... and so forth.
Can I reduce my maximum bid?
No.
Can I retract a bid?
No.
How do you define the auction end?
All bids must be finished before auction end. The auction is automatically shut down by the system according to the server's clock - no matter how wrong the server's clock may be.
How can I get the reduced early bird commission?
You pay a reduced buyer's commission of 15% instead of 20% if you place at least 3 bids on items not yet taken within the first 36 hours. The reduced commission is applied for all your wins at auction end. You recognize if the early bird period is valid by a little icon and usually a text on top of the catalog pages.
How can I find out about my results at auction end?
There are a couple of ways that are easy to find. The best way is to go to Checkout page. The bidding history can be found on the page of the detailed item description.
After you received your winner's notification, your order and invoice is online available for your account after logging in. We do not delete the auction results at auction end, but the closed auction remains on display for a few more days.
Is there any action I have to take after auction end?
Please check your winner's notification carefully for a correct shipping address and check all other information.
It is not necessary to confirm the correctness of your order. If we do not hear from you, we assume that everything is OK and for payment by credit card we start to charge and ship.
Can I change my payment method after auction end?
Yes, you can. But hurry! If your account is set to payment method credit card, you must make your account changes within 12 hours after auction end. Then begins the 'frozen period' when we begin to charge credit cards after auction end. And circa 16 hours after auction end we begin packing and shipping.
Where can I check charging and shipping?
You can check charging and shipping by logging to your account and select ORDERS from the menu.
We confirm charging and shipping by e-mail.
Can I swap my winning bid for another lot after auction end?
No.
What are your shipping costs?
We differentiate by shipment classes depending on the size of an item, and we "divide" the world into different shipment zones. We charge a per shipment fee. The shipping fee is indicated on the page with the detailed descriptions for an object.
If you buy several items, the one with the highest shipping fee is applicable. For an overview of shipping costs for your country, please go to shipping.
Is transport insurance included?
Yes - The flat shipping fee includes transport insurance.
How can I save on shipment costs?
We keep your purchases from several auctions up to 3 months and ship on your request consolidated as one shipment. If you want to use this service, please set your Account to Consolidated Shipping = Yes.
My auction wins have not yet arrived!
Please have some patience. Especially the shipments to the U.S.A. are slow. Even 4 weeks are no reason to be worried. We have hardly lost anything in more than 20 years, and we have shipped several then thousands shipments to all corners of the world.
If your shipment seems to be overdue, please contact us by e-mail.
Check your local Postal Office if there is a package for you. We had a few rare cases in the U.S.A. and in the U.K. when clients had not been notified, and the package was lying at the local Post Office for days and weeks.
Which payment methods are accepted?
We buyers outside Europe we accept credit cards by VISA, Mastercard and American Express and PayPal. For buyers from Europe we accept PayPal and bank transfer.
Where can I see my purchased Items?
You can see your purchased items since 2001 by logging to your account and selecting Collection from your account applications. If you need a new certificate click on the printer icon.
Can you alert me when you offer works by my favorite artist(s)?
Yes. Please go to Artist Alerts and select from the drop-down list the artist(s) for which you want to receive an alert message. When we have works by this/these artist(s) in a new auction, our system will notify you by email about 10 minutes after auction start.
Where can I print additional invoice copies?
We include a printed version of your invoice(s) with our shipments - 1 copy inside the package and 1 copy outside the package (for all international shipments). If you need additional invoice copies, please login to your account and go to Orders - Invoices from the menu. Click on the printer symbol.
How long do you keep my account data?
If you bought from us, we do not delete your data. But you can deactivate your account. By German law we are obliged to keep your data for at least 10 years. If you never bought from us, we delete your registration data automatically after circa 1 year of no login activity. This delete is complete and irreversible. And of course, if you never bought from us you can remove your data at any time. Login to you account and select REMOVE.
We want to sell Japanese prints to you. We are not interested in collecting your data nor which pages you visit on our site. Since 2001 our software has deleted more than 15,000 registrations.
Tips for e-mail communication
If you do not use the standard contact page of our web site pages, then please put the word artelino into the subject line to pass our spam filters.
E-Mails with no subjects or subjects like "hello", "business proposal" or "question" or all CAPITAL letters are typical spam-mails. We delete them without opening them.
Author:
Dieter Wanczura
