Once you’ve created and verified your account, you are now ready to start creating watchlist and bidding on lots!

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To create a watchlist, click on any lot in our current catalogue that catches your eye and click the Watch button located in the upper right. To view your watchlist click the Account button in the top right.

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Bidding will become available a few days after the catalogue becomes available for viewing. You can find all of the relevant dates for any of our auctions HERE.

 

There are two main ways to control your bidding; the first being a Standard Bid and the second being an Auto-Bid.

 

For a Standard Bid, the amount that you type in the bid box and confirm is a commitment to pay that price. While you will often see these Standard Bids placed in incremental order (see Section 4.3 in our Terms and Conditions for a detailed description of the incremental bidding schedule), you may also place a standard bid that goes beyond the next increment. For example, if the current bid for Lot 1 is $80 you may expect to see the next bid at $90 (this would follow the bid increment schedule of $10). However, if a particularly eager bidder wishes to exceed this increment, they may immediately bid up the lot to any amount they wish as long as it follows our incremental schedule.

 

The other bid type is an Auto-Bid. If Standard Bids represent a commitment to pay, then an Auto-Bid represents a willingness to pay. Placing an Auto-Bid allows the Biddify software to acknowledge your maximum price that you are willing to pay for a lot. The software will only place a bid for you if another bidder attempts to outbid you. However, the software will not place bids for you that exceed the maximum amount that you entered. Using the Auto-Bid feature is a great way to ensure you can still participate in the bidding process while not having to be online during the auction close.

 

Artefact does have the ability to place Absentee Bids on behalf of bidders who find themselves unable to participate in the auction using our online platform, regardless of the reason. We recognize the importance of having accessible bidding options available for anyone. Absentee Bids function virtually the same as Auto-Bids. If you would like us to place an Absentee Bid for you or if you require general assistance placing bids, please contact us by phone at 825-540-3362 or email at info@artefactauction.com.

 

Auctions will close at a predetermined date and time, always in the sequential order of lot number, starting with Lot 1. Our auctions use two different features to help ensure you have the best possible bidding experience; Soft-Close and Staggered-Close.

 

Our Soft-Close feature resets the bid timer to 2 minutes if any bid is placed within the last 2 minutes of the close of that particular lot. This feature ensures that you always time to counter if you are outbid on your coveted lot!

 

The Staggered-Close feature helps in ensure that bidders can monitor each of their desired lots by preventing too many lots from closing at the exact same time. Our lots are set to close 20 seconds after the previous lot – though this can extend if the Soft-Close feature is triggered by bidding occurring within in the last 2 minutes. The addition of these features mimics the back-and-forth bidding experience of a live auction.

 

Once the auction has concluded, meaning all bidding on all lots has closed, our team reviews all the bids for that particular auction. Successful bidders will then receive an email including a summary of the lots that they have won as well as their invoice for that auction. This email includes a link to our payment portal which will be accessible only after logging back in to our auction. The payment portal lets you choose your method of payment, making the payment process as simple as possible! If you would like to pay by credit card, you can pay directly through our payment portal online. If you’d prefer to pay in person–that is no problem! We accept credit card, debit card, cash, cheque, and e-transfer for payment methods. Our team would be happy to assist you with payments upon pickup of your items at our office/showroom, Suite 101 - 5240 1A Street SE, Calgary, Alberta.

 

Successful bidders are provided with clear instructions for pickup, including designated pickup days which immediately follow the auction closure. In general, all lots are picked up directly from our showroom, though we are able to help arrange for shipping, if required. Items that can be handled by a common carrier will be packed and shipped by UPS. For items that exceed UPS capabilities, it is the bidder's responsibility to arrange shipping – though we can help recommend a shipper or courier for you based on your needs!

 

Participating in an auction is an exciting experience! We hope that this guide was helpful for you, give you full confidence as a bidder in our Artefact auctions! If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to call our office or email us. Another resource for more information on our online auctions is our Terms and Conditions.