The auction bidding process is run in an English auction style manner. Auctions have a reserve price/starting price. The first bidder must bid at least the reserve/starting price amount. A bidder enters the maximum amount he is currently prepared to pay for the item. The system will then bid the lowest amount possible for the bidder to secure the item. If other bidders have bid on the item, the system will analyse each bid made and register the bids until there is a highest bid (again, the highest bid will be the lowest bid possible to secure an item). Of course, other bidders can rebid and in this case the same process is kicked off again.

A bidder can at any time, adjust there highest bid, presuming the item has not reached this amount. So for example, if a bidder bid 50 Euros for an item and the item was currently at 30 Euros, if the bidder places a new bid of 40 Euros, the bidders maximum bid will be adjusted. A bidder cannot outbid himself.

A number of errors may occur when placing a bid, these are as follows:

In the event of an incorrect bid being placed by a bidder, the bidder should notify the site administrator of the mistake.

Seller's have the facility to block any other member of the site from bidding on their auctions. When a seller chooses to block a bidder, the blocked bidder will receive an error message when bidding on any of the seller's items.

The seller may re-instate bidding functionality at the bidders request but is by no means obliged to. Any member appearing on three or more blocked bidder lists will be asked to leave the site and will have their membership terminated.

Buy Now auctions run in the same way as a standard auction but allow a seller to specify a buy price for the item. The buy price is the amount that the seller will sell the item for and close the auction. When a bidder enters a bid equal to or exceeding the buy price, the auction will close, securing the item for the bidder at the buy price. Both buyer and seller will be notified by email of the sale.

If bids are placed on the item but the buy price is not achieved, the auction will close in the usual manner.

A seller can set an auction item to use auto-extend functionality. This function detects any bid made within the last 3 minutes of an auction and extends the auction end time by 3 minutes. This functionality helps sellers achieve the best price for their items and stops bidders missing out on that desirable serial number!

The quality indicators allow a seller to give potential buyers an idea of the quality of an item. The seller can indicate that the the item may have defects of some sort and for slides, specify the film the slide was taken on. The use of quality indicators helps to avoid disputes that may arrise after a transaction saving both the seller and buyer time and cost associated with returns.

The site offers various options for configuring the email sent to you when auctions close. By default, the site will send an email to both the winning bidder and seller. Emails are sent in HTML format but can be set to text format if preferred.

Registered users can click here to configure email options now. Alternatively, once you have registered, select the Email Notification menu option in the members area.

When an auction closes, both the winning bidder and seller will receive an email detailing the item and providing the contact email address for both the buyer and seller.

A seller can set-up automatic payment instructions which will be included in the email received by the winning bidder. When automatic payment instructions have been set-up, the winning bidder should follow the instructions contained in the email. Once payment is received by the seller, the seller will despatch the item/s to the winning bidder.

If no payment instructions are provided, the seller should contact the winning bidder to arrange payment and shipping of the item/s. It is normal practice for the seller to first receive payment before despatching any items to the winning bidder, unless a prior agreement has been made between the two parties.

Buyer's and seller's should aim to complete transactions within two weeks of auction closure (allowing for holidays). Should no contact be received from the other party within this time, then you should contact admin@AircraftSlides.com and we will attempt to bring the transaction to a conclusion.

Note: You are obliged (by the sites rules) to purchase/sell an item when an auction completes successfully unless there is a good reason for not doing so. We will happily mediate these situations and unforseen events do occur from time to time but consistent problems with buyers or sellers will result in account suspension as it causes unecessary administration for everyone involved.

Members are encouraged to leave feedback on both buyers and sellers once an auction has closed and the transaction has been completed. Feedback gives you and other users an indication of the ease of dealing with other site members and may influence your decision when bidding on items.

To leave feedback, simply click a members username from either the Selling History or Buying History page, available in the Members area. The feedback will relate to the purchase/sale of the item you click on.

Member messaging provides you with email-like functionality through the site and is designed to help you complete transactions without having to remember emails. You can simply enter a members username and compose a message or reply to messages sent to you. Your inbox contains messages sent to you and sent items, messages you have sent to other users.