Auction Rules

 

***Below are the rules that you would have agreed to when you applied to gain access to bidding and/or selling in the auction ads.***

 

I agree that GUNPOST is not responsible

1) I agree that this is the same as the classified ads on gunpost.ca, in that GUNPOST is NOT responsible for the transactions between the buyers and sellers. GUNPOST simply provides the advertising platform for buyers and sellers to connect, and the buyer pays the seller directly.

That said, GUNPOST does go to great lengths to mitigate as many potential issues between buyers and sellers as possible. Especially with this auction platform, by only allowing members with good track records to participate in auctions.

Lawful use

2) I agree that as a bidder, I will only bid on items that I am legally allowed to acquire.

I will only bid on firearms and/or ammunition if I have a PAL(Possession Acquisition License), and only on restricted or prohibited guns if I have the proper designation on my PAL.

If I win an auction, and the item auctioned requires a PAL, I will provide the seller with my PAL info so that the seller can call the CFP to verify that my PAL is valid.

Bidding purchase requirements

3) I agree that once I make a bid, I am expected to follow through with my purchase if my bid ends up being the winning bid.

Failure to follow through on a purchase if I make a winning bid, will get me removed from the auction privileges at minimum, and possibly removed from GUNPOST altogether.

I am also expected to send payment(and PAL info if the item requires that) within a reasonable amount of time once the auction closes. 48 hours should be a maximum window to follow through with payment etc. But, if there is some type of unusual circumstance, 10 days from the end of the auction will be the time limit before I forfeit the purchase, and will be removed from the auction privileges, and maybe even removed from GunPost altogether.

Buyer must be willing to pay shipping, and pay in certain forms of payment

4) I agree that if I win an auction, I will pay the seller's shipping charge, or be able to pick it up in person. The seller is NOT responsible for the shipping cost in an auction.

Nor is the seller obligated to accept COD as payment. I will be able to send e-transfer, or cash in person. Or if need be, I may ask the seller if he is willing to accept any other form or payment(i.e. mailed bank draft or certified cheque). But the seller is not obligated to accept any other form of payment other than e-transfer, or cash in person.

If there is a dispute between the buyer and seller as to the appropriate cost of shipping, the seller can get a shipping quote from Canada Post online, or whatever other courier the seller must use to ship the item, and provide that to the buyer as proof of shipping cost.

Questions and answers section on an auction post

5) I agree that the 'questions and answers' section is meant so that important questions relevant to the item being auctioned, that were not answered by the ad description or title itself.

NO TROLLING is allowed! Nor is it a general chat. It is strictly for asking relevant questions pertaining to the interest of getting any missing information from the ad in which the seller did not specify or show in the ad itself.

Examples of acceptable questions to publicly submit:

  • How many rounds did you put through it?
  • Any failure to feed issues?
  • How would you rate the condition of the rifling?
  • How well did it group?
  • Can you upload better photos of the other side of the gun?

Examples of what the question section is NOT for:

  • These guns are built like garbage.
  • FYI everyone. These are in stock at -------'s gun shop.
  • Anyone else here in the comments tried one of these before? How did you like it?
  • If I didn't own 3 of these already, I would bid on this. I love them!

Auction item must not be posted item anywhere else

6) I agree that if I am posting an ad for auctioning, I will NOT post this item for sale anywhere else(Including NOT in the GUNPOST classified ads). I MUST be able to provide this item to the member who ends up with the winning bid, at the end of the auction.

If the auction ends and there is a winning bid, and I am unable to provide it to the winner for any reason that was within my control to prevent(i.e. you sold it to someone else, or decided to keep it), I will be at minimum removed from auction privileges, or likely banned from GUNPOST altogether.

The only acceptable reason for not providing the item auctioned to the highest bidder at the end of the auction, is if the highest bidder defaults providing proper proof of PAL or other legal requirements, or defaults in sending payment within 24 hours of the seller requesting the payment and/or PAL or other legal requirements.

In which case, it would have to be offered to the 2nd highest bidder at the price of the bid, the 2nd highest bidder last submitted in the auction.

Sellers must verify PAL of buyer, or any other legal requirements

7) I agree that if I am the seller who sold an item in auction, and the item that I just sold requires a PAL, I alone am the one who is responsible to validate the PAL for non-restricted guns or ammunition.

Or for restricted or prohibited firearms that require a transfer of ownership with the CFP, I am responsible to handle the transfer of ownership with the winner of the auction item.

Sellers must pay a 3% fee to GUNPOST

8) I agree that when I have sold an item in an auction, the final sale price in the auction is subject to a 3% advertising fee(or a minimum charge of $7, whichever is a higher amount) to GUNPOST, paid by the seller.

The seller's credit card will be auto-billed at the end of the auction in the amount of the proper advertising fee as described above.

If the credit card payment fails, another chance will be provided to the seller to either retry the card, or communicate with GUNPOST in order to send the payment by e-transfer.

If GUNPOST is not getting paid the fee promptly after an auction sale, the seller will be banned from the entire GUNPOST platform, not just the auction privileges.

Sellers must be willing to ship

9) I agree that if I am a seller who sold an item in auction, I MUST be willing to ship the item to the buyer.

But this shipping cost is at the buyer's expense. The buyer must pay the seller the cost of shipping.

The seller of course may allow the buyer to pick it up in person if the buyer is able, and willing to.

If there is a dispute between the buyer and seller as to the appropriate cost of shipping, the seller can get a shipping quote from Canada Post online, or whatever other courier the seller must use to ship the item, and provide that to the buyer as proof of shipping cost.

Repost rules if no bids were submitted

10) I agree that if I had an auction ad posted, and the auction ends with no bids having been submitted, I can repost a new auction ad for it as long as I reduce the 'starting bid' price by a minimum of 5%, or greater.

The point of the 'starting bid' is to be low enough that would entice at least the first person to put in the first bid above the 'start bid' price. But not so low that you would never consider letting your item go for anything less than what the next bid up would be.

If the seller is having to repost the auction item because the auction ended, and not one person was willing to put in the 1st bid, that means that the 'starting bid' price is more than anyone is willing to pay for it.

If I am constantly having to repost the same item in auction for this reason, I may receive a warning to be more realistic with the 'starting bid' price, or have my auction posting privileges removed.

Quality of posts

11) I agree that if I post an auction ad, that the care and detail that goes into my post will be held to a higher standard than what might slide by for an acceptable post in the regular classified ads.

It is important to select all of the proper fields(category, caliber, manufacturer, classification, etc.), and cover any other important details in the description. As well as mentioning ANY known issues in the description for full disclosure.

It is also important to take good photos, and multiple photos. Uploading one photo of a used gun for something that is being auctioned is not acceptable. The gun has a minimum of 2 sides obviously, and the true condition of the used gun can not be truly presented to people who are bidding, if I don't at minimum show both sides of the gun. Even uploading more than 2 photos is highly encouraged. Also, photos that are too blurry, or too small for potential bidders to be able to see enough detail, those ads may be rejected by admins. Close up photos on any imperfections should be uploaded to the ad.

For a gun that is brand new, never used, still in it's box, then 1 photo is acceptable. The seller can even have a manufacturer's stock image as the secondary photo if desired by the seller. But the 1st and main photo MUST be the seller's own photo, even if it's of the gun still sitting in it's box wrapped in plastic.

Other things that are brand new in the box, such as rifle scopes for example. If the box itself is still sealed in the original factory plastic wrapping, the seller does not have to open the box for a photo. The seller can just take a photo of the sealed box.