BidChip Buyer Guide Details

• Bidding is meant to be fun, but remember that each bid you place enters you into a binding contract. All bids are active until the listing ends. If you win an item, you’re obligated to purchase it.
• Don’t bid on identical items in different listings if you only want one item. If you win both, you’ll be obligated to buy both.
• If you outbid on an item, wait until the listing has ended before placing a bid on an equivalent item. If the bidder who won doesn’t complete the transaction for any reason, you could become the winning bidder.
• If you’re blocked from bidding on a seller’s listing, you cannot bid using another user ID.

Keeping your contact information

Make sure we always have your current contact information so BidChip can contact you after you win or commit to buying an item. If your correct information isn’t on file, then BidChip or the seller might be trying to contact you using the inaccurate contact information. It is your responsibility to update your contact through BidChip My Account:

1. Log in to BidChip.
2. Click on My Account.
3. Click on private information.
4. Then edit and update your information.
5. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

Managing items you’re watching

The watch list section of My BidChip lets you save and track items that interest you before you bid or buy. You can add any active listing to your list.
To add an item to your watch list, click the Watch list in the listing.
Watch list in the listing.

To manage items you’re watching:

1. 1. Sign in to BidChip.
2. 2. Go to My Account.
3. Choose the watch list tab from the drop-down menu.
4. 4. Select the item you like and click to see more details.

Note: To see all your lists, click the watch list.

Manage your bidding and buying.

1. Sign in to BidChip.
2. Click on My Account.
3. Click on Trading.
4. See a summary of all your activity.
5. Or choose one of the more specific tabs that provide specific information on the auction or reverse auction.

In the Active Auction section of My BidChip, you can view all the items you’re currently bidding on, whether or not you’re the current high bidder.

To manage items you’re bidding on:

1. 1. Go to My Account.
2. 2. Click the“Item I bid” Tab.
3. 3. And click on the specific auction or reverse auction.

After a listing ends, the item will automatically move to the “outstanding payment item” or “Didn’t win” tab section. You can’t delete an active item until the listing ends.

When the listing is over

After the listing is over and if you won the item, you’ll need to pay for it and leave Feedback.

Use the outstanding payment section of My BidChip to view all your recent purchases and check whether you’ve paid for the items and left Feedback for the seller.

The Didn’t win section shows listings that ended but were won by another member.

Deleting and restoring items

You can’t delete items from your Purchase history, including lists, Didn’t win, Sold, and Unsold. But you can archive them.

What’s a reserve price?

A reserve price is a price a seller can set when they create an auction-style listing. It’s the minimum price they’re willing to accept for an item. If the bidding doesn’t reach this price, they aren’t obligated to sell the item.

Sellers might use a reserve price because it allows them to set a low starting price to generate interest and bidding, but protects them from having to sell their item at a price that they feel is too low.

The reserve price is hidden from buyers. However, sellers aren’t obligated to reveal their reserve price.

How bidding works for an item with a reserve price

When you bid on an item with a reserve price, if your maximum bid meets the reserve, it will automatically increase to meet that price.

Example: A seller lists an item with a starting bid of $1.00 and a reserve of $100.00. Bidder A bids $99.00. The current bid increases to $99.00 but the reserve isn’t met. If nobody else places a bid, Bidder A does not win the item.

Bidder B places a maximum bid of $101.00. The current bid increases to $101.00 and the reserve is met. If nobody else places a bid, Bidder B wins the item at the price of $101.00.

Note: If a seller’s reserve price isn’t met, they might choose to offer the item to one of the bidders using a Second Chance Offer

Using Make Offer

If you see Make Offer below the Buy It Now price in the listing, the seller accepts Best Offers from buyers.

You can negotiate the price with the seller, giving you the opportunity to buy the item for less than the Buy It Now price. The seller can accept your offer, decline your offer, or make a counteroffer. However, you should make what you consider to be your best offer for the item because any seller who receives multiple offers for an item is likely to accept the highest offer. Make Offer buyers have only one chance to send Make Offer. You should use Make Offer only when you’re serious about making a purchase at your Best Offer price. If your offer is accepted by the seller, you and the seller are required to complete the transaction.

Submitting a Best Offer

To submit Your Best Offer:

1. Sign in to BidChip.
2. Find a listing that accepts Make Offers.
3. Click Make Offer.
4. Enter Your offer.
5. Click Submit.
6. Review the information and click Submit offer.

Other terms

• Best Offers are good until the listing ends.
• If a seller accepts your offer, you’re required to complete the transaction.
• You can make up to 1 Make Offer for most items.
• If the Make Offer button doesn’t appear in the listing, the seller may not be interested in receiving offers. If you do contact a seller to negotiate price or terms, you shouldn’t make offers to buy the item outside of BidChip. Doing so violates our offers to buy or sell outside of BidChip policy.
• You can’t include contact information such as an email address, phone number, or URL in contact seller or Make Offer. All in-mail pass through BidChip review system.
• For listings in which the seller has specified shipping costs for the item, the Make Offer price does not include shipping only the listed item. For listings in which the shipping costs aren’t specified, the buyer can calculate shipping costs in their offer and add them to the offer.

Track your purchases

You can keep track of your purchases on your My Account dashboard of your BidChip account. After you register, you’ll get your own My BidChip page where you can see what’s happening with items you’ve bought (and sold). You’ll be able to keep track of your feedback from other members, and you’ll even be able to keep an eye on other items you’re interested in buying. Go to My BidChip.

The listing page displays when you click the Auction Tab, Reverse Auction, RFP, or Tender. From these pages, you can read about, watch, bid on, and purchase an item.

When buying an item, read the information in each section of the listing page carefully. It’s important to understand the seller’s description of the item, shipping terms, refund, and return policies, as well as any other terms and conditions before you bid on or buy the item.

Shipping and payments:

• Read the Shipping and payments section carefully for details on shipping and handling, and the type of payment methods accepted.
• The shipping costs are divided to two milestones: seller => BidChip => buyer
• The first milestone the seller will determine if he:

1. Pays for.
2. Doesn’t participate in shipping.

• As a buyer, you will find this information in the shipping information.
• In the shipping section, you will see the cost of shipping to your destination. You also can choose between express shipment and ground shipment; in both cases, it will not add time to your component verification time.

Purchasing items using Buy It Now

1. Look for items with a Buy It Now price to check the Buy It Now price of the item. This is the price you’ll pay for the item. Be sure to check the shipping cost and any additional costs that might be listed in the item description to determine the total cost for the item.
2. To purchase the item immediately, click the Buy It Now button in the listing to put the item in your BidChip purchased item.

Important: Items in your BidChip purchased items will be held and treated as purchased items and will not be available to other buyers.

3. On the next page, click confirm the quantity and part no button.
4. Review your purchase information, and then click the Confirm and select your payment method pay button.

Contact a seller.

1. Click the contact seller at the bottom of the left side of the listing. (You may be asked to sign in.)
2. On the My Account page, choose the private message, and look for your seller’s reply.
3. If you can’t get your answer from the seller but you still like to buy the item, you can contact our customer support and we will try to address your question. If we couldn’t get the answer from the seller we suggest you don’t bid or buy a component that you’re not sure about.

Note: Not all sellers accept questions before you buy an item, but all sellers accept questions after you’ve bought an item

If you need to find the listing:

Click auction, reverse auction, or RFP at the top of most BidChip pages.

Waiting for the item to arrive

The amount of time that it takes for an item to arrive often depends on the shipping method that you selected when you bought the item and the payment method the buyer uses. You can review the estimated delivery time on the Order details page. It can take longer for your item to arrive if you paid with certain payment methods. Sellers usually wait till BidChip receives your payment or for the payment to clear before they ship the item to BidChip. In certain cases, the seller may ship the item before BidChip receives payment.

Tracking the item

After you pay and your payment is cleared, BidChip will inform you and the seller of every step, so you can track your item with the listing.
The next steps to complete the successful transaction:

The following steps:

1. Buyer transfers fund and uploads receipt.
2. BidChip will verify the payment.
3. After the buyer’s transfer is cleared BidChip sends an email notification to the seller.
4. Seller ships the component to BidChip.
5. BidChip receives components and verifies quantity and the compatibility of shipment with listing..
6. BidChip ships the item to the buyer (tracking no. will be sent).
7. BidChip starts to Countdown 15 days from shipment to release funds to the seller account.

You may have received tracking information in an email. You can use this information to check the shipping status of your item on the shipping company’s website you can track all these steps through your dashboard and the step-by-step transaction.

Inspecting the item

When you receive your item, inspect it right away to make sure it matches the description in the seller’s listing.

If you’re not happy with the item, please contact us immediately with open ticket support. It’s often a simple misunderstanding that the seller will be happy to correct. If you’re still not happy, learn what to do when you don’t receive your item or it doesn’t match the seller’s description.

You are also responsible to check the integrity of the component and verify all components are original. You have the protection of 14 days from the time we ship it to you, so please make sure to notify us within 14 days from the shipping date. BidChip will replace all counterfeit components without any delay during these 14 days but not later. Please see our money-back guarantee policy.

Leaving Feedback

Leave the seller Feedback about your experience and your satisfaction with the purchase. Remember that Feedback is permanent and public, so be accurate and factual when commenting on the item or seller. Contacting the seller

If your item is taking longer to reach you than you expected, you can contact us and ask about the shipment. The seller’s private message is available by clicking contact seller in the listing

Using buyer protection programs

If you don’t receive your item for a significant amount of time after the seller said it would arrive (at least 10 days), or if the item is different from what was described in the listing, you may be eligible for buyer protection program. Please review our safe trading tips for buyers and learn more about our buyer protection programs.

Eligibility

Things to keep in mind:

• Follow all return time frames.
• Start a return by the time specified in the buyer protection section of the listing.
• Ship the item back to BidChip within 5 business days of starting the return when returning an item for a refund.
• Ship the item back to BidChip within 5 business days of starting the return when returning an item for a replacement. We’ll start sending you reminders if you haven’t returned the item after 5 business days. If you haven’t sent the item back after 14 days, we charge you for the second item.
• Make sure that you’re returning the item in the same condition as you received it. See money-back guarantee and seller protection policies for returns for more information.

Return shipping charges

• • Either you or the seller is responsible for return shipping charges depending on the reason for the return. In most cases, if you’re returning an item because it isn’t as described in the listing, the seller is responsible for return shipping charges.

When you’re responsible for return shipping charges, we charge your BidChip account or PayPal account if you ship the item using our shipping label. The first time you use BidChip returns and you’re responsible for return shipping charges, we ask you to accept a billing agreement to authorize payment for these kinds of charges.

Return shipping charges when using BidChip shipping labels

Returns are shipped using UPS or FedEx, First-Class, or Priority Mail—whichever is the most appropriate for the cost, package weight, and delivery time. In some instances, return shipping charges may not be based on the actual weight of the package, but an estimate.

Return shipping charges are based on rates negotiated with UPS / FedEx. These charges may differ from actual rates to ship an item and are subject to change.

Refunds

Refunds are automatically adjusted for any applicable restocking fees or shipping charges.

When the item isn’t as described:

If you return an item because it’s not as described in the listing, arrives damaged, or is missing parts, then you are eligible for a refund. In these situations, the seller can’t charge a restocking fee and the seller pays for the return shipping charges.

All other returns:

If you return an item for any other reason, including if you’ve changed your mind about a purchase, the seller keeps any restocking fee specified in the listing Return policy.

In these situations, your original shipping charge usually isn’t refunded. You may also pay the return shipping charges.

For this type of return in most cases, your refund is the total purchase price, including item cost, sales tax, and other charges, less:

• Original shipping (unless specified otherwise in the listing Return Policy)
• Restocking fee
• Return shipping
• BidChip commission
• BidChip chargeback 4% of the total value

When a return becomes a BidChip Money Back Guarantee case

If a seller doesn’t issue a refund within 6 business days after receiving a returned item, you can open a case through the BidChip Money Back Guarantee. You have 10 business days to open a case (ticket) after a seller’s time to issue a refund (6 business days) has passed.

Replacements

Some sellers may offer you the option of returning an item for a replacement instead of a refund. A replacement is an item that is exactly the same as the original item listing.

You can request a replacement if:

• The seller offers replacements in the listing return policy.
• The item arrives and isn’t as described in the listing, such as with a damaged part, or the item is defective in some way.
• You are returning the original item and will be getting the exact same item as a replacement.
• The total refund value of the original item is less than $500.00.

Things to keep in mind when requesting a replacement:

• If you’re requesting a replacement because the item wasn’t as described in the listing, such as with a damaged part, the seller is responsible for the return shipping charges. See Return shipping charges.
• If you’re unable to return the item because it’s unsafe to ship (such as a ruptured and leaking battery) or broken beyond repair, you’ll need to open a case in the Resolution Center.
• The seller will ship the replacement to you within 5 business days of the start of the return process. You can track the progress of your replacement item in the Purchase history section of My BidChip.
• Ship the item back to the seller within 5 business days of starting the return process. We’ll start sending you reminders if you haven’t returned the item after 5 business days.
• If you don’t ship the original back to the seller within 10 days, you’ll be charged for the replacement item.
• If you send the original item back to the seller, and the seller doesn’t send a replacement, the return will be treated as a refund.

When a request for a replacement becomes a BidChip Money Back Guarantee case

• If you would like to open a case, you’ll have 10 days from either the day the replacement was delivered to you or the day the original was returned to the seller– whichever is later.
• If you use alternative shipping arrangements, return shipping charges will not be included in any BidChip Money Back Guarantee refunds, even if the seller agreed to pay return shipping charges