Reverse Auction Rules

In a Reverse Auction, a buyer will post the item that they are looking for and the bidders will compete to offer it at their lowest price. However, in order to keep this forum operating well, there are a quite a few rules we need you to make sure you follow when using the REVERSE auction forums.

Disobeying or ignoring any of these Reverse Auction Rules may result in punishments such as being blacklisted from the Marketplace and/or possibly receiving in-game punishment. Not reading the rules is not an excuse for not following them.

If you see that anyone is not following the Reverse Auction Rules, please report the post with an explanation of why you reported it and a staff member will be able to assist.

Reverse Auction Item Guidelines(top)

The same items are eligible for Reverse Auction, as the regular Auctionable Items.

Template for Reverse Auction Threads(top)

Your reverse auction thread must contain all of these details. The formatting is variable, given that all info is shown.

Thread Title: [REVERSE AUCTION] Item Names Here (Optional Tags)
Item: _________
Starting Bid: _________
Minimum Bid Decrease: ________
Auction Ending Time: _______
Expected Delivery Time: _________

Example:
[REVERSE AUCTION] Double Chest of Sponge blocks *SQUISHY*
Item: One double chest of sponge blocks
Starting Bid: 1,000,000 Rupees
Minimum Bid Decrease: 10,000 Rupees
Auction Ending Time: 48 hours after the last valid bid*
Expected Delivery Time: 48 hours after auction concluded.

*Expected Delivery Time has a minimum of 48 hours and maximum of 7 days. If it is
not specified the default is 48 hours after the reverse auction is concluded as per EMC standards.
**You may not include a Maximum Bid Decrease.

Rules for Reverse Auction Hosts(top)

Last Updated: August 17, 2024

Definition: "household" is defined to include all accounts which often connect to EMC services from the same physical location(s). This includes alternate accounts, family members, significant others, and other accounts that use the same IP. Leniency on this household definition can be granted only through explicit permission from the Admin team.

• Your household may hold a maximum of 3 auction at a time in the Reverse Auctions section, regardless of supporter level.
• Your Reverse Auction does not count against the allowable number of regular auctions you may host.
• You must post full details of your reverse auction in the OP. If you forget any detail, use the report button to alert the staff team. Include the missing information in the report reason.
• You may not change any details of your reverse auction after it begins.
• All reverse auctions are irrevocable. Once you post, you are bound to purchase from the winner. If you wish to close a reverse auction, report it to staff before any bids are made.
• You may only create reverse auctions where Rupees are used to bid. Items cannot be used to bid.
• You may not include "bonus items" as a reward to the reverse auction winner.
• You must provide a secure pickup location in the Town world for the reverse auction winner to sell you the items. We recommend you use [ACCESS] signs to do this.
• You may specify an Expected Delivery Time from 48 hours to a maximum of 7 days (after the conclusion of the auction) in order to facilitate large auctions. An example would be a reverse auction for 10 DCs of sand with an EDT of 5 days.
• You may not offer a "buy it now" price.
• You may not have a "reserve price".
• You may not close a reverse auction before the posted ending time.
• You may only bump your reverse auction after 12 hours has passed, since last post by anyone.
• You may advertise a reverse auction in in-game Chat once every 12 hours. You may not advertise in Discord or forum statuses at this time.
• You may not specify a maximum bid decrease.
• Minimum reverse auction time is 1 hour.
• An auction that receives no valid bids within 7 days of starting is considered closed automatically

Rules for Reverse Auction Bidders(top)

Last Updated: August 17, 2024

• Do not bid on items that you cannot supply at the time of bidding. This includes having active bids open on other reverse auctions that would bring your total number of items involved below what is necessary on another reverse auction.
• Do not make joke bids. You are bound to all posted bids.
• You may only bid in Rupees.
• You are expected to sell within 48 hours of winning an auction, unless you and the reverse auction host agree to different terms, or if the reverse auction's OP states that there is a different time you have to sell within.
• If you post a bid, you are bound it. You may not withdraw bids.
• Only post on an auction thread if:
  • You are bidding
  • You are asking a question about the specific reverse auction, or item
  • You won the reverse auction, and are discussion selling/collection with the reverse auction Host
  • You are posting content that the staff deem relevant to the auction at hand
• Asking to split a reverse auction is not a valid post. Please discuss matters like that in a PM.
• The first bid on a reverse auction must be equal to, or LOWER than the starting bid.
• All subsequent bids must be less than the last valid bid minus the minimum bid decrease. For example, if the current valid bid is 100 Rupees, and the minimum bid decrease is 10 Rupees, the highest you could bid is 90r.
• You may not bid on reverse auctions created by another account from your household.
• Conspiracy to rig a reverse auction will be handled by Staff as scamming.
• As Rupees are only available in whole numbers, bids must be in whole Rupees too.
• When bidding, you may either bid using the format "1500r", or "1.5k", as they mean the same thing.
• You may not bid on a reverse auction if you are currently permbanned. Temporarily banned players are still allowed to bid on reverse auctions so long as your temporary ban will not prevent you from meeting the delivery deadline.