Frequently Asked Questions

Registration, Login, & Emails

How can I bid?

Please register ahead of time! All registrations require complete contact information, and must be confirmed before you will be able to place a bid. Usually this process only takes a few minutes, but sometimes verification takes longer. We recommend bidders to register at least several days before an auction closes.

What is the cost to register on this site?

There are no registration fees for bidders.

I did not receive a registration confirmation email!

If you did not receive a confirmation email, please check your spam / garbage / junk folders
You may have more than one spam filter. Email can be filtered at the server level (before it ever gets to you), in your email program, or even by your antivirus software.
Do you have filters or a challenge response system? Some email settings will block mail from unknown senders. Try adding perfecthorseauctions.com to your address book, or a trusted sender / white list.
If you have checked all these, or have made changes to your system, contact us to request a new confirmation email.
If none of these solutions work for you, try registering with a different email address for your account, such as a gmail address.

I am not receiving your emails at my Gmail account

Gmail Help: Missing Messages

How to white-list Perfect Horse Auctions on Gmail

These steps are using a pc. Steps may be different using another device, or a mobile app, and steps may change from time to time.
From your Gmail Account:
click the gear icon to open settings menu
choose "Settings" from the menu
click "Filters and Blocked Addresses"
click on "Create a New Filter" link (this may be lower on the page, if you have other filters already defined)
type in the from box: perfecthorseauctions.com
click "Create Filter"
checkmark " Never send it to Spam"
click "Save Filter"

I cannot complete the registration form!

Only one registration is allowed per email address. If an account has already been created with your email address, you will need to choose a different email addres.
Please make sure that you have completed all required fields.
Have you successfully completed the authentication section? You must verify that you are not a robot AND enter your password. If there is any error on the form, you will need to re-enter your authentication.
If you attempt to register the same email address using a different browser, different device, or different internet session, you may need to wait 30 minutes for the system to clear your previous attempt. If you closed and reopened your browser, it may create a new internet session, requiring a wait period. If you canceled your first registration attempt before leaving the site, then the 30-minute wait is not necesssary.

I can't remember my password ... what do I do?

From the "Login" page, click the link that says "Forgot Password?". Enter the email address that you registered with, and the system will send your account sign in information to your email. If you do not remember which email address you used, or if you no longer have access to that email, please contact us and provide enough information to identify your account: full name, phone, address, username etc.

Help! I can't login!

Have you registered and confirmed your registration on Perfect Horse Auctions?
Be sure to enter your username exactly, including spaces or dashes. Make sure there is not an extra space on the end.
Your password is case sensitive. "Happy01" is not the same as happy01".
Has your account been suspended? Suspended users will not be able to login to their accounts.

Viewing Auction Listings

Can I save listings I'm interested in to revisit later?

Yes. As a registered user, you can maintain your own "watch list" within your account. Each listing on our site has an "add to watch list" link. Simply click that link and we will add that item to your list.

The page seems to load very slowly ... is the site working ok?

Slow page loading is nearly always the result of a poor internet connection. We optimize our site so that it does not require high-speed internet: we have minimal or no ads, we do not use auto-play videos or other high-bandwidth display options. However, connection types, location, and time of day do affect internet speed. The speed of dial-up service, wireless internet, public wi-fi, a wireless network in your home, cell phone internet, or satellite services vary widely.

Near the end of a sale when listings are actively closing, the site traffic does increase significantly, as bidding heats up, so do allow extra time to place your bids. Do not try to wait until the last moment to place a bid ("sniping"), or you may be too late!

Why do I need to "refresh" my page? What does that mean?

If you are watching or bidding on an auction, the remaining time, current bid, or high bidder may have changed since the page displayed on your computer. You could be outbid and not even know it! Refresh your page often to see the most current information.

How do I "refresh" my page?

If your browswer displays menu buttons, look for a "refresh" menu button.
Look for the "Official Time at Perfect Horse Auctions" at the top of auction listings. Following the "Official Time" is a link which says "Refresh Page". Clicking that link will re-load the page you are viewing with the most current information.
TIP: Most browsers will refresh the page if you press the F5 function key on your keyboard.

Why do listing End Dates not display the End Time also?

The exact time a listing will close will not be displayed until the day before the listing closes, so that custom sale catalogs can change the order their listings will close. The time will always be displayed at least a full 24 hours before the listing closes.

Bidding on Auctions

What is the auction minimum bid increment?

Auction minimum bids will increase according to the table listed below. You may notice that a minimum bid is not an even bid increment and wonder why. This can occur when a bidder's maximum bid amount is less than the next increment, but still more than any other bid. Our proxy bidding system will only bid the minimum amount necessary to keep you as the high bidder.

Price Over This Amount	Next Bid Increment
$0.00	$0.10
$1.00	$0.50
$5.00	$1.00
$50.00	$5.00
$100.00	$10.00
$250.00	$25.00
$500.00	$50.00

What is "Proxy Bidding"

Proxy bidding let's you enter the highest amount you are willing to pay for an item, and still get the lowest price possible. How? When you place a bid, you enter your maximum bid amount that you would be willing to pay, if you win. Our system will enter the bids for you in increments, just enough to keep you as the highest bidder, until your maximum bid is reached.

Example: Suppose that the bidding for a horse starts at $300. You would be really happy to purchase that horse for $500, but would be willing to pay up to $800, if necessary. Clearly you don't want to start bidding at $800! You also don't want to bid too low, and miss out! No worries! Just enter your maximum bid as $800. Perfect Horse Auctions will automatically enter the first bid for you, at $300, the starting bid. If someone bids against you, the system will automatically increase your bid to match theirs.

Automatic bids will be placed for you according to the bid increment chart. If the current high bid is $300 (your bid), the bid increment is $25, so the next bidder must bid at least $325. Continuing our example, if another bidder placed a bid for $325, your maximum bid is still higher, so the system would bid $350 for you, to keep you as the high bidder.

Competing proxy bids can quickly escalate the bid price, making it appear that the price has suddenly "jumped". In our example, you are currently the high bidder at $350, with a $800 maximum bid. The next bidder will have to place a bid of at least $375 to join the bidding. Suppose they enter their maximum bid as $1000. Now there are 2 competing proxy bids, which the system will compare. Since your bid was placed earlier, they system will place a bid for you at your maximum of $800. If the new bidder's maximum was also $800, you would remain the high bidder, because you placed the bid first. However, since the next bidder has a higher maximum, the system will also place a bid for them to beat your high bid, at $850 - your final bid, plus the new increment value of $50. You will receive an outbid notice, and the new bidder will be the high bidder.

Increments during proxy bidding may appear confusing. The system may bid less than a stated increment if a users maximum bid falls in between increments, but is still higher than another competing bid. In the above example, if the new bidder's maximum bid had been $810, their bid would have been place at $810 instead of $850.

Skipped increments may occur in the case of two competing proxy bids. In the case above, the next increment bid would have been $375. However, because your proxy bid was already in place, and the new bidder also placed a proxy bid, the two competing proxy bids were compared directly and they system was able to skip over the intermediary bids of $375, $400, $425, $450, $475, $500, $550, $600, $650, $700, and $750. Normal increments will be applied after the "proxy bid war" has finished.

What is a reserve price?

A seller may choose to set a reserve price for their item - the minimum amount the seller will accept to make the sale. The reserve price is hidden - only the seller knows how much. This allows bidding to open at a lower price, but ensures that the seller does not take a loss. If your bid does not meet or exceed the set reserve price, the listing will show "reserve not met". You may try a higher bid if you wish. If you enter a proxy bid on a listing with a reserve price set, the system will bid whichever is lower, your maximum bid, or the reserve price.

Can I cancel my bid?

Maybe! Bid retraction is strongly discouraged. However, if you are the ONLY bidder, you may remove your bid, if you do so within 3 days (72 hours) of placing the bid.

If there are other bids on the listing (either before OR after your bid), or if it has been more than 72 hours since you placed your bid, you may NOT remove your bid.

Bid retraction is offered to remedy honest mistakes in bidding and is not intended to allow bidders to jump from one auction to another.

Multiple bid removals will be flagged as suspicious activity, and may cause your account to be suspended.

Oops! I bid the wrong amount! Can I change it?

Too low? If you want to place a higher maximum bid, you can add a proxy bid or update your current proxy bid bid from the "Bids" page in your account. The system will only bid for you as high as necessary to keep you on top.

Too high? If you are the high bidder, the current high bid cannot be lowered or retracted unless you are the only bidder and it has been less than 72 hours since you placed your bid, so please bid carefully.

Can I change or remove my proxy bid?

Yes! You can change or remove an unused proxy amount from the "Bids" page in your account. If you have set a "maximum bid" amount higher than the current bid, you may increase the amount, decrease the amount, or remove the maximum bid entirely. Please note that changing a proxy bid does NOT change the actual amount already bid on a listing.

Can I add a proxy bid to my current bid?

Yes! If you are the current high bidder, but did not add a higher maximum proxy bid, you can add it from the "Bids" page in your account. Adding a proxy bid will not raise the current bid price unless someone else bids against you.

Last Minute Bids and Anti-Sniping

Sniping refers to a popular technique for winning bids in online auctions. Experienced bidders sometimes wait until the very last moment (literally last seconds sometimes) to place a bid, hoping to sneak in a surprise bid that will outwit the competition. It is a risky trick, that sometimes works and sometimes does not.

However, at Perfect Horse Auctions, we do not encourage sniping, and our system is built to prevent "sneak bids". We believe that every bidder should have the opportunity to respond to any competing bids placed.

Anti-sniping means that if a bid is received within the last few minutes before a listing closes, the end time will be automatically extended. As part of our anti-sniping process, Perfect Horse Auctions does not reveal the exact lengths of time involved, and may change those times at our discretion.

Why wasn't my bid accepted? I'm sure I had enough time left to place my bid!

The bidding process really only takes a few seconds, but there are several possible complications to getting your bid placed in time:

Your internet connection may be slow or unreliable
The "internet traffic" between your computer and our server may be at "rush hour" (yes, this really happens!)
Our site may be especially busy - when lots of people are bidding, the pages can sometimes load slowly!
You may not have refreshed your page recently. The page may say you have 5 minutes left, but time has already passed when you actually see the page! If the page loaded slowly, the real remaining time may be less! Your bid is not placed until you click that final "I'm sure" and confirm your bid.
Please allow yourself plenty of time to place that bid!

Why are there so many confirmation screens to get through before my bid is placed?

Believe it or not, we are just trying to help you (not get in your way!) We want you to bid, but we want to make sure you are making the correct bid. The confirmation screens give you a chance to confirm your maximum bid amount, as well as confirm that you are bidding on the correct listing, from the correct seller. Bids cannot usually be retracted, so it's important to check twice or thrice!

Where is the "Bid" Button?

The Bid Button is on the listing display page. There are several reasons the Bid Button might not be displayed:

Are you the seller? Sellers are not allowed to bid on their own auctions.
Are you already the high bidder? You cannot bid against yourself. If you would like to add or raise your proxy bid, you can do so from the "Bids" page in your account.
Is the listing in preview? The bidding may not be open yet. Please check for preview and bid dates.

Winning, Notices, and Payments

How will I know if I am winning?

There are several ways to check your bid status.

The listing page will display the "high bidder". Refresh the listing page often to see if you have been outbid. If you do not refresh the page, you may not know you have been outbid.
If you have been outbid, an email notice will be sent to you immediately. Adjust your spam filters to be sure you always receive notices from Perfect Horse Auctions.
You can check the status of all your bids by viewing "My Bids" from your account page.

SMS Text Message Notification

Add your mobile phone number in your account profile to receive text messages if you get outbid! A text message will also be sent to the winning bidder when bidding closes. U.S. and Canada phone numbers only.

I won the auction! How do I pay?

When the listing closes, an email will be sent immediatly to the winning bidder with a link to your "Bids" page.
If you are the winning bidder, complete payment instructions are now included on the "Bids" page in your account.
If you mail your payment, be sure to use the "Mail Payment Notification" on the "Bids" page to let the seller know that your check is on the way.
if you have registered a credit card with the seller for this auction, you can use the "Authorize Payment" button on the "Bids" page to send an authorization notice to the seller. No sensitive credit card information is transferred.
If you have additional questions about payment, use the "?" button on the "Bids" page to contact the seller directly. Please do not contact Perfect Horse Auctions unless you receive no response from the seller.
Perfect Horse Auctions does not collect or process any payments between the buyer and seller.

I paid - why doesn't it show on my account?

Listings are not marked as "paid" in your account until confirmed by the seller, regardless of the form of payment.
If you are certain that the seller has received your payment, you can ask the seller to please confirm the payment in their account.
Listings from previous years before this feature was added may not be marked as paid.

Sellers

Listing Instructions

Please read the Custom Auctions Setup Guide (pdf) before adding listings your sale.

Can we add additional email notices for our auction?

YES! Seller accounts now have an option in your profile to add additional email addresses. This could be useful if multiple people from your association need to receive notices from Perfect Horse Auctions. ALL notices from the Perfect Horse Auctions system will be cc'd to the addtional email addresses in your account. Additional emails can be added, changed, or removed at any time from your account profile.

How can I add a processing fee for payments by credit card or PayPal?

Many states and payment processing services prohibit charging the consumer an additional fee (surcharge) for a specific payment type. Perfect Horse Auctions does not provide the option to add a fee only for credit card or PayPal payments.

Sellers may add an administrative fee (flat rate or percentage) to each listing to help offset the costs of running the auction. Administrative fees will be displayed prominently in the listing details and in the bidding process.
Administrative fees will be calculated automatically at the end of the auction and automatically added to the payment invoice for the winning bidder, and added to PayPal payment buttons.
The seller may offer a percentage discount for buyers paying by cash, check, or money order, by checking the box in the payment options section of the listing.

Require Credit Cards for Bidding (Credit Card Vaulting)

Get paid every time! Require bidders to securely add their credit card data before bidding!
Custom Auctions Only, on request, with one-time setup fee.
Seller Stripe account required. Sign up at stripe.com.
Perfect Horse Auctions does not store credit card data, and does not process any payments between buyer and seller.

I made a mistake! Can I change my listing?

Auctions: Maybe. Auction listings may be edited as long as there are NO BIDs. Once an auction listing has received any bid, the listing may not be edited or removed from the site. A legal contract has been entered into, and it is important to maintain the integrity of the auction process. See the next question for more options.

I made a mistake ... and there is already a bid on my listing! Now what?

You cannot change a listing that has already received a bid. Bids are placed in good faith that the listing information is true and accurate. If the mistake affects the value of the listing, please contact customer service.

However, if you need to add minor information to the listing, you can "update" your listing. The new information will not replace information already in the listing, but will be ADDED to the listing in a special "updates" tab. Please use this feature cautiously.

Listing updates can be made from the listing display page or from the "current listings" page in your account.

Can I import a pedigree?

For equine breeding contracts and horse sales, you can enter the full pedigree if desired. There is no system to import the pedigree from another site. However, there are several features to assist you:

Listings from your previous sales can be copied, so you only need to enter a pedigree once for a specific horse.
If the horse has a web page, you may include a link in the listing directly to that page.
A checkbox is provided to link to the pedigree on allbreedpedigree.com. Since there may be multiple matching listings on their webiste, you must verify that the link is correct. We have added a preview of the link, and options to adjust the link if necessary.

How to record payments from buyers

In the "Winning Bidders Info" page (custom auctions) or on the "Expired Listings" page there will be several button options for each listing, depending on what options you have enabled, and if the bidder has submitted a payment. Recording or confirming the buyer's payment will mark the listing as "paid", in both your account and the buyer's account. Possible options include:

Record Payment: The buyer has not submitted any payment information. Use this button to record the payment received. You will have the option to enter a payment type and/or a payment id number.
Payment Pending: The buyer may have paid using the PayPal button or may have submitted notification that they mailed a payment. Use this button to confirm the payment submitted by the buyer.
Payment Authorized: The buyer has a credit card on file with your account and has authorized charges for the purchased listing. Use this button to confirm the payment once you have charged the buyer's credit card via your Stripe account.
View Payment Info: You have already confirmed a buyer's payment. Use this button to view any payment details recorded, or to remove the payment, if for some reason there was an error.

Perfect Horse Auctions does not collect or process any payments between buyer and seller.

Photos and Videos

How many photos can I put on my listing?

All listings include at least one free photo. Breeding Auctions allow up to 5 photos. Some listings have an extra photo slot for including a image of your horse registration or a donor's logo.

What are the size limits and other specifications for photos?

Photos should generally be in the jpg format - such as those taken with a digital camera or phone. The maximum filesize is currently 200K (kilobytes). Your listing will look best if the photos you choose are at least 400px wide and/or 400px high. If you need to resize your photo, try using Squoosh - a free online service that will allow you to compress and/or resize your photo to achieve the correct file size. You can also try Web Resizer - another free online tool that will optimize your images, however, the format has changed and it does not offer the same features as it did previously.

How do I add a video?

Videos must be hosted on YouTube.com to be added to your listing. If you have taken a video using a digital camera, just upload it to your YouTube account. We do not support videos hosted on other sites at this time.

Custom Auction Information

Stallion Auctions, Horse Auctions, and Fund Raiser & Trainer Auctions

Find out more infomation on our Custom Auction Services page.

What is the cost for auctions?

Auction prices vary depending on the type and length of sale, how many listings will be included, etc. Please see our Custom Auctions Page for more information.

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