To create your account choose the “Register” link on the header navigational bar or use any of the links available on the home page.
When registering you will be asked to complete a short form which includes standard information such as your contact details, preferred login credentials etc.
Mandatory fields include:-
· Name
· City
· State/Province/county
· Zip/Post Code
· Phone Number
· Birthyear (19XX)
· Username & Password
· E-Mail address
· Confirmation of terms an conditions acceptance
Once registered you will receive E-Mail confirmation.
Should you encounter any registration difficulties please contact us.
Placing a bid on an item you are interested in couldn’t be easier, when viewing the item details page you will have two areas from where you can place your bid, one next to the item details and a second at the bottom of the page.
To place your bid simply enter the amount you wish to bid e.g. 50.00. Please note no currency symbols are required. The bid will be placed in the auction currency.
Once done you will be asked to review your bid and you will also be able to view vital item details such as the shipping conditions before confirming your bid. To submit your bid simply press the “Place Bid” button.
If your bid is high enough to take the lead in the auction a confirmation message will be displayed to you, however if your bid has not taken the lead be it due to a higher proxy bid or not meeting the reserve price you will be invited to make a further bid.
You can also place a proxy bid, proxy bidding allows you to place your “High Bid”. At all times you will only pay the lowest required bid should you win the auction. For example, if the current bid on an auction is 500.00 you can place a proxy bid of 2,000. Should you remain the only bidder you will only pay 500.00. However should the item receive other bids the site will automatically re-bid for you (upto 2,000 in this scenario) to ensure you remain in the lead.
If the option is available you can use “Buy Out” to purchase the item immediately without having to place a bid. Some sellers offer such an option which can be used at any time until a bid has been placed over any applicable reserve price.
The “Buy Out” option will appear on the item details page, you will be asked to confirm your intention to buy out the item before the sale is concluded. Buy out’s cannot be retracted.
The item watch features lets you keep a close eye on any auction without having to place a bid on it. This feature means you can be kept up to date on how an auction is doing and prepares you to place a winning last minute bid. You can watch any auction by clicking on the “Watch this item” link on any auction page.
The auction watch features notifies you of newly listed auctions which contain keywords you have chosen. For example if you are looking for a new Digital Camera you could enter in those keywords from within your members area area. Each time a new auction is listed containing those keywords you will be notified via email.
Step 1: Become an NW Surplus seller.
To begin selling on NW Surplus, you need to register and create an account. Then to register as a seller, Contact NW Surplus
There will be a one time verification fee of $5.00 (This will be reduced if registering at Lake Stevens warehouse).
Pay Pal is the preferred payment method for NW Surplus .Consider signing up for Pay Pal, NW Surplus’s online payment system before listing your first item. When buyers use Pay Pal to pay for your item, you receive payments immediately and don’t need to handle checks or money orders.
Methods of Selling
· Commission based where we list your inventory and track the item(s) for you
· Auctions where you do all listing under sellers account and manage the complete transaction. You can use make offer, Buy Now or Reserve Prices. Final value fees applied.
· Store fronts- Set Monthly charges (see Site Fees for details).
Step 2: Prepare to sell your item.
Preparation helps you sell your item. Before you start to list your item, doing some research, especially about setting a starting price, will help you list accurately and efficiently. Your research will help you make better decisions about selecting selling formats, pricing, shipping, and payment methods.
Step 3: List your item for sale.
When listing your item on NW Surplus, you need to provide information about your item. A typical listing includes a title, description, price, payment method, shipping cost, and a photo (photos must be under 50kb). Listing Processes
Step 4: Manage your listing
You can track your NW Surplus activities from your Members Area. This page is especially useful if you have more than one item for sale or if you are selling and bidding on several items. Members area page lets you see the status of items you're selling from start to finish and manage your sales from a central location.
Step 5: Complete the sale
At the end of a successful listing, you'll receive an email that includes your buyer's shipping address and payment method. Once you receive online payment confirmation from Papal or a check or money order from your buyer, you can ship your item. Leaving feedback for your buyer after you complete the sale is optional, but it is an important part of participating in the NW Surplus Community and will help you establish your reputation as a seller.
Note: Negative Feedback can disrupt your ability to participate as a seller. Deleted Auctions may be subject to end of auction fees
Key points about selling effectively on NW Surplus
Understanding the following concepts will help you prepare for NW Surplus’s unique selling experience.
- Your item will be among thousands of other items. For buyers to consider your item, they need to find it, so think like a buyer. Make sure you have good photos and a complete item description. An informative title, well-written description, and clear photos can make the difference between selling and not selling your item.
- An important part of selling on NW Surplus includes communicating with bidders and buyers. Good communication helps to promote you as a responsive seller and will help avoid potential transaction problems. The majority of communication between sellers and buyers is through email, so it is important that you keep your contact information up-to-date.
- Your item listing will be viewed by a global audience. You probably won’t know your buyers personally, but you can know about your buyers by reviewing their member profiles. Setting your listing preferences in Members area lets you to have more control over who may bid on your listings. This feature helps to reduce the possible transaction problems and potential unpaid items.
- Your Feedback Score is important. The NW Surplus Community takes Feedback very seriously. It not only represents your reputation to buyers, but your Feedback Score is also used to qualify you for all seller privileges.
- NW Surplus has rules and guidelines called “policies” that create a safe, fair and enjoyable trading environment. They affect how you sell on NW Surplus. By accepting the terms outlined in the User Agreement, you have agreed to conform to these policies. If NW Surplus determines that a listing violates a policy, NW Surplus may remove the listing from the site and may suspend your account. Be sure to review selling policies before you list an item.
Contact US to have Seller Account Set Up First
To list your item simply click on the “Sell” link found on the header navigational bar. The listing process is split up into several main sections, notably:-
- Category selection
- Item Details
- Auction Settings
- Shipping and Payment
- Listing preview
- Listing confirmation
The listing process is developed in such a way that you are guided through every step seamlessly.
The first part of the process is to choose the category you wish to list your item in, this can be revised at any time by using the “Previous Step” navigation button.
Step two enables you to enter your item title and description, a full wysiwyg editor is in place to enable you to use HTML descriptions.
If you have a voucher code to redeem this can be entered just below the description field.
Moving on to step three, this is the biggest stage of the listing process. On this step you can set the following:-
· Auction type:-
Standard Auction
This is a single quantity auction
Dutch Auction
Dutch auction enables you to list a multiple quantity auction, for example if you have 100 pens to sell you can list all of these together in a single lot. Bidders will be able to select how many they wish to bid for.
· Currency:-
You can select your preferred auction currency using the drop down menu available
· Quantity:-
This field is only active if listing a Dutch auction, please see above for an explanation of this listing type
· Auction Starts At:-
This requires you to enter the minimum bid you are willing to accept, you can also set a reserve price to ensure you do not sell the item for this amount. Please see below for more information on this.
· Reserve Price:-
Enabling a reserve price affectively means you will not sell the item for less than the amount set, for example you can set the start price at 5.00 but only accept winning bids over 50.00, should a bid be placed for 49.99 the item will close without a winner.
· Buy out (if available):-
Buy out allows you to set an amount you are willing to sell the item for – straight out. For example you can set the start price to 10.00 but offer interested parties the option to buy the item immediately for 100.00.
You can also list buy out only auctions, these auctions remove all bidding options meaning the listing can only be purchased for a set amount. To set a buy out only auction you need to set the buy out value to be exactly equal with the start bid.
· Offer-Range (if available):-
You can set a price bracket in which you are willing to listing to offer, for example if you set the price brackets from 15.00 to 100.00 interested parties will be able to offer you an amount within these brackets, you can opt whether to accept or decline these offers at any time via the members area.
· Bid increment:-
This option can be used to set your own custom bid increment if preferred.
· Item featuring (if available):-
The following options are available to you (fees may apply), these will highlight your item on site to ensure they reach more visitors:-
§ Home page featured
§ Category featured
§ Bold text
§ Highlighted background
· Set start/end time:-
You can either opt to list your item right away and set a defined number of days for it to be live for or you also have the option to define your own custom start/end time.
· Private Auction:-
Private auction will hide the bidders identity on the item details page
· Image upload:- Images Must be resized to 50kb
To accompany your item you can either upload images from your local computer or enter the URL of an image(s) hosted elsewhere
· Media upload:-
In addition to images you can also upload media files, please note only .avi/.mpeg/.mov are supported.
· Auto Re-List
For convenience you can opt to have your items automatically re-listed for you, options are available to allow you to select whether the item should be re-listed if sold and how many re-list attempts should be made.
On the next step you can set your shipping and payment preferences including your shipping rates and available methods of delivery.
Proceeding on, you can then review the listing and make changes if required, please note you can still edit your listing once live via the members area.
The final step provides you with listing confirmation.
Note: Deleted Auctions may be subject to end user fees