How it Works
Sign-up period: will last from Sunday 16th June to 6pm (UK time) on Wednesday 26th June. Links to the various offer posts are on the masterlist post, and details of how to sign up and what info to give are in each offer post.
Following that, there will be two days for people to browse through and decide which offer(s) they'd like to bid on, and then...
Bidding period: will open at 6pm (UK time) on Friday 28th June, and close at 6pm (UK time) on Monday 8th July, at which point all offer threads (except the ‘Requests’ post) will be frozen and no further bids will be possible. To see what this is in your local time, the world clock converter is here: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html Bids should be increased by at least 1 USD from the previous bid; to see what this is in your local currency then you may wish to use http://www.xe.com
NB: The ‘Requests’ post (the post for bidders seeking something not offered in any of the other posts) will stay open past this date to allow writers/artists/podficcers/etc who didn’t get any bids (or whose bidders have dropped out) to browse it and make their claims.
Then...
Writers/artists/podficcers/etc
If you have sold… once bidding has closed, you need to PM your winning bidder to discuss details of precisely what sort of thing they have in mind, when you think you'll be able to deliver it, whether your situation has changed and your offer can no longer stand, etc. You may want to ask for proof of their donation before you start work, but it's up to you. If you have a moment to PM me and let me know how much you 'sold' for then that would be great, as it would be interesting to see how much we collectively manage to raise from this auction.
If you have not sold, or are just feeling ambitious… you may want to check out the Requests post to see if there’s anything that tickles your fancy.
Bidders
You may want to hold off from donating until you've heard from your writer/artist/podficcer/etc and had confirmation that their offer still stands. If you've not heard anything from your writer/artist/podficcer/etc and have already tried contacting them (unsuccessfully), please send me a PM via this comm and I’ll try to get in touch.
Once you’ve heard from your writer/artist/podficcer/etc and had confirmation that they’re good to go, please make your donation. Following that, if requested by your writer/artist/etc, please screencap either the donation confirmation page or the confirmation email sent to you by the organisation to send to the person you’ve won (remembering to black out any identifying information that you don't wish to share).
If you have any questions about the above, please leave a comment in the Q&A post and I’ll get back to you.
NB:
1 - this works basically on an honour system. Obviously it’s impossible to track people down and stand over them while they either make their donations or write/draw/make their fanwork, hence there's no real way to guarantee either that people will donate the amount they've bid or that an offerer will produce whatever they promised. So I'm counting on everyone's goodwill to do what they say they will.
Therefore, much as it would be great to raise money for the appeal, please don't a) sign up to the offer post(s) if you're unsure you'll be able to make good on your offer(s), and b) bid more than you can afford!
2 - before you bid on a physical item (e.g., keyrings, knitted toys, etc) in the Miscellaneous offers post, please consider whether you have a postal address (either home address or elsewhere) that you would be happy disclosing to your offerer if you win them. If you don't then, sadly, there's not going to be any way for your offerer to send you your item and you won't get anything for your bid.
Following that, there will be two days for people to browse through and decide which offer(s) they'd like to bid on, and then...
Bidding period: will open at 6pm (UK time) on Friday 28th June, and close at 6pm (UK time) on Monday 8th July, at which point all offer threads (except the ‘Requests’ post) will be frozen and no further bids will be possible. To see what this is in your local time, the world clock converter is here: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html Bids should be increased by at least 1 USD from the previous bid; to see what this is in your local currency then you may wish to use http://www.xe.com
NB: The ‘Requests’ post (the post for bidders seeking something not offered in any of the other posts) will stay open past this date to allow writers/artists/podficcers/etc who didn’t get any bids (or whose bidders have dropped out) to browse it and make their claims.
Then...
Writers/artists/podficcers/etc
If you have sold… once bidding has closed, you need to PM your winning bidder to discuss details of precisely what sort of thing they have in mind, when you think you'll be able to deliver it, whether your situation has changed and your offer can no longer stand, etc. You may want to ask for proof of their donation before you start work, but it's up to you. If you have a moment to PM me and let me know how much you 'sold' for then that would be great, as it would be interesting to see how much we collectively manage to raise from this auction.
If you have not sold, or are just feeling ambitious… you may want to check out the Requests post to see if there’s anything that tickles your fancy.
Bidders
You may want to hold off from donating until you've heard from your writer/artist/podficcer/etc and had confirmation that their offer still stands. If you've not heard anything from your writer/artist/podficcer/etc and have already tried contacting them (unsuccessfully), please send me a PM via this comm and I’ll try to get in touch.
Once you’ve heard from your writer/artist/podficcer/etc and had confirmation that they’re good to go, please make your donation. Following that, if requested by your writer/artist/etc, please screencap either the donation confirmation page or the confirmation email sent to you by the organisation to send to the person you’ve won (remembering to black out any identifying information that you don't wish to share).
If you have any questions about the above, please leave a comment in the Q&A post and I’ll get back to you.
NB:
1 - this works basically on an honour system. Obviously it’s impossible to track people down and stand over them while they either make their donations or write/draw/make their fanwork, hence there's no real way to guarantee either that people will donate the amount they've bid or that an offerer will produce whatever they promised. So I'm counting on everyone's goodwill to do what they say they will.
Therefore, much as it would be great to raise money for the appeal, please don't a) sign up to the offer post(s) if you're unsure you'll be able to make good on your offer(s), and b) bid more than you can afford!
2 - before you bid on a physical item (e.g., keyrings, knitted toys, etc) in the Miscellaneous offers post, please consider whether you have a postal address (either home address or elsewhere) that you would be happy disclosing to your offerer if you win them. If you don't then, sadly, there's not going to be any way for your offerer to send you your item and you won't get anything for your bid.