Auction Guidelines

Fish and other items in from 3.00 p.m. closed 7.00 p.m.

Auction starts at 4.00 p.m. and finishes when all items have either been sold or passed in twice, unless very late then “pass-ins” will not be gone through a second time.

All items are offered up for sale with the highest bidder becoming the purchaser. In the case of multiple lots the highest bidder has first choice then the second highest then the third highest then open to the floor.

Items that do not attract a bid equal or better than the reserve price will be passed in.

Bids for fish should start with minimum of $2.00 bids and dry goods or plants $1.00 minimum

Sellers can have a maximum of 60 lots.

As for fish and plants, sellers can sell up to 3 lots of any one variety up to a maximum of 10 lots of any one species (i.e. Fish with one variety = maximum 3 lots (eg Silver Shark, Praecox Rainbow, Pearl Gourami, Firemouth Cichlid etc) and fish etc with more than 1 known variety then a maximum 3 lots of each variety (eg Goldfish, Guppies, Platies, Oscars, Native Blue-eyes, Trifasciata Rainbows, Bettas, Dwarf Gouramis etc)).

There is no limit on the number fish in a bag or on the number of bags in a lot.

Fish should be of a saleable size approx 4cm Total length (from tip of nose to end of tail) unless a dwarf species of fish.

All bags used for bagging fish MUST be clear and not opaque – do NOT use freezer bags – any fish not bagged in clear bags will not be accepted for auction.

All fish should be in a healthy condition. If any dead fish or sick are found in a lot then that lot will not be offered for sale.

All fish sold must be true and recognised species.

Fish should not have been fed for at least one preferably two day before bagging.

No potted plants (hydroponic rockwool pots excluded), gravel, shell grit, coral sand, sand or any item containing dirt or gravel will be sold. This will help in stopping the spread of Fire Ants.

All bags must be approx 1/3 water 2/3 air and sealed tightly – any fish not bagged properly will incur a charge for rebagging at the least or be rejected from the sale at the worst

For dry goods – sellers are allowed up to 3 lots of any one item and where the items are the same except for size there also will be a combined maximum of 5 items of different sizes (ie vegetable fish food pellets).

All electrical goods must have a current safety tag or they will not be accepted for sale.

All sellers must produce some form if identification (drivers license etc) when putting fish etc in.
Sellers must report to the check in table to obtain auction forms , bag and box labels.

The bag labels should be attached to every bag offered for sale and the box labels to the outside of the sellers boxes for identification.

The bag labels have room on them for lot #, description, qty in bag and reserve price,
NOTE-: If you do not wish to put the reserve price on the bag, then you can just tick this box and write the reserve on the list.
All other boxes on the label MUST be filled in by the seller. e.g.

The box labels will have a sellers letter and # of boxes and MUST be filled in by the seller. e.g:

It is recommended that sellers arrange box & lot numbers in sequence so that lot #1 is in box #1 etc.

Bags and or boxes not labelled correctly will be rejected until labels are corrected

The area where the lots are stored prior to sale is OFF LIMITS to everyone except the four authorized personnel for that auction. If for any reason a person requires anything from the back area they must approach one of the authorized personal to get it for them. NO ONE else will be allowed out the back area for any reason.

The auctioneer has the final say on any item offered for sale and if in the opinion of the auctioneer that item should not be sold then it will be rejected.

The auctioneer has a responsibility to obtain the best price possibly for any item offered for sale but also has to ensure that the pace of the auction is not slowed prying bids out of the audience. Once a high bid is received it is once twice sold.

Auctioneers should NOT reveal the reserve price on any item but should use this as a guide to start the bidding.

A 20 % commission and any rebagging fees will be deducted from the sale price of all items sold and distributed between the sellers nominated club and Q.F.A.S.

1. Sellers letters will be given out on a first come first served basis with the exception that any Auction Staff from the previous Auction will be given first choice of letters. What this means is that if you help out as a volunteer at an auction you will be able to choose your sellers letter for the next auction. Having said that it will still be first in first served for the auction staff as well. Just as an example of this letter F for this coming auction has already been allocated.

To Qualify as Auction Staff you MUST be a member of a Q.F.A.S. affiliated Club and work a Minimum of 6 hours at the auction this includes setup work, back stage work, auctioneering, pencilling, running and helping in the canteen. As workers for the auctions usually start at 1.00 - 1.30pm and finish at least 3/4 hour after the last lot is sold. Having to work only 6 hours is dead easy, most of us at present put in 10 - 12 hour days sometimes longer.

2. Q.F.A.S. was alarmed by the number of dead fish at the last auction and from now on will NOT accept any more than 5 fish in any one bag unless they are small fish or the bag is very very large. All sellers as they hand their boxes over to be put up the back will be asked two questions, 1. Do you have any large fish? 2. Do you have bags with more than 5 fish in them? Any yes answers and the seller will be required to check those bags in front of Auction Staff to ensure they are bagged satisfactorly otherwise they will told to rebag them immediately.

Extra large fish must be in suitably sized containers not squashed up in a small bucket etc. If seller does not have suitable bags etc they will be charged a fee for rebagging depending on what is required to fix the problem.

3. Sellers will also be asked to identify the majority contents of their boxes by placing a coloured dot sticker onto the box label. This will enable the auctioneers and auction staff to avoid having the same things coming up at each auctioneer at the same time. The most that could happen is that a seller’s letter might be moved out of order by one. Colour dots will be available at the sellers sign in area and will be as follows:

Yellow - Natives

NO DOT - Dry Goods, food, etc.

4. The next Change is in the minimum bid increments, from now on the minimum bids on all items up $20.00 in value will be $2.00, from $21.00 to $50.00 will be $5.00, and for items $51.00 and over will be $10.00 with final bid increment amounts at discretion of the auctioneer.

5. Auctioneers will be asked to no longer use, going once, going twice, going three times, sold. Once no further bids are forthcoming items will be sold.

6. Headset microphones will be purchased as soon as we can organise some that will work in with the existing pa system. Lapel microphones will be trialled as well.

7. A copier/printer will be purchased and copies of all sellers sheets will be given to Greg so that he can get photos up onto the screen quicker.

8. The biggest change will be how bids are made. In June any person wishing to purchase anything from an auction will need to register and obtain a bidding number. Name, address, contact number, and email address required.

Numbers will be coloured and only be used at one auction with new different coloured numbers issued for the next auction. Registration will need to be done at every auction you wish to purchase anything.

9.No bids will be accepted unless bidding number is held aloft and clearly shown to the auctioneer.

10. For the June auction runners will continue to bring the items purchased to the buyer but the runners will be given a list of the winning numbers so there can be no argument as to who won the bid.

11. From November there will no longer be any runners. The Buyers will need to pick up their purchase from a special buyers table at the front of the auction. Failure to pick up items promptly will result in that item being returned to the auctioneer to be sold again. The bidder number will be recorded and if it happens on more than one occasion that bidder number will be banned from the auction ( bids will no longer be accepted from that number) it this happens regularly then that person may be banned from future auctions as well. In other words when you have a winning bid you get up off your backside and make your way immediately to the buying table where you will pay for your item and pick it up and take it back to your seat, then start bidding again.

12. Market Day type sale to be looked at as posssible future event.

13. In the event of a very rare or expensive item coming up for auction it will be placed on a special viewing area so people interested can have a look before making any bids. Item will remain in viewing area only as long as sellers good are being sold.

We know that there are quite a few changes and it will take a while for everyone to get used to them. The reason why we are using the next June 19th auction to start them Is simply that the June auctions are usually the smallest.

The main thing now is for everyone to get out there and become active members of the clubs and start helping at the auctions that way you will get advantages over everyone else who is too lazy to help.

Lot # AC12	Reserve Y/N
Qty 2	Description Frontosa 6Bar

Seller AC Bruce Jones
Box 2	Of 4