Bidder Terms

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY. THEY MAY HAVE CHANGED SINCE YOU LAST VISITED THIS PAGE. The version date is at the top of this document.

These Terms of Service ("Terms") apply to everyone who uses or receives services from Going Once LLC, a California limited liability company, California entity number B20260376217 ("Going Once", "we", "us", "our"). They apply to you ("you", "your") whether you browse, register, bid, or buy.

They cover everything we operate in providing the service: this website, our mobile applications, and any other property we run for the same purpose (together, the "Platform"). Using any of it means these Terms apply to you.

What these Terms do not cover. They govern bidders and buyers only. If you are selling (running a sale, or consigning property you own), a separate written agreement applies instead and nothing here replaces it: the Operator Agreement if you run sales, or the Consignment Agreement if you own the goods. If you sell with us and also bid on someone else's sale, these Terms govern your bidding.

You must be 18 or older to use the Platform. If you are agreeing on behalf of a company, estate, trust, or other organisation, you confirm you are authorised to bind it, and "you" means that organisation.

Each sale also posts its own terms and pickup details on its auction page. Those differ from sale to sale, and the posted details control for that sale.

1. Who we are, and who you are buying from

Going Once LLC operates an online auction platform for estate and consignment property in California.

The lots offered in any sale belong to the seller running that sale, not to us. We do not own them, we never take possession of them, and they remain at the seller's location until you collect them. Descriptions and photographs are prepared by the seller. Your purchase is of the seller's property.

What we do is run the auction: we host the catalogue, take bids, close lots, charge the winning bidder, collect and remit the California sales tax due on your purchase, and remit the balance to the seller. Because we take the payment, we are the party the state looks to for that tax, and it appears as a separate line on your invoice. That is a role in the money, not a claim of ownership, and it does not make us responsible for the goods.

2. Eligibility and your account

You must be 18 or older. Register with your real name, a working email address, and a phone number, and keep them current. They are how we reach you about wins and collection. One account per person. We may refuse, suspend, or close an account at our discretion, including for unpaid invoices, interference with bidding, or conduct toward sellers, staff, or other bidders.

A valid payment card must be on file before you can bid. When you add a card we place and immediately release a small verification hold (currently $1.00). Bids at or above a threshold shown at the time may place a temporary authorisation hold for the bid amount, also released; a declined authorisation blocks the bid.

3. Bidding

Each bid is a binding offer to buy the entire lot at that price, on these terms, and remains open unless and until a higher bid is placed. Bids are made in the increments shown on the lot page.

You may set a maximum bid. The platform will then bid on your behalf, using the smallest increment needed to keep you in the lead, up to your maximum and no further. Your maximum is confidential. Where two maximums are equal, the earlier one keeps the lead. Bids placed for you this way bind you exactly as bids you place by hand.

While you are the highest bidder you may change your maximum. You may raise it. You may also lower it, but not below the current bid, because the current bid is already a bid placed for you and stays open until a higher bid is placed. A lowered maximum applies at once: from then on the platform bids for you only up to the new amount.

A lot sells to the highest bidder, unless it carries a reserve, a price below which the seller will not sell. Where a lot carries one, its page says so before you bid, and the lot does not sell if the bidding does not reach it. Neither the seller nor anyone acting on the seller's behalf may bid on that seller's own lot, and Going Once does not bid on any lot to protect a price, to raise a price, or to give the appearance of demand.

Bidding by our own people. A member of Going Once's staff may bid as an ordinary buyer on a sale that a seller runs, and only where every one of the following holds. The staff member holds no interest in the lot as seller or consignor and is not on that sale's team. The seller has agreed in writing, before the sale opens, that our staff may bid in it. The bid is marked as a staff bid in that lot's public bid history, so every other bidder can see it for what it is. The staff member pays the same hammer price, buyer's premium, sales tax, and every other charge that any other buyer would pay on the same lot, and receives no priority, no extension of time, and no other advantage. A staff member who holds a bid in a sale must not consult the reserve on any lot in it or any other bidder's maximum, and every occasion on which a member of our staff views a reserve or a maximum in a sale where they hold a bid is recorded. Going Once never bids on a sale it runs itself.

4. How lots close

Our sales are timed. Lots close one after another on a stagger, so a sale finishes over a stretch of time rather than all at once. A bid placed in a lot's final minutes extends that lot's closing time by the window shown on the lot page, and keeps extending while bidding continues. A last-second bid therefore never wins on timing alone. Bidding ends when the offers stop.

If the platform is unavailable while a lot is closing. Bidding is only fair if everyone can reach it. If the site, bidding, or the closing process is unavailable during a lot's final period, we will extend that lot so bidding resumes for at least the normal extension window after service is restored. We may extend a lot, reschedule its close, or reopen a lot that closed during an interruption. Where an interruption affected lots that were closing, we will say so on the auction page and email the bidders on the affected lots. A sale confirmed in error during an interruption may be cancelled and refunded in full.

5. What you pay

You pay the hammer price (your winning bid), plus a buyer's premium calculated on the hammer price at the percentage stated on the auction page, plus California sales and use tax calculated on the hammer price and the premium together. All three appear separately on your invoice.

The buyer's premium is our charge to you. It is not deducted from the seller's proceeds, and it is separate from any commission the seller pays.

6. Payment

Invoices are issued when the sale closes and are charged to the card on file. If that charge fails you must update your card promptly; we will email a payment link. An invoice not paid by the time your pickup window opens is abandoned: it is cancelled, the lots are forfeited without refund, and your account is suspended. We may charge a processing fee, stated on the invoice, on a forfeited or cancelled order.

Going Once invoices you and receives your payment as agent for the seller of the lot, under a written agreement with the seller that is in force before the sale. Your payment to Going Once discharges your obligation to the seller for that lot to the extent of the amount paid. The seller's share of your payment is transferred, once that seller has connected an account in their own name at our payment processor, to that account when the payment is collected; until they connect one it waits with us. The buyer's premium is Going Once's own charge, and the sales tax is collected for the State of California (section 5).

7. Collection

Every sale is collection-only, in person, at the address and within the time windows posted on the auction page. Bring your invoice.

For an invoice over $300 (its total, with the buyer's premium and tax), you must also show photo identification and the card you paid with. You may send someone in your place. They bring your invoice and their own photo identification, and for an invoice over $300, a photo of the card you paid with that shows only its last four digits. Cover the rest of the card number before you take the photo. Lots are not released to anyone who cannot show these.

We do not arrange shipping unless a lot expressly says otherwise. You are responsible for packing materials, help with heavy items, disassembly, and loading. Plan for that before bidding.

Collection happens at private property, usually a home mid-clear-out. It may have narrow doorways, stairs, uneven ground, heavy furniture in motion, and none of the guardrails of a shop. Please do not bring children, pets, or anyone who would be at risk in that environment. You are responsible for your own safety and for anyone you bring, and for any damage you or your helpers cause to the property. Hire professional movers for anything heavy, fragile, or awkward.

Check your items before you leave. Once a lot has left the site its condition can no longer be verified. Raise anything that looks wrong while you are still there. Once you collect a lot, the sale is final (section 9).

Your pickup time is fixed. Collect your lots during your pickup time. It is not changed to suit a buyer. By bidding, you confirm that you, or someone you send, will come at that time. If you cannot, do not bid. Do not come outside your pickup time: the address is private property, often someone's home, and coming outside the posted times is trespassing and may be reported.

Bad weather. The seller may move a pickup time because of bad weather or a similar reason outside their control. If they do, we email every buyer collecting at that time the new time, and the new time is fixed in the same way.

Do not contact the seller to arrange pickup. Any question or problem comes to us, and we take it up with the seller.

Lots not collected during your pickup time are forfeited without refund and may be donated, disposed of, or resold.

8. Everything sells as-is

Every lot sells as-is, where-is, with all faults, and without warranty of any kind, including condition, authenticity, provenance, completeness, fitness for a particular purpose, or merchantability. Photographs and descriptions are prepared by the seller in good faith and are not guarantees. We do not independently verify the condition, authenticity, legality, or safety of what is listed. The photographs form part of the description: study them and ask questions before bidding.

Nothing is authenticated unless a lot says so and shows the paperwork. Used goods carry the wear of having been used, and older items may not meet the safety standards a new equivalent would. That is the nature of estate property, and judging it is for you to do before bidding rather than after collecting.

9. Refunds and disputes

Inspect at pickup. This is a liquidation sale, not a guarantee. Inspect every lot when you come to collect it, and bring anyone you want to help you judge it. If a lot is materially different from its description, tell us at pickup and leave it there. Where we accept that it was materially misdescribed, we refund it in full. Raising the problem before you take the lot is the surest way to have it put right.

You have 60 hours after your pickup window ends to ask for a refund. If you find after you get home that a lot is materially different from its description, you may ask for a refund at any time up to 60 hours after the end of your scheduled pickup window. That period runs from the end of the window you were given, not from the time you arrived. You ask from your invoice page, and the seller answers you.

How a return works. The seller decides whether to take the lot back. If they agree, you return it to them at your own expense, in the condition it was in when you collected it, and your refund is sent once they confirm they have it. If they refuse, they must give you a reason and we send it to you.

What you get back. The price you paid for that lot, its buyer's premium and its sales tax, less a processing fee. We waive the fee where the seller accepts that the listing was materially wrong, and the fee is never more than the buyer's premium on the lot, so the hammer price and the sales tax always come back to you in full. The fee in force is shown to you before you return anything.

Lots of $50 or less are final at collection. A lot whose winning bid was $50 or less cannot be returned once it has left the pickup, whatever the reason.

After that the sale is final. Once those 60 hours have passed, lots are not accepted back and you are not entitled to a refund for a lot you have collected. Any refund we choose to give after that is at our discretion, and the lot stays with you.

Disputes about a lot are between you and the seller. We will help resolve them, and our records of bids, invoices, and communications are the record of what happened.

10. Fair bidding

Do not bid on a lot in which you have an interest as seller or consignor, bid to raise a price without intending to buy, coordinate with other bidders, or use more than one account. We may cancel bids, void sales, and close accounts for any of these. The rules that bind Going Once and its own people when they bid are in section 3.

11. Communications

We email you about your account, bids, invoices, and collection. These are part of the service and cannot be switched off while you hold an account.

The Going Once mailing list is separate, and optional. If you tick the box at registration, or turn it on from your account page, we may email you about new auctions opening on the Platform (including sales run by companies other than the one you registered through), platform news, and offers from Going Once. Joining is never a condition of registering or bidding, and we do not add you unless you ask. Every such email carries an unsubscribe link, and you may also turn the list off from your account page; leaving it does not affect your account or the service emails above. We do not sell or rent your details, and the auction company running a sale you bid in may email you separately about its own sales under its own terms.

Outbid and closing notifications are a convenience, not a guarantee. They can be delayed or fail to arrive, and we are not responsible if one does. If you intend to keep bidding, watch the lot rather than relying on a notification.

12. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or close your account, cancel bids, void a sale, or refuse you access to the Platform where we determine, acting reasonably, that you have breached these Terms, that you have failed to pay an invoice, that you have interfered with bidding, or that your conduct toward a seller, another bidder, or our personnel warrants it. Where we do so after you have won a Lot, we will refund any amount you have paid on a cancelled Lot.

You may close your account at any time. Closing it does not discharge an invoice already issued, and does not affect any provision of these Terms intended to survive.

13. Compliance with law

You are responsible for complying with all laws applicable to your purchase, possession, transport, and use of anything you buy, including any licensing, registration, or age restriction. Some estate property is subject to restrictions we cannot know about from a photograph. If you are unsure whether you may lawfully own or transport an item, resolve that before you bid.

14. Indemnity

You will defend us, and our officers, directors, employees, contractors, and affiliates, against any claim, and indemnify us against any resulting loss, damage, penalty, cost, or expense including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising from: your breach of these Terms; your violation of any law or of any third party's rights; anything you or anyone you bring does at a collection location; or your use or resale of anything you buy.

15. Disclaimers

EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN THESE TERMS, AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE PLATFORM AND THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. ALL CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, AND COVENANTS, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, ARE DISCLAIMED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY OF DESCRIPTIONS, MEASUREMENTS, OR IMAGES, OR THAT THE PLATFORM WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE.

EVERY LOT IS SOLD AS-IS, WHERE-IS, WITH ALL FAULTS. WE DO NOT OWN THE LOTS, DO NOT TAKE POSSESSION OF THEM, AND DO NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THEIR CONDITION, AUTHENTICITY, PROVENANCE, LEGALITY, OR SAFETY. DESCRIPTIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHS ARE PREPARED BY THE SELLER.

A COLLECTION LOCATION IS PRIVATE PROPERTY THAT WE DO NOT CONTROL AND MAY BE UNSAFE OR DIFFICULT TO ACCESS. YOU ATTEND AT YOUR OWN RISK AND ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY AND FOR ANYONE YOU BRING.

16. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS, THE PLATFORM, OR ANY LOT IS LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US ON THE ORDER GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR LOSS OF PROFIT, LOSS OF OPPORTUNITY, LOSS OF DATA, OR FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY. THIS APPLIES REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR TORT INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE.

These limits do not apply to, and nothing in these Terms excludes or limits: our own gross negligence or wilful misconduct; any liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence; any liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or any other liability that applicable law does not permit us to exclude or limit, including under California Civil Code § 1668. Nothing in these Terms affects your rights under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act or any other consumer protection law that cannot be waived.

17. Disputes between you and a seller

A sale of a Lot is a sale of the seller's property. Disputes about a Lot's condition, description, or collection are between you and that seller. We will help resolve them, and our records of bids, invoices, and communications are the record of what occurred. Nothing in this Section limits any remedy you have against us under these Terms or under law that cannot be waived.

18. Force majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay caused by an event beyond our reasonable control, including fire, flood, earthquake, epidemic, war, terrorism, civil disorder, failure of the public electricity or telecommunications network, or the act of a governmental authority. Where such an event affects a sale in progress, Section 4 governs what happens to the affected Lots.

19. Changes to these Terms

We may change these Terms. When we do, we publish the revised version with an updated version date. Where a change is material we will make reasonable efforts to notify registered account holders by email and by notice on the Platform before it takes effect.

If you continue to use the Platform after a change takes effect, you accept the revised Terms. If you do not accept them, stop using the Platform and tell us. An invoice already issued remains payable, and a bid already placed remains governed by, the version in force when the bid was placed.

Every version of these Terms is retained. We can identify which version was in force on any date and which version an account holder accepted.

20. General

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the terms posted on the auction page for a particular sale, are the entire agreement between you and us on their subject matter. Where the terms posted for a particular sale conflict with these Terms on collection arrangements, the posted terms govern for that sale.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any account. We may assign them to an affiliate or in connection with a merger or a sale of substantially all our assets.

Severability. If any provision is held invalid or unenforceable, it is modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or severed if it cannot be, and the remainder continues in full force.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. A waiver must be in writing and applies only to the instance specified.

Notices. We give notice to you by email to the address on your account or by notice on the Platform. You give notice to us at the address published on our Contact page.

Survival. Sections 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 20 survive closure of your account or termination of these Terms.

No third-party beneficiaries. Except that sellers may rely on Sections 7, 8, 14, and 17, these Terms confer no rights on any person who is not a party to them.

21. Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the law of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. Any dispute belongs in the state or federal courts serving Napa County, California, and you and we each consent to that jurisdiction and venue.