As a registered bidder, I have read and hereby agree to abide by the Terms and Conditions outlined hereafter.
General Rules
1.Please read the following terms and conditions are a legal binding contract between you (the Bidder/Buyer) and the Virginia Fire Museum. To register and bid in this auction you must read and agree to these terms and are bound by them.
2. Please be aware that these terms are GENERAL RULES for all auction listings and special terms can apply.
3. All items are sold AS IS, WHERE IS, with NO WARRANTY either expressed or implied.
4. Please compare description and photos. It is our intent to describe and photograph the majority of items included in that lot. However, there are times when other items may appear in the background or behind the items noted to be in that lot. Just because an item is in a photo does not mean it is included in that lot. If you have questions regarding a specific lot or item that affects your final bid, please call the office.
5. Once you place and confirm a bid through our bidding platform, you cannot remove or lower the bid. No bids will be removed once they have been placed.
6. Due diligence is the responsibility of the Bidder. All sales are final. When the bidding ends on our website and you are the winning bidder, you then assume complete responsibility to fulfill the obligations of these terms and agreements.
7. The Virginia Fire Museum reserves the right to refuse service to anyone bidding, buying, selling and/or at pick up.
8. The most recent correspondence with the Bidders takes precedence over previous correspondence.
9. The Virginia Fire Museum is not responsible for accidents, thefts, errors or omissions.
10. The Virginia Fire Museum reserves the right to add or remove items from the auction; split or combine lots; add minimum bids or reserve prices. The Virginia Fire Museum reserves the right to cancel, suspend, extend or reschedule an individual item and/or auction event or to make changes to the auction closing times,inspections or removal times.
11. Items used in photographs for display and/or containing items such as crates, totes, step blocks, back drops, etc. are not part of the selling lot unless specifically listed in the description.
12. After reading the description and viewing all of the photos available and you still have questions, feel free to call our office. Please remember that 99% of the time we have provided all of the information we have in the description. For inquiries such as “Does it work”, please read 13. In many cases we are dealing with an Estate and the history of an item has often passed with our seller. We strive to represent the items to the best of our ability. Please refer to 3.
13. In most cases The Virginia Fire Museum DOES NOT TEST or VERIFY condition or completeness of items being offered. Items advertised as NIB (New In Box) are assumed to be NIB. We DO NOT open these items if they truly appear to be previously unopened. Buyer has the right to test/inspect items at the time of pick up. Concerns must be addressed with staff at that time. After leaving the pick up location, the item is your responsibility. All items must be considered used or previously owned. No refunds will be issued.
14. In most cases previewing of the items is not available. If a preview is offered it will be noted in the auction information or in one of the information lots in the catalog.
15. General Correspondence with The Virginia Fire Museum,
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vafire.org
Phone: 540-915-0502 during normal business hours
Bidder Account Profile
1. When you register to bid with the Virginia Fire Museum Auction, you must create a bidder profile. A Valid email address and debit or credit card is required for bidding approval.
2. Our bidding system only allows for your email address to be used one time.
3. This profile contains your personal information – you may view and edit your profile by logging into our website. It is your responsibility to ensure that all the information on that profile is VALID and CURRENT.
4. We rely on that information to contact you and process payment. Address, Phone, Billing, Credit Card and Email information are particularly important!
5. If you need help logging in or resetting information in your profile, contact our office.
Disabled Accounts
Your account may be disabled due to one or more of the following reasons:
Non-payment of an invoice
Not showing up at pickup
Arriving late at pickups
Not signing up for pick up times, requiring staff to call by phone
Difficulty charging credit card or invalid credit card
Chargebacks
Inappropriate treatment of staff or sellers
Damage of property at pickup
Refusing to pay for shipping
Showing up at pickups unprepared with removal materials or help loading
Not removing all of your winnings from an auction
Email Responsibility
As the Bidder you must have a valid email address. It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that your particular server accepts emails from our server. We use email as our primary method of communication for bidding, registering, and invoice confirmation. ALWAYS contact our office if you are not receiving emails from our company – we can help troubleshoot, but your server may not receive emails as consistently as others.
Closing of Auctions
1. The closing time of the auction will be listed within the individual auction information page of our website. Please make note of the closing times.
2. Our auctions feature EXTENDED BIDDING. If a bid is placed on a lot within the last FIVE minutes of the auction, bidding will extend on that lot for FIVE minutes past the stated closing time. That lot will remain open until there are no bids on that item during the extended time period(s). This only affects lots that receive a bid during the last FIVE minutes of the auction. Any lot not bid on in the last five minutes will close as scheduled. Example: If you are participating in an auction that closes at 6:00 PM and you place a bid at 5:55, that lot will extend until 6:05 p.m. and will keep extending in Five-minute increments each time a new bid is placed. It will stop extending when no bid has been placed during the extended time period(s).
3. Occasionally an auction is an EXTEND ONE/EXTEND ALL format. In this case, if any single lot receives a bid in the last FIVE minutes, ALL LOTS in the auction will extend in five-minute increments.
4. Occasionally an auction will include “linked lots” in this instance a chain link icon will appear in the lot thumbnail. Lots containing this icon will use the EXTEND ONE/EXTEND ALL format.
5. Our auctions offer a MAX BID feature. This means that you can place a bid higher than the next preset bid. After clicking “Bid Now” you may place a MAX BID by entering the dollar amount of your highest bid. When you place a MAX BID, the current bid price may go to the next increment, or one increment over someone else’s MAX BID, if one has been placed. The computer will bid for you in the predetermined auction increments up to your MAX BID amount, only if another registered bidder bids against you.
6. Bids will be placed in the order that they are received. If TWO bidders enter a BID of the same dollar amount, the bidder who entered his/her bid FIRST will be recognized as the high bidder at that price. If you bid a certain amount and see that the bid is indeed that amount, but you are not the ‘High Bidder’, that means that someone else placed a bid for that amount, prior to your bid.
7. You may request OUTBID NOTICES when registering for your online bidding account via email and/or text messaging. Bidders will receive OUTBID NOTICES via email for the duration of the auction. Bidders will receive OUTBID NOTICES via text message only in the final 48 hours of the auction. As a Bidder, if you are unable to access a computer/mobile device during the closing of the auction to receive your OUTBID NOTICES, we highly recommend you utilize the MAX BID feature.
8. The Virginia Fire Museum is not responsible for internet malfunctions, loss of mobile service, or system glitches that may prevent you from placing last minute bids. Don’t wait until the last minute to bid; if the system is busy, your bids may not process within the last seconds of an auction closing, and you may miss an item you want.
9. The Virginia Fire Museum is not responsible for internet malfunctions, loss of mobile service, or system glitches that may prevent you from receiving notices from our company (e.g. paid invoices, outbid notices, etc..)
10. Become a RESPONSIBLE Bidder, YOU know if you are bidding on an item, when the auction ends AND when pick up is. You have the ability and responsibility to know if you won the item or not.
Payments
1. Payment for all purchases is due at the conclusion of the auction.
2. Payments will not be accepted on site the day of pickup.
3. We accept all major Debit and Credit Cards. The The Virginia Fire Museum reserves the right to change the type of payment method that is accepted for a specific auction. Cash and Checks are NOT accepted. Currency: USD only
4. At the conclusion of the auction, you hereby authorize The The Virginia Fire Museum to charge Purchase Price and any applicable handling fees to the credit card that you have recorded in your profile up to $1500.
5. If charges are declined by the credit card processor a non-sufficient funds charge of $25.00 will be charged each time processing is denied. The buyer will be notified of the NSF transaction through e-mail and be given 24 hours to contact the The Virginia Fire Museum with an alternative payment method.
6. Any invoice totaling $1,500.00 and over will require a wire transfer. Credit Cards will not be accepted for invoices $1,500 and over and the The Virginia Fire Museum is unable to split payment.
7. If you are the winning bidder for an item(s) requiring a wire transfer, you will be emailed all necessary information at the conclusion of the auction.
8. Wire transfers DO NOT immediately appear in our account. It may take 24/48 hours to complete the transfer into our wire account.Therefore it is imperative that you start the wire transfer process as soon as your bank allows.
9. Payment for any titled item, such as autos, trucks, trailers and some ATVs, as well as invoices totalling over $1500, will require a wire transfer of funds in full before being released to the buyer.
10. If purchases are not settled within 24 hours of the close of the auction, they are considered in default. All purchases in default revert to ownership of the seller.
Upon default any or all of the following may occur:
- Bidder’s privileges may be suspended on vafire.shop. Bidding privileges may be reinstated when default has been satisfied.
- Subsequent defaults may result in bidding privileges being blocked or denied.
- The Virginia Fire Museum may elect to resell the unpaid items. The default buyer will be responsible for any deficit in value between original bid price and the reselling price.
- Default buyer agrees and authorizes payment of any additional fees, as outlined in these Terms.
- Such actions may be taken at the sole discretion of The Virginia Fire Museum.
11. Payment in full is required before receiving your paid invoice.
12. Buyer agrees not to initiate any credit card charge backs.
Invoices
1. After we process your payment, The Virginia Fire Museum will send you a paid invoice via email with confirmation of items won, the purchase total, and applicable fees.
2. If you do NOT receive your paid invoice via email, make sure to check your spam/junk/promotions folders in your email account. You may also access your invoice in your profile on our website. You may also contact our office to resend the invoice. It is your responsibility to ensure you have your paid invoice before pickup time.
Pickup of Items
1. Access to the property is not allowed until you check in with a Virginia Fire Museum Member upon arrival at the FRONT OFFICE.
2. Virginia Fire Museum membership has the right to refuse service to anyone during a pickup.
3. Our staff is there to supervise the safe and proper removal of items and to help you identify the items included in your purchase. The museum membership is NOT there to help with the removal of heavy items.
4. Buyers need to pick up their purchases at their selected pickup time. If you arrive earlier or later than your scheduled pick time, be prepared to wait.
5. Please respect our property, stay in the approved waiting areas when inside the gated lot.
6. Buyers need to pick up their purchases at their selected pickup time. Specific times that are listed for pickup are the strict start and end times, per contractual agreement with the seller. We will not facilitate pickup BEFORE the start time. All buyers are expected to be FINISHED removing their items by the time the pickup is scheduled to end. You need to arrive on time to pack and remove all your item(s) within the stated pick-up times. We may assess a charge to any buyer that requires our staff to stay longer than the scheduled time.
7. If you are unable to pick up during the designated pick up time, you must send a representative to pick up for you or forfeit your items. Don’t bid if you can’t pick up at the specified time and location specified in the Auction Information page.
8. The next business day, after the auction ends, you will receive and E-MAIL from Shipping Saint to select from the available pick up times. All buyers are emailed at the same time, so if you wait too long, your choices of a pick up time may be limited. After selecting a pick up time, you will see the pickup confirmation and location immediately in Shipping Saint. Our office cannot assume responsibility for emails from Shipping Saint that do not arrive at your server.
9. Items may only be removed upon receipt of payment in full. Buyers must check in and present their paid invoice to a Virginia Fire Museum representative prior to loading items.
10. Any item(s) Virginia Fire Museum has to remove from the sale site due to the buyer missing pickup time or abandoning part of a purchase may be subject to additional service fees. Ownership of those items will return to the Virginia Fire Museum and the buyer will forfeit any and all rights to the item including payments and refunds.
11. You MUST bring your own packing materials, moving equipment, and adequate manpower (see 3) to safely and properly remove your items. We will not wait for your additional help to arrive if it is outside the pickup times. Also, you may be asked to wait if you do not arrive during your scheduled pickup time or are not prepared to load your items in a timely/safe manner. The Virginia Fire Museum reserves the right to help those buyers who came prepared and arrived during their scheduled pickup first. This policy is designed to keep pickups speedy and efficient. We need our buyers to come prepared out of fairness to other buyers.
12. The Virginia Fire Museum, reserves the right at their discretion to refuse load out and pick up of any item(s). Should they deem such load out may cause damage physically to the seller’s property or if it risks the safety of anyone or anything at the load out site.
13. The Virginia Fire Museum may charge additional fees to buyers as outlined but not limited to those included in the “Additional Charges” section in these terms.
14. The buyer will be responsible for ANY and ALL damage that occurs to an individual item, or the museum’s property during the removal of an item(s). This includes lawns, landscaping and all parts of museum’s property.
Shipping
1. In most cases we can accommodate shipping requests. However, there will be times, due to size of item(s) Quantity of Item(s), staff availability etc. that you may need to make arrangements with a Third-party shipper. If you plan to purchase an item and NEED it shipped, you should contact our office prior to bidding (during our normal business hours) to see if we can accommodate your request. Our office number is 540-915-0502.
2. Buyers have 15 days from the date of the item auctions close to remove items from the facility.
3. Remember, shipping is expensive, many times shipping can exceed the value of the item purchased. We will not refund the purchase price of an item simply because you feel shipping is too expensive. Figure it out before you place your bid. Call your local shipper and/or inquire about estimated shipping online. Online resources are endless and are there to help you with this, please do your homework first if you are thinking about having an item shipped.