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Everything you need to know about buying, selling, and managing your account on The Free Auction.
Place bids and win auctions
List something in minutes
Top up and pay for addons
Bid automatically up to your max
Get notified of new listings
Tips for safe buying & selling
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New here? Start with the basics
The Free Auction is an online marketplace where anyone can buy and sell items through auctions. Sellers list items with a starting price and a time limit. Buyers bid against each other — the highest bidder when time runs out wins and pays.
It's completely free to create an account, browse listings, and bid. Sellers can also optionally boost their listings with paid addons to get more visibility.
Completely free for buyers. Browsing, bidding, and winning costs nothing.
Free for sellers too — creating listings is free. The only optional costs are listing addons that boost your listing's visibility (Homepage Featured, Category Featured, Bold Title, Highlight Card). These are entirely optional and purchased using your wallet balance.
Almost anything legal and physical — electronics, collectibles, clothing, sports equipment, art, jewelry, instruments, vehicles, and more. Items are organized into categories that you can browse from the navigation bar.
Profile, settings, and login
Click your avatar or initials in the top-right corner when logged in. Your profile page has tabs for your Dashboard, Listings, Bids, Watchlist, Saved Searches, Reviews, Messages, Purchases, and Wallet.
To edit your profile photo, username display, or location, look for the edit options within your profile page.
On the login screen, click Forgot password? and enter your email address. If an account exists with that email, you'll receive a reset link within a few minutes.
After a completed sale, both the buyer and seller can leave each other a 1–5 star review with an optional comment. Your overall rating is the average of all reviews received.
Ratings are displayed on your public seller profile and on your listings, helping buyers decide who to trust. You cannot review yourself, and each completed transaction allows only one review per party.
No. Each person is allowed one account. Creating multiple accounts to manipulate bids or evade bans is against our terms and will result in permanent suspension of all associated accounts.
Finding exactly what you're looking for
Use the search bar at the top of every page to search by keyword — searches titles, descriptions, categories, and seller names.
For more control, click Advanced Search in the Browse page to filter by:
Use the Sort dropdown in the Browse page:
| Sort Option | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Ending Soon | Listings about to expire — good for last-minute bids |
| Newly Listed | Brand new listings — first to see them |
| Price: Low to High | Cheapest current bids first |
| Price: High to Low | Most expensive first |
| Most Bids | Most competitive / popular items |
| Featured | Boosted listings first |
The category bar below the search box lets you instantly filter by category — click any category name to see only those listings. Click All to return to everything.
Categories are managed by site admins and may change over time as new product types are added.
How auctions work
The minimum increment scales with the current price:
| Current Price | Minimum Increment |
|---|---|
| Under $10 | $0.50 |
| $10 – $50 | $1.00 |
| $50 – $200 | $2.50 |
| $200 – $500 | $5.00 |
| $500 – $1,000 | $10.00 |
| Over $1,000 | $25.00 |
Some sellers set a Buy It Now price — a fixed price you can pay to win the item immediately without waiting for the auction to end.
If you click Buy It Now, the auction ends immediately and you're taken to checkout. The BIN option disappears once someone has placed a bid on listings where that rule applies.
A reserve price is a hidden minimum that the seller sets. If the auction ends and the highest bid is below the reserve, the item does not sell.
If a listing has a reserve, you'll see "Reserve not met" until bidding exceeds it — then it changes to "Reserve met" and the item will sell to the highest bidder.
Yes — bidding right before an auction ends is called sniping and is a common strategy. It's completely allowed.
Bids are binding. Once placed, a bid cannot be retracted under normal circumstances. Think carefully before bidding — only bid if you intend to pay if you win.
If you believe a bid was placed in error (e.g. wrong amount typed), contact the seller via Messages as soon as possible. The seller may choose to cancel the listing and relist, but they are not required to.
Let the system bid for you
Auto-Bid (also called proxy bidding) lets you set a secret maximum amount you're willing to pay. The system then bids on your behalf — only as much as needed to stay in the lead, up to your maximum.
When two bidders both have auto-bids set, the system runs a proxy battle:
Yes. Go to the listing and click Cancel Auto-Bid. This removes your automatic bidding — your last placed bid remains, but the system won't bid again on your behalf.
What happens after an auction ends
Auction winners pay via PayPal. PayPal accepts major credit and debit cards, bank transfers, and PayPal balance — you don't need a PayPal account to pay with a card.
Your Wallet balance is used separately for purchasing listing addons (not for paying auction winnings).
Contact the seller first through Messages — describe the issue and include photos. Many sellers will offer a partial refund or return.
If the seller is unresponsive or refuses to help, you can open a PayPal dispute through your PayPal account within 180 days of payment. PayPal's buyer protection may cover your purchase.
You can also report the listing to our admins who can review the case and take action against bad actors.
Track the items you care about
Open any listing and click the ♡ Add to Watchlist button below the bid area. It turns red (♥) when active. Click again to remove it.
View all your watched items in Profile → Watchlist.
You'll receive an outbid email notification automatically if you've placed a bid on an item and someone outbids you — whether or not it's on your watchlist.
The watchlist is for tracking items you're interested in but haven't bid on yet. Use Auto-Bid for automatic outbid protection on items you're actively bidding on.
Never miss a listing that matches what you want
Saved Searches let you save any combination of search filters and get automatically emailed when new listings match. Perfect if you're hunting for something specific — like a vintage guitar under $200 in Good condition with free shipping.
Alert emails are sent at most once per hour per saved search, and only when new matching listings appear since your last alert. You won't be spammed — if nothing new matches, no email is sent.
Each alert email shows up to 12 matching listings with photos, prices, and time remaining.
Go to Profile → Saved Searches. From there you can:
You can also unsubscribe from a specific search's alerts by clicking the Stop alerts for this search link at the bottom of any alert email.
How to sell your items
| Condition | Description |
|---|---|
| New | Brand new, unused, in original packaging |
| Like New | Used once or twice, no visible wear, may not have original packaging |
| Good | Light signs of use, fully functional, minor cosmetic wear |
| Fair | Visible wear or minor damage, fully functional |
| Parts Only | Not fully functional, sold for parts or repair |
A reserve price is the minimum you'll actually accept. You can set a low starting price to attract attention while ensuring you don't sell below your floor.
Use a reserve if: You have a minimum acceptable price and want to start low to generate interest.
Skip the reserve if: You're happy selling at any price — listings without reserves often attract more bids because buyers know they can win.
Once a listing is live and has received bids, editing is limited to protect bidders. You can still:
To make major changes, you may need to end the listing and create a new one (only if no bids have been placed).
When the time runs out, several things happen automatically:
If no bids were placed, you can relist the item from your Dashboard.
Optional boosts to get more visibility
| Addon | What it does | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 🏠 Homepage Featured | Your listing appears in the Featured section on the home page, seen by every visitor | $20.00 |
| 📂 Category Featured | Pinned to the top of its category in search results | $5.00 |
| 𝐁 Bold Title | Your listing title appears in bold in search results — stands out at a glance | $3.00 |
| ✨ Highlight Card | Your listing card gets a colored highlight border to catch the eye | $4.00 |
Prices may vary — check the Sell page for current pricing.
Addons are paid from your Wallet balance. Before selecting addons on the Sell page, make sure you have enough funds in your wallet.
Homepage Featured is the most powerful — your listing is seen by every visitor to the site, dramatically increasing views and bids. It's ideal for high-value items or things with broad appeal.
Bold Title and Highlight are affordable ways to stand out in crowded category searches. Useful when many similar items are competing.
Category Featured is great when your category gets consistent traffic — your item stays at the top.
Getting items from seller to buyer
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Free Shipping | Seller covers all shipping costs — most attractive to buyers |
| Flat Rate | A fixed shipping cost added at checkout (e.g. $8.99) |
| Calculated | Shipping cost depends on buyer's location (contact seller) |
| Local Pickup | No shipping — buyer collects in person |
Go to Profile → Dashboard → Sales History and find the sold item. Click Add Tracking and enter your carrier and tracking number. The buyer can then see this in their Purchases tab.
Sellers set a handling time when creating the listing (typically 1–5 business days). This is how long they need to pack and hand off to a carrier after receiving payment.
If a seller isn't shipping within their stated handling time, message them directly first. If no response after 3 days, report the issue to admins.
Dashboard, relisting, and tracking
Go to Profile → My Listings to see all your current active listings, or Profile → Dashboard for a full breakdown including active, sold, and ended items with revenue charts.
Go to Profile → Dashboard → Sales History. Find the ended listing and click Relist. This creates a new identical listing — you can edit details before submitting.
Your Seller Dashboard (Profile → Dashboard) shows:
Your on-site balance for listing boosts
Your Wallet is a pre-paid balance used to purchase listing addons (Homepage Featured, Bold Title, etc.). It's separate from auction payments.
Think of it like a store credit balance — top it up with real money via PayPal, then spend it on listing boosts as needed.
Wallet balances are non-refundable and cannot be withdrawn back to PayPal. They can only be used for listing addons on The Free Auction. Add only what you plan to spend.
Go to Profile → Wallet. The full transaction history shows all deposits and addon deductions with dates, amounts, and descriptions.
Communicating with buyers and sellers
On any listing page, click 💬 Message Seller below the bid area. This opens a private message thread linked to that listing.
You can also start a message from the seller's public profile page.
Click the 💬 Messages button in the navigation bar, or go to Profile → Messages. Unread messages show a badge count on the icon.
Messages are organized by conversation thread — one thread per buyer/seller/listing combination.
You can message any registered user. Messages are private between the two parties and visible only to them (and site admins in cases of reported disputes).
Building trust in the community
Reviews become available after a transaction is completed (payment received and confirmed). Both the buyer and seller can leave each other a review.
To leave a review, go to the listing page after completion — you'll see a review form if you're eligible.
Reviews are permanent once submitted. Think carefully before posting — your words reflect on you as a community member.
If you believe a review is fraudulent or violates community standards, report it to an admin.
Unfortunately you cannot remove reviews yourself. However, you can:
Protecting yourself and the community
Red flags to watch for:
When in doubt, message the seller first and ask questions. Legitimate sellers are happy to answer.
On any listing page, click the 🚩 Report button. Choose the reason (counterfeit, scam, inappropriate content, wrong category, etc.) and submit. Our admin team reviews all reports.
You can also report a user directly from their profile page.
All reports are reviewed by our admin team. Depending on the severity:
If your account was suspended, you'll receive an email explaining why. To appeal, reply to that email or contact us through the site's contact form.
Common reasons for suspension: shill bidding, listing prohibited items, payment disputes, or policy violations. Provide context and we'll review your case.
Your email address is never shared publicly — it's only used for account notifications. Your public profile shows only your username, rating, and listing history.
Payments are processed through PayPal, which means your card details never touch our servers. We never store payment information.
Shipping addresses are only shared with the seller after a confirmed, paid transaction — and only the specific address needed for that shipment.
Can't find what you're looking for? Send us a message and we'll get back to you.
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