EVERYONE IS WELCOME–HOBBYIST AND PROFESSIONAL. HOWEVER, YOU MUST PAY THE AUCTION REGISTRATION FEE IN ORDER TO BUY AND SELL.
Items are accepted at seller’s risk. TCA cannot accept responsibility for any item’s safekeeping nor its condition either before or after the sale.
Once they are registered, all for-sale items become property of the TCA and cannot be withdrawn from the auction.
Each seller is allowed to sell 40 bags of fish, with a maximum of five (5) bags of any one species or color strain. Sellers will be charged an additional $5.00 for each additional 40 bags of fish.
No Hybrids, other than Discus, will be accepted. Minimum lengths will be enforced. Dwarf species must be at least 3/4″ and all others must be at least 1″ in length. The Auction Committe will inspect all bags of fish sold. The Auction Chairperson has final determination on whether a bag of fish or an item can be sold.
All fish are expected to be bagged properly. ABSOLUTELY NO ZIP-LOCK BAGS ALLOWED! The seller will be charged $2.00 for each bag of fish that requires rebagging.
BIDDERS: Know what you are bidding on. All items are available for inspection prior to the auction. Take the time to examine each item so you positively know what it is BEFORE you bid.
Each bag must include fish species, quantity, a description if appropriate (breeding pair, trio, sex, etc.), assigned seller initials and a unique bag number (do not put your buyer number on each bag as the bag number). If you’re selling 10 bags, your bags should be numbered 1-10. The information must be legible–use black lettering directly on the bag or lettering on a white label on the bag. Make sure you use permanent markers that won’t run or smear when they get wet. Examples of how your lettering/labels should read on the bag:
MLE #1
Altolamprologus calvus
“Zaire Black” F1
Breeding Pair
MLE #2
Altolamprologus calvus
“Yellow” F1
Qty: 6 unsexed
Adult males and females of the same species should be bagged separately and the bags attached together.
Priority colored dots will be issued to each seller at auction registration. Place one dot on each item for sale. At the beginning of the auction, one color will be drawn at random. The items with that color dot will be sold first. After all the items with that color dot are sold, another color will be drawn. This will continue until all items are sold. If there is an item that you want to bid on that has a color dot other than the current color dot, you can have that item moved up and auctioned for a $3.00 fee. This does not guarantee that you’ll win the bidding, just that you’ll have a chance to bid on the item.
SELLERS PLEASE NOTE: All plants brought to be sold at auction will be sold in the silent auction, but not as club donations. Sellers should bag and label all their plant items in the usual manner when preparing their auction items for sale.
Each bidder must register and be assigned their own bidder number. TCA will not split items sold under one bidder number between multiple bidders at checkout time. Each bidder is responsible for EVERYTHING bought with their bidder number.
When an item is sold, the runner will bring the item to the buyer. A record of each sale will be kept at a table beside the auctioneer, and entered into the computer. When you are ready to check out, notify the computer operator at the registration table and we will make sure we have collected all of the record for your purchases.
No one will be allowed to remove any auction item from the auction room unless proof of payment is shown. Your proof of payment is your paid auction receipt.
Once you have cashed out, you will no longer have a bidder number. If you want to purchase other items, you must be issued a new bidder number (there is no additional charge for the second bidder number).
The auction chairperson retains the right to reject any fish not fit for sale (sick fish, deformities, hybrids, size etc.).
