Terms and Conditions of Use

This document describes the Terms and Conditions of Use of the services accessible on the Site Balkan.Auction
The Site is owned and maintained by Auction.BG Ltd.

Balkan.Auction is an e-commerce platform where every user can:
  - advertise goods for sale at auction and at a fixed price as well;
  - buy and bid in auctions started by another user.

Definitions of the terms used in these Terms and Conditions of Use:
  - Online Auction - an internet-based sales ad posted on the website Balkan.Auction;
  - User - any person who has registered with the website in order to use the services provided by the website;
  - Seller - a user who starts an online auction;
  - Buyer - a user who has won an online auction;
  - Deal - When a Buyer wins an online auction, this is deemed a sales-and-purchase agreement between the Seller and the Buyer;
  - Uncontrolled Deal - an agreement between a Seller and a Buyer on a particular auction through the communication module of the system;
  - Rating - a grading system based on the users' feedback for each other;
  - Reserve Price - a minimal price at which the Seller would agree to sell;
  - Buy It Now price - a price at which the Buyer would agree to buy and bypass the bidding.

Given that Balkan.Auction is an international website, an official time zone must be selected and complied with. This time zone is UTC +2.

1. These Terms and Conditions of Use become compulsory for every registered user.

2. Balkan.Auction reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change these Terms and Conditions of Use.

3. If there are changes in these General Terms and Conditions, the system shall notify all active users. If the user did not use their right to disagree with the changes in the time limit given by law and continues to use the website's services, it is assumed that they agree with the new General Terms and Conditions.

4. The website is not a broker. It does not participate and it does not bear any responsibility or liability in any way for the deals concluded between the Buyers and the Sellers.

Registration

5. Any person who would like to use the services of the website shall register.

6. Any person who has sent an application for registration agrees to the Terms and Conditions of Use and all the procedures involved in the registration and the subsequent authentication including a mobile phone (SMS) confirmation/authentication as well.

7. People over the age of 18 have the right to register. Legal entities are registered by their representatives.

8. Balkan.Auction collects personal data from the users (Data Controller reg. No. 21044 under the Personal Data Protection Act, The Republic of Bulgaria).
  8.1. By applying for registration, every person consents to provide their personal data.
  8.2. Any person who wishes to register is deemed agree to have read the Privacy Policy and to accept it.
  8.3. If there is a deal between a Seller and a Buyer, the website does not automatically disclose personal data.
  8.4. The website shall not bear any responsibility for any invalid or incomplete contact/delivery details provided by the users.
  8.5. Any person who wishes to be registered is deemed agree to receive notifications based on his activities in the system.

9. The registration, the data (including the rating) and the related obligations to the website, is personal and cannot be given to other people. The registration of new/additional profiles by users is a possible action only if it is made by Seller type users with a lot of quantity and types of items. An administrator’s approval is required after a sent e-mail application.

10. The website reserves its right to:
  - refuse a registration;
  - terminate a registration without any prior notice;
  - request additional personal data and ID verification documents of the persons;
  - request a guarantee fee payment to prevent any malicious/unfair actions;
  - deactivate a registration after a request made by the user.

11. The website does not bear any responsibility for any publicly visualized personal data by the users in auction descriptions, public texts and comments.

Fees

12. The registration is free of charge.

13. Balkan.Auction does not collect any fees from the Buyers.

14. Sellers are charged fees when using additional/advertising options, as well as when concluding a deal as provided in the Fees Section.
  14.1. A final fee is also charged when using uncontrolled deals, i.e. in cases of early termination of auctions after an agreement/arrangement between a Seller and a Buyer through the communication module of the system. This fee is at a discount from the standard one and it is at the rate of 1.6% of the starting/current offered price of the terminated auction. Concluding such a type of deal eliminates the options of rating comments and making a final fee refund request in case of non-completion. If a deal is made throughout communication, it is obligatory to terminate the auction with a declared reason for "Agreed sale through the system". Any other activity or inactivity will be indexed as an obvious incorrectness.
  14.2. If Seller's declared reason for early termination of an auction is identified as dishonest behaviour, the maximum possible fee (12 €), no larger amount than the value of the deal, will be charged. As an incorrectness, which is a subject to a sanction, is also considered a preliminary termination with a declared reason different from "Agreed sale through the system", but with existing communication, which consists of given information about the delivery and/or a telephone number and/or an email address.

15. In case the user’s amount due to Balkan.Auction has reached 3 € (three euro) by the end of the current month, the user is obliged to pay in full the amount due by the 10th day of the following month. Restrictions will be applied to the profile/s after that deadline, i.e. in case of an overdue payment. In order to have those restrictions removed, the whole amount of the current amount due to the system must be paid. In case the costumer uses additional profiles and/or there is any indication for connection with other profiles, the restriction is placed on all the linked profiles.

Online Auctions

16. A Buyer shall be deemed a winner at an auction if any of the following conditions is met:
  16.1. the Buyer is the leading bidder at the end of the auction (in case of an online auction without any reserve price);
  16.2. the Buyer is the leading bidder at the end of the auction and the reserve price (if there is such) has been reached;
  16.3. the Buyer has used a Buy It Now price (if there is such);
  16.4. an offer made through the built-in special functions of the system has been accepted (Make Offer).

17. Every standard auction is with an open bidding and the user who has entered the highest price will be declared a winner. The bidding increment is fixed, although its value is different for different price ranges. That value is clearly visible at any auction where the bidding has started and it represents the actual difference between the lowest admissible price for the next bid and the current offered price. In case the difference between the amounts entered by the winner and by the user ranking second is larger than the increment, the final value of the auction is formed by the amount of second ranking user plus the increment. The users are ranked in descending order of the amounts they have entered.

18. In case of a concluded deal, the Buyer is obliged to purchase the goods offered by the Seller in accordance with the terms and conditions of payment and delivery described in the online auction.

19. Every Seller can start an online auction with any goods, provided the following conditions are met:
  19.1. the item is not prohibited under the European legislation;
  19.2. the Seller has all the required licenses, permits and patents in case that those are required by the European legislation;
  19.3. the item is presented via text and/or images in a way which shall not mislead the Buyers;
  19.4. if the item is Replica, it is shown both in the description and in the title of the auction;
  19.5. the main image used to indicate the auction in all the lists, visualizes the item advertised for sale;
  19.6. all terms and conditions of payment and delivery have been described.

20. In case of a concluded deal, the Seller should deliver the goods to the Buyer. The item should match completely its presentation in the online auction.

21. Seller is not allowed to demand from the Buyer any additional fees, surcharges, VAT and any other additional payments if those have not been explicitly described in the online auction.

22. Seller is not allowed to start an online auction which has at least one of the following features:
  22.1. it contains words and expressions which are vulgar or contrary to good morals;
  22.2. it contains images with violent scenes which are contrary to good morals (incl. scenes of violence, sadism, child pornography);
  22.3. it contains ad links (exception: requested and approved advertising campaigns);
  22.4. it contains any personal data (contact details);
  22.5. it visualizes an unrealistically high price (many times higher than the market price);
  22.6. it uses other persons' intellectual property without the permission of the copyright owners;
  22.7. an inappropriate category has been selected;
  22.8. it is doubled/multiplied, whereas maximum two active auctions are permitted in case that sufficient quantity is available of any particular item;
  22.9. ads of the types: "I buy", "I swap", "Service", "Food", "Advertisement" and "Additional images".

23. Balkan.Auction reserves the right to cancel with no prior notice any online auction, as well as to remove a text or a part of a text, which is published by a user and is publicly displayed in the site's content.

Responsibility

24. Balkan.Auction shall not be liable for any undesired consequences occurred as a result of any malfunction of the website, including failed deals between Buyers and Sellers.

    These Terms and Conditions of Use have not been revised since 1 August 2019.