The Online Auction and Missing Bidder Records
You operate a monthly online-only auction from your home in Bangor. Bidders create accounts with a username and email; the platform does not require a legal name, address, or phone. For 240 lots, you export a spreadsheet of winning usernames and credit-card last-four digits, but you do not keep the underlying bids or timestamps. One buyer disputes a $1,850 charge, saying her teenage son used her account. A consignor asks for the names and contact information of all bidders who competed on his lot. Your listing agreement is a one-page email that says 'standard terms.' You delete sale files after 12 months to save space. You also accept a phone bid from a bidder who says he is 'a friend of the seller' and never disclose that relationship.
1. What registration and recordkeeping deficiencies exist, and why do they matter in the $1,850 dispute?
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The platform's username/email plus last-four digits cannot prove who authorized a bid or who is bound. Require legal name, address, phone, email, acceptance of terms, and a payment authorization; flag accounts used by minors. Keep the full bid log with timestamps, IP or device data if available, lot numbers, amounts, and payment records. A 12-month purge is likely too short under Board recordkeeping rules; confirm the current retention period and preserve records for disputes, tax, and board review. The one-page email 'standard terms' is also weak: use a written contract with seller, commission, premium, reserve, settlement, and dispute terms. Without these, the $1,850 charge is hard to defend and the consignor relationship is exposed.
2. How should you respond to the consignor's request for all bidder names and contact information?
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The consignor is not entitled to the entire bidder list. Bidder names, emails, and phone numbers are confidential business records and raise privacy concerns. Provide the consignor with the results for his lots: lot number, high bid, bidder number or redacted identifier, and whether the sale is paid. If the consignor has a legitimate dispute, give only the minimum necessary information, redacted, and document the request. Do not sell or hand over the list. Check the listing contract and Board rules before disclosing anything beyond sale results.
3. What should you do about the phone bidder who is a friend of the seller?
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A friend of the seller bidding at the seller's auction is a related-party bid. If the friend is acting for the seller, that is a seller bid and may be taken only in a properly disclosed reserve auction; if undisclosed, it is a shill bid. Verify the relationship and the friend's authority, disclose the relationship to bidders if the bid is allowed, and document it. If you cannot establish that the friend is an independent buyer, reject the bid. Do not let a phone bidder with a seller connection set the price without disclosure.