Support and Buy Local: A beginner’s guide to Postmedia’s online auction
Postmedia’s Support and Buy Local Auction kicks off Monday, June 22 at 9 a.m. and runs through June 29, offering deep discounts on more than $180,000 worth of goods and services from southern Alberta’s top local businesses.
The special online event is a way for people to support their favourite local brands, while treating themselves to a stress-free splurge. The auction features an incredible selection of items, including home furnishings, jewelry, gift cards, home improvement and renovation services, spa packages and more.
Support and Buy Local features a few different auction styles, depending on the item — they are: Dutch, open and buy now. For the first-time bidder, here’s a guide on how to place your bids and save big.
A Dutch auction is when a seller is offering more than one identical item for sale, so that there may be more than one winner — such as gift certificates. In this style of auction, each bidder can bid for all the items or only some of them. However, all winning bidders need to pay only the lowest qualifying (successful) bid. If there are more successful bids than items available, priority goes to bidder with the highest bid. If bidders have the same highest bid, priority goes to the bidder who submitted their bid first. The Dutch auction is a great way for bidders to save even more money than they had expected.
Hot tip: Nose Creek Physiotherapy has put 20 60-minute therapeutic massages into the auction. Each massage is valued at $115, with the starting bid set at $58.
An open auction is the more familiar real-time bidding method, in which bidders place their bid and the highest successful bid before the auction closes wins. In this scenario, it’s good to keep an eye on that coveted dining table set to ensure you’re not outbid at the last second.
Hot tip: Desert Sun Patios offering a 12-foot by 10-foot screened room, including installation in the Calgary area. It’s perfect to keep the pesky bugs away while providing extra, covered outdoor living space. It is valued at $15,555 and the starting bid is $7,778.
There may also be a select number of items available for immediate sale, under a buy now option. These are goods that are listed below retail value, so that no-wait savings are guaranteed for the decisive purchaser.
The Support and Buy Local Auction closes June 29 at 9 p.m.
Visit calgary.postmedia auctions.com to place your bids.