Getting Started: Common Cancellation Reasons & How to Avoid Them

B-Stock understands that sometimes life happens, and buyers may need to cancel an order from time to time. Since B-Stock wants everyone to walk away from a transaction happy and satisfied, we’ve compiled a guide to ensure the best chance for a successful order. 

The auction title is a snapshot, not the whole story. 

An auction title has limited space, so our listings team only distills the auction’s key elements, such as its main product component, number of units, condition, original retail value, and location. However, to truly evaluate whether the auction will suit your inventory needs, the auction’s manifest will provide all details the seller has available for that specific product. Please review the manifest in its entirety prior to bidding. 

Manifest details

Each seller may have varying levels of details in their manifest. Though B-Stock encourages its sellers to provide as much detail as possible so buyers can make an informed decision, the business of liquidation means that not all sellers are able to provide a minute level of detail. Please bid accordingly. If your business model requires very specific product parameters to run successfully, bidding on an auction with a manifest that does not include those parameters may result in a transaction that is not to your satisfaction. 

Understanding stock imagery

Similarly, relying only on an auction’s included images may also create expectations that do not match the additional details on the auction and its manifest. Due to the nature of liquidation, very few sellers are able to provide actual images of the product due to warehousing, storage, and staffing limitations. Stock images are usually supplied instead. Unless the auction specifically states that the images are of the actual product, please move forward with the understanding that the images are stock photos. 

Original retail value

Each auction title will include an original retail value. This value indicates the worth of the product when it first entered the market, not its current worth. B-Stock recommends you review the current prices prior to placing your bid. 

Overall, it’s important to remember that a bid is a promise to pay with the information currently available on the auction. Please do not place a bid as a “placeholder” with the intent to ask a clarifying question once the auction is over, or with the assumption that more information will become available once the auction is won. B-Stock only wants you to bid on auctions that will work for you based on the information currently available. 

Product Conditions

Though B-Stock is working on standardizing the conditions sellers use to post their product, many sellers may use their own terminology. Each auction and each marketplace will have a definition of the condition in which the product is listed. Please read these conditions carefully prior to placing a bid. 

Shipping Hiccups

While many of our marketplaces offer seller-arranges-shipping where the shipping cost is shown underneath the bidding box, some of our marketplaces require that buyers make their own shipping arrangements, and will not include a ship cost. If there is an estimate available, you will see it underneath the bidding box.

Near the bottom of the auction lot page, you will find a section on “Shipping” where it will outline the requirements for receiving that particular lot.

For more information about  the different shipping terms you will find across B-Stock, visit Buying Basics: Auction Lot Shipping Methods. 

Residential versus business address

Please also ensure your address is up to date prior to placing a bid. Many people who run businesses out of their homes may be tempted to label their residential address as a business address, but this will cause complications with your delivery down the road. Describing your address as “business” or “residential” is based on how your address is zoned, which will affect whether or not a full length semi truck is able to deliver your truckload of pallets. If you are receiving your product in a residential area, you should label that address as “residential” even if you run your business from that address. 

Liftgate and loading dock requirements

Your address will also have a field for you to request liftgate services if you need them. A liftgate is a little elevator attached to a truck that lowers pallets from the truck to the ground. If you have a forklift or a loading dock at your location, you most likely do not need a liftgate. 

Important: some sellers or auctions may require the receiver to have a loading dock. Please see the shipping details of each auction prior to placing a bid to make sure you are eligible to receive the order.

If you do require a liftgate to safely unload at your delivery location, please make sure your address is properly updated prior to placing a bid, and please understand that truckload auctions do not come with liftgate services. Orders have been canceled due to a buyer’s inability to receive a product. We do not want this to happen to you, as it can be an extremely painful and disappointing process for all involved.

Multiple delivery addresses 

If you have multiple delivery addresses, you will be given the option to choose which address from the live auction. This will allow you to see which ship cost works best for you if the auction utilizes binding shipping. We recommend reviewing all addresses prior to placing a bid. 

Please note that if you place a bid with the auction associated with Address A, but before the auction ends you decide to go with Address B, you must input your bid a second time with Address B selected. This is because you need to accept the new ship costs to the new location via a new bid. 

Though you are able to update the address once you win an auction and it becomes an order, we do not recommend doing so as best practice. All new addresses will incur a new ship cost, and if you are unhappy with the ship cost your new address incurs, the original ship cost for which you won the auction at the original address may no longer be available to you, especially in this economy. Every update to an address (including a request for a liftgate) will incur a new ship rate pull, which will override the original ship cost. People have canceled orders over this. 

Best practice is to ensure your address book is in order with each address properly labeled as residential/business and properly noted with a need for liftgate services. Ensure the correct address is selected on the live auction prior to placing your bid for best results.

Inputting your bid

Sometimes buyers win orders at an amount far greater than they intended due to a mistyped bid (entering $10,000 instead of $1,000, for example). If you mistype a bid, please attempt to contact us via phone or chat so B-Stock can review the situation with you prior to winning the auction. Please note, there are some parameters where an agent cannot cancel a bid, such as when an auction is too close to its end time. 

B-Stock recommends that all bidders utilize the confirmation window to review their bid prior to placing it. Once a bid is input into an auction, a pop up window confirming the bid amount and additional details on the auction will appear on your screen. Please take a moment to review to ensure that this is really the auction you want for the amount you input.  

Note: no bids will be canceled within 15 minutes of the auction closing, or if the auction is in popcorn bidding.

“I still want to cancel my bid or order”

B-Stock gets it. Sometimes no matter how careful you are, circumstances happen and you purchase an order you realize you can’t profit from or you can no longer receive the order due to your warehouse being no longer available. Functionality doesn’t currently exist for a buyer to cancel their order on their own, so all requests need to be submitted to our Customer Service team, who will do their best to work with you. B-Stock does need to ensure that cancellations are avoided if possible. If there is a pattern of cancellation, penalties may be incurred, with negative consequences to your account that can include fines or even suspension.

Please know that each seller reserves the right to cancel an existing order (see the Terms of Purchase for additional detail). B-Stock understands that the platform only functions if orders are successfully purchased, and discourages cancellations from both seller and buyer alike.

For any questions regarding canceling a bid or an order, contact our Customer Service team.