Auction Terms

Our auctions run on the same promise as the rest of the store: healthy animals, straight talk, and no surprises. Here is exactly how bidding works.

How our auctions work

Bidding. Every bid is a binding offer to buy at that amount. You can bid the minimum next amount shown, or set a maximum bid — we'll bid automatically on your behalf, only as much as needed, and your maximum is never shown to anyone.

Closing time & extensions. Lots (a lot is one auction listing — the specific animal or group being sold) close at the time shown, but any bid in the final 2 minutes extends the close by 2 minutes (this repeats, up to a cap). That means no last-second sniping — everyone gets the chance to respond. “Going once, going twice” — just online.

Reserves & Buy-It-Now. Some lots have a reserve (the page will show “reserve not yet met”) and some offer a Buy-It-Now price that ends the auction instantly. If bidding ends below the reserve, the lot doesn't sell — we may contact the highest bidder or relist it.

Winning & paying

  • If you win, we'll email you an invoice for exactly your winning bid plus livestock shipping. Payment is due by 12:00 PM (noon) Melbourne time on the Monday after the auction — that's what books your shrimp onto the week's shipping run. The exact deadline is always shown in your invoice email.
  • Auction nights close in the evening, Melbourne time, so winners' shrimp ship early the following week by express — the tight payment window exists purely so your animals never wait an extra week.
  • Payment after the deadline counts as a failed win: your invoice is cancelled at that point (anything paid after that is refunded in full), a non-payment strike is recorded against your account, and the lot is offered to the next-highest bidder. If that's you, we'll offer the lot at your own highest bid — accepting is entirely optional, and the offer (with payment) stays open until 9:00 AM Tuesday Melbourne time so your shrimp still make the week's run.
  • Two strikes and your bidding access is suspended. A strike lapses 6 months after it's recorded; once you're back under two, bidding reopens (or email us — suspensions can be reviewed). Bids are commitments — please only bid what you're happy to pay.
  • Auction Night Pass — $10. Some scheduled auction nights require a Night Pass: your entry ticket for every lot that evening, however many you bid on. When one applies, you'll be asked to buy it as you place your first bid of the night. Like any event ticket it isn't refunded or credited afterwards, win or lose — it's your seat in the room, and it's how we keep every bid a serious one. The one exception: if we cancel an auction night, your Night Pass is refunded (or carried to the next night — your choice). One-off lots listed between auction nights are pass-free, and watching is always free.

Live animals — the important part

  • Our Live Arrival Guarantee applies to every auction win, exactly as it does to any order: if animals arrive deceased, follow the DOA & Missing Items Policy — claim within 8 hours of delivery with photos AND a short video of the unopened bag.
  • The guarantee's conditions apply equally to auction wins: someone must receive the parcel on delivery day; no PO Boxes or parcel lockers; deaths after acclimation (the slow introduction of your tank's water before release) aren't covered (see the Care & Acclimation Guide).
  • We can't send live animals to WA, Tasmania or the Northern Territory. Everywhere else in Australia is fine. Quarantine requirements and the transit times they add mean we can't get shrimp to those three alive reliably, and we won't take that risk with your money or the animals. Checkout won't offer a shipping rate to those addresses either — so please don't bid on a live lot if that's where it would be going.
  • WYSIWYG — what you see is what you get. Every lot is photographed and filmed here before it goes up, and those are the actual animals — a one-off specimen or one specific group, never a representative photo of the line. Nothing is substituted: what's in the images is what gets bagged for you. This is the difference between an auction lot and a catalogue listing, where photos show representative animals because no two shrimp carry exactly the same pattern. Grades describe appearance per our grading FAQ.
  • If a WYSIWYG animal doesn't survive the trip. This is the one promise transit can break. We photographed that specific shrimp, and if it arrives deceased we cannot send you the same one — nobody can. The Live Arrival Guarantee covers you exactly as it would on any order, and for a WYSIWYG lot our default remedy is a replacement of equivalent quality or better from the same line, hand-picked by us. A refund of the livestock value or store credit remains yours to choose instead. All three cost you nothing, and we would rather you told us which you want than assumed.
  • Single-animal lots are not tiered. Our Live Arrival Guarantee normally scales cover by how long the parcel took — full under 48 hours, half between 48 and 96. That arithmetic works for a group, but half of one shrimp is not a remedy. So where a lot is a single animal, a valid claim is settled in full whatever the transit time: an equivalent-or-better replacement, a refund of the livestock value, or store credit. Lots of several animals follow the normal tiers.
  • All auction sales are final at the hammer (the moment the auction closes). A bid is a binding offer, so we don't cancel wins or refund a change of mind — that's the one real difference between an auction lot and an ordinary order, and it's why we ask you to bid only what you're happy to pay. None of that touches the Live Arrival Guarantee above, or your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, which this policy never limits.

The fine print

  • We may cancel or extend a lot — or, in exceptional cases, a whole auction night — before close (listing error, animal welfare); active bidders are notified, and a cancelled night refunds its Night Passes as above.
  • Bid history is recorded. Auction results (hammer prices — the winning amounts) may be published; bidder identities are never shown publicly.
  • Questions: support@shrimpzone.com.au.