To create your account choose the “Register” link on the header navigational bar or use any of the links available on the home page. When registering you will be asked to complete a short form which includes standard information such as your contact details, preferred login credentials etc. You will receive confirmation via email shortly after submitting your registration. Rest assured, your registration information is transmitted securely. NOTE: if you do not receive a confirmation shortly after submitting the form, check your junk mail folder. If it's not there, please send us an email and we'll take care of it.

If you run into any other problems registering, please contact us here.

The Record Ranch formats your information a little differently than eBay. What does that mean for you? It means that if you're planning on buying something and paying with eBay's PayPal, you'll have to complete the PayPal address override so that your address can be included in the confirmation email that is sent to the seller. You can find the override form by logging into your account. It is in the Manage Account section under My Account. Complete the form, click Update and you're all set.

Bidding at The Record Ranch is simple. There are two areas on the item's page where you can place a bid: one next to the item details and a second at the bottom of the page.

To place your bid, simply enter the amount you wish to bid. Once you've entered your bid, you will be then be asked to review it. Here you will also be able to view vital item details before confirming your bid. To submit your bid, simply press the “Place Bid” button. If a seller is offering something you want at a set price, press the "Grab It!" button to purchase the item instantly.

If your bid is high enough to take the lead in the auction a confirmation message will be displayed to you, however if your bid has not taken the lead be it due to a higher proxy bid or not meeting the reserve price you will be invited to make a further bid.

Should you decide to retract your bid this can be done via the “Current Bids” section of the member’s area.

The Record Ranch's bidding format is proxy bidding. Proxy bidding allows you to place your highest bid once. Should you win the auction, you will pay the lowest winning bid. For example, if the current bid on an auction is 500.00 you can place a proxy bid of 2,000. Should you remain the only bidder you will only pay 500.00. However should the item receive other bids the site will automatically re-bid for you (up to 2,000 in this scenario) to ensure you remain the high bidder.

If the option is available you can use “Grab It!” to purchase the item immediately without having to place a bid. Some sellers offer such an option which can be used at any time until a bid has been placed over any applicable reserve price.

Are you looking for something but haven't been able to find it anywhere? You can place an ad on The Record Ranch's Want List. Sellers can log in and go through The Want List and respond to any listings with a listing of their own. Note: sellers need to have a regular listing made in order to respond to a Want List ad.

Place your Want List listing here.

The item watch features lets you keep a close eye on any auction without having to place a bid on it. This feature means you can be kept up to date on how an auction is doing and prepares you to place a winning last minute bid. You can watch any auction by clicking on the “Watch this item” link on any auction page.

The keywords watch feature notifies you of newly listed items which contain keywords you have chosen. For example if you're looking for an "Exile On Main Street LP" you could enter in those keywords from within your members area area. Each time a new auction is listed containing those keywords you will be notified via email.

To list your item, simply click on the “Sell” link found at the top of the page. If you've sold at other auction sites before, selling at The Record Ranch should look very familiar. If not, you should be able to pick it up rather quickly. Here is a step by step breakdown:

Where to list (for sellers with a store): You have three options: Site, Shop or Both. Choose Both if you want your item listed in your store and browsable throughout the site (this is recommended). If you choose Shop it will be listed but only browsable only in your store (it would be searchable if a user does do a search).

1. Item Details: Here's where you add your catchy title and detailed description. A full WYSIWYG editor is in place to enable you to spice up your listings without having to be an expert at HTML.

2. Settings: This is where you control how the item will be listed. On this step you can set the following:

· Auction type:
Standard Auction - This is a single quantity auction

Dutch Auction – A Dutch auction enables you to list a multiple quantity auction. For example, if you have 3 of the same title of a CD to sell you can list all of these together in one listing. Bidders will be able to select how many they wish to bid for or buy.

· Currency: You can select your preferred auction currency using the drop down menu available (live currency exchange rates are built in).

· Quantity: This field is only active if listing a Dutch auction, please see above for an explanation of this listing type.
· Auction Starts At: This requires you to enter the minimum bid you are willing to accept for your item. Since The Record Ranch doesn't charge a listing fee, there is no need to start your auction at a low amount in order to save money.

· Reserve Price: Enabling a reserve price affectively means you will not sell the item for less than the amount set, for example you can set the start price at 5.00 but only accept winning bids over 50.00, should a bid be placed for 49.99 the item will close without a winner.
· Grab It!: Grab It! allows you to offer a set price for your item. For example, you can set the starting price at 10.00 but offer interested parties the option to buy the item immediately for 50.00. You can also list Grab It! only auctions. These auctions have no bidding options and can only be purchased for a set amount. To set a Grab It! only auction you need to set the Grab It! price to be exactly equal with the start bid.

· Offer Range: You can set a price range which will allow you to entertain offers for your item. For example, if you set a Grab It! price at 10.00, but would take 8.00 or more for your item, you can make your offer range 8.00 and 9.99 and interested parties will be able to offer you an amount within that range. You can choose whether to accept or decline these offers in the My Ranch area.

· Item featuring: The following options are available to you. These will give your item more exposure to potential buyers:

•Home page featured – positions your item at the top of the homepage.
•Category featured - positions your item at the top of your item's category page.
•Bold text – puts your item's title in bold lettering.
•Highlighted background – adds a background to your listing in searches and browsing (when listing in Auction or Both).

· Set start/end time: You can either opt to list your item right away and set a defined number of days for it to be live for or you also have the option to define your own custom start/end time.

· Private Auction: A private auction will hide the bidders identity on the item details page.

· Image upload: You can either upload images local computer or enter the URL of an image(s) hosted elsewhere. You can aldo embed images in the description itself using simple HTML or by using the editor.
· Auto Re-List: You have the choice to have your items automatically re-listed for you. Select whether the item should be re-listed if sold and how many re-list attempts should be made. You can set it to auto re-list up to 99 times. Set it to 99 and don't worry about having to manually re-list every couple of months.

3. Shipping & Payment: Provide your shipping and insurance charges here. Include any relevant details in the text box (no HTML). There is also a pulldown menu which you will set whether or not you will ship internationally. If you only ship to domestic addresses, make sure you choose “Domestic only”.

4. Preview: You're almost done. This is where you review the listing and make changes if required. Don't worry, you can still edit your listing once it's live via the members area.

5. Finish: Now you're done! The final step provides you with listing confirmation and a summary of any charges the listing has accrued.

If the details of your auctions are going to remain pretty consistent, you can save even more time when listing. Save all your details here.

Still have questions? We're happy to help. Just email us here.