Author Confidential Auction

Policies and FAQs

General | Letters | Bidding | Payment | Shipping and Handling |  Acknowledgements | Landing Page

General

  • The auction will begin Wednesday October 12th at 8:00pm [ET] and end promptly on Wednesday October 19th at 8:00pm [ET].
  • This auction will be held online on eBay. Information on authors and their letters is on the Friends of the Ashland Public Library website now and is for promotional purposes only!
  • If you win an auction (or two ☺), you will have 24 hours to pay for your winning bid and send us your three questions. If payment is not made, or we do not hear from you, the letter will go to the 2nd highest bidder — No exceptions.
  • Once you’ve paid, we will send your questions to your author. We will contact you if there are any delays.
  • All sales are final. No refunds will be available.
  • Your information will not be used for any purpose other than this auction. We will not sell or share any personal information gathered  for this auction.
  • You can choose to join the Ashland Public Library email list if you are interested — we’d love to have you. This list is also not shared but used to inform interested parties about APL programs and updates only.

Letters

  • If you win an auction, your questions must be about the author’s body or work or writing process. Questions will be curated by librarians before sending to the authors and new questions will be requested if they do not fall within these parameters.
  • If you win an auction (or two ☺), you will have 24 hours to pay for your winning bid and send us your three questions. If payment is not made, or we do not hear from you, the letter will go to the 2nd highest bidder — No exceptions.
  • We will contact you if there are any delays – the authors may be on book tours or otherwise busy. They will send you their letters as soon as they possibly can.
  • Any follow up questions must be directed to the authors through their websites or publicists. We will try to send them any feedback that you might have.

Bidding

  • All bidders must register with eBay. There is no fee to register. This will allow you to bid and receive emails confirming bids and notifying you if you have been outbid or have won an auction. This will also let us know that you are truly a human.
  • When registering, you will be required to submit your mailing address.
  • All auctions will begin on Wednesday October 12th at 8:00pm [ET] and end promptly on Wednesday October 19th at 8:00pm [ET].
  • You may leave a ‘maximum’ bid of how much you are willing to pay for an item. This will go up in increments specified in the particular auction as others try to outbid you. You will receive an email if someone outbids your maximum.
  • Bidding Increments will be increased as price of item increases  — these increases are determined by eBay:
    ◦ $1 – $99 = $1 increment
    ◦ $100 – $249 = $2.50 increments
    ◦ $250 and up = $5 increments

Payment

  • If you win an auction on October 19th, you will have 24 hours to post payment to receive your item. If payment is not posted or we do not hear from you to make arrangements, the item will go to the 2nd highest bidder. No exceptions.
  • Once payment is received, you can send your questions to the library and we will pass them on to the authors.

Shipping and Handling

  • All letters will be mailed to the winners via First Class USPS or Global Mailing.
  • Mailing will be free, unless otherwise noted.
  • As the letters will not have tracking, we will check in with you once your letter has been mailed to ensure that you receive it. Please let us know if you don’t.
  • Disclaimer: We will do our best to mail out letters promptly at the conclusion of the auction but receipt will be dependent upon the authors’ schedules. We cannot be responsible for mailing delays and we ask for your patience if it takes longer than anticipated.

Acknowledgements

  • The Friends of the Ashland Public Library, who support all of our endeavors and Lisa Wood who helped create this preview site!
  • The great staff at the Ashland Public Library who have cheerfully supported this endeavor, in addition to their regular library work, from the very beginning.
  • The Library Board of Trustees for all of their support and excitement for this initiative and so many others.
  • Ashland Town Officials – The Select Board, Michael Herbert and Jenn Ball our Town Manager and Assistant Town Manager, Members of a variety of town departments.
  • Jennifer He who helped with all of our website questions.
  • Karen Leese and Ethie Slate for all of their help and humor in creating a successful auction.
  • Ashland community members and APL library patrons who continually support our little library – we love our community!

Landing Page

This landing page was created by librarians, not professional website developers. Please contact communications@friendsoftheapl.org with questions or feedback.