As Is: Words in a contract intended to signify that no guarantees whatsoever are given regarding the subject property and that it is being purchased exactly as it is found. An "as-is" indicator is intended to be a disclaimer of warranties or representations. Also known as "as is, where is" and "in its present condition." Typically, this is a sign that no return privileges will be granted.

Bid Cancellation: The cancellation of a bid by a seller. During online auctions, sellers can cancel a bid if they feel uncomfortable about completing a transaction with a particular bidder.

Bid History: A historical list of all the bids made on a particular auction during or after the auction.

Bid Increment: The standardized amount an item increases in price after each new bid. The auction service sets the increment, which rises according to the present high bid value of an item.

Bid Retraction: The legitimate cancellation of a bid on an item by a bidder during an online auction.

Bid Rigging: A practice analogous to price fixing in which auction participants form a ring whose members agree not to bid against each other, either by avoiding the auction or by placing phony (phantom) bids.

Bid Shielding: Putting in a high bid to put off other bidders, which you intend to withdraw near the end of the auction to let your lower bid in another ID win.

Bid Siphoning: When a seller contacts bidders on other seller's auctions, in an effort to sell a similar item. This practice is unfair to the original seller, and dangerous for buyers. The new seller has not listed the item publicly, so there will be no record of the item's description, nor will there be a record of the transaction. Thus, it is extremely risky for bidders to transact with such an unethical seller.

Bulk Loading: Listing a group of different items in separate lots all at once using an online auction site's bulk loading tool.

Buying Up Lots: The practice of buying all quantities of an item during a Dutch auction. This is typically done for resale purposes.

Caveat Emptor: The axiom or principle in commerce that the buyer alone is responsible for assessing the quality of a purchase before buying. "let the buyer beware."

Cookie: A piece of information sent from a Web server to a Web browser that the browser software saves and then sends back to the server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the server.

Deadbeats: High bidders who fail to pay for the item they won.

Escrow: Money held in trust by a third party until the seller makes delivery of merchandise to the buyer.

Featured Auctions: Auction listings placed prominently on the home page and category pages of an auction service. Sellers pay for this prime placement.

Feedback: One user's public comments about another user in regard to their auction dealings. Feedback comments cannot be removed or changed once submitted to an auction service.

Feedback Padding: Honest users really can’t stand members who have other people drive up their user ratings with fake positive feedback. Be ethical. Feedback padding undermines the entire system of trust. Moreover, don’t contact random bidders, claiming you are still waiting for reciprocal positive feedback. High-volume bidders are smart and they’ll recognize the scam. Instead of positive praise, you’ll probably get negative feedback.

Feedback Roulette: Leaving feedback until the last minute, 90 days from Auction End, to leave negative feedback, in the hope that the other party does not have time to retaliate.

Final Value Fee: The commission charge the seller pays to the auction service after his or her item sells.

Grading: The process for determining the physical condition of an item. Different items have different grading systems.

Initial Listing Price: The opening bid price a seller attaches to his or her auction.

Insertion Fee: A fee paid by the seller to the auction site in order to list an item for auction, calculated as a percentage of the opening bid or reserve price.

Lot: A single auction listing.

Market Value: The highest price a property will bring in the open market.

Maximum Bid: The highest price a buyer will pay for an item, submitted in confidence to an online auction service's automated bidding system to facilitate proxy bidding.

Minimum Opening Bid: The mandatory starting bid for a given auction, set by the seller at the time of listing.

NARU'd: An auction user term to describe users whose memberships have been discontinued. NARU is the acronym for "not a registered user."

Net Cops: Auction users who actively attempt to report instances of fraud, such as shilling or bid shielding, to online auction sites.

Nibbling: Making repeated bids in an attempt to find / exceed the current highest bidders proxy.

NR: Short for "no reserve." This indicates in the item description line that the auction has no reserve price specified.

Opening Bid: The seller's opening bid, which sets the opening price.

Outbid: To submit a maximum bid that is higher than another buyer's maximum bid.

Registered User: A person who has registered as a member of an online auction service. All online auction services require registration prior to buying and selling.

Relisting: The relisting of an item by a seller after it has not received any bids or met its reserve price. Typically, the first relisting is free.

Reserve Price: The minimum price a seller will accept for an item to be sold at auction. This amount is never formally disclosed.

Retaliatory: The user term for retaliatory negative feedback, posted by one user in response to another user's negative feedback.

S&H Charges: Shipping and handling charges.

Secondary Market: The buyer market for secondhand goods. Online auctions serve the secondary market.

Shilling: To bid on an auction when you have no intention of purchasing the item in order to inflate the price of an item. Also known as bid rigging and collusion.

Sniping: Making a bid at the last possible moment before an auction closes.

Starting Price: The mandatory starting bid for a given auction, set by the seller at the time of listing.

Terms of Service: A legally binding agreement that outlines an auction site's operating policies. All registered users must agree to a site's terms before using the service.

User Info Request: A request for a user's background information, which provides personal information, such as a phone number.