| Faq's |
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| New users |
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| What is IamAnArtist? |
| We are glad to see you here at IamAnArtist, which is an exciting online world of auctions to match modern life's fast pace. Everyday we bring you an exciting range of top quality products at unbelievably low prices in auctions. The auctions start at as low as 10c.
So just have a glance at the products currently being auctions at IamAnArtist, and you will be tempted for sure. What you got to do next? Just buy some bids and get rolling.
With each bid placed, the price of the item increases by 10c. When you bid, we also reset the counter back up to a maximum of 40 seconds - to give someone else the chance to bid too if they're interested. If no-one else bids and the counter reaches zero, then viola: you've won yourself a great deal on IamAnArtist! |
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| How do I start bidding? |
| If order to bid online, you first need to register online. Once you have registered successfully, you can then buy some bids and start bidding straight away. |
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| How much would a bid cost? |
| Each bid costs just 10c, and you can choose from our Bid Packages of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 bids. |
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| Bidding Process |
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| How do I bid for an auction? |
It’s pretty straightforward. You need to follow four simple steps:
1. Register yourself on IamAnArtist.com
2. Charge your account with bids by choosing a Bid Package of your choice.
3. Pick up any auction of your interest.
4. Bid and win! |
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- Free Registration
If you want to bid online, you first need to register. Registration is free and very easy. Once your registration request is received, you just need to confirm your email address by clicking on the link in the confirmation email sent to you. This is required as part of our registration process.
Once you have confirmed your email address, you are then successfully registered with IamAnArtist.
- Charging your account with bids
Each bid costs just 10p, available in Bid Packages of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500. Pick whichever size you want and just decide whether you wish to pay with a credit card or via pay pal.
- Picking an auction
So will you go for a Home Theatre or the latest mobile phone or maybe a new food processor? Just pick up your product. Our homepage has a list f exciting auctions or else you can also browse through each category to get what you want.
- Bid and win!
You are now ready to go. Just click on the “Bid” button to take part in your first auction at IamAnArtist.
We know you cannot be present at all places at one time. So if you need to leave your computer, you don’t have to worry about your bid as you can use our "JohnnyBot" service to place bids for you while you are away. Click here for a visual explanation of how the JohnnyBot works.
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| How can I buy bids? |
You can buy bids using your credit card, or via Pay Pal.
We accept Visa, Visa debit and Visa electron cards as well as MasterCard and Maestro cards. |
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| How do I keep track of the auctions that I am bidding for? |
| All the registered users can use “My IamAnArtist” to keep track of all the auctions they have bid on that are still running, as well as those you’ve asked to watch. Just click on 'My IamAnArtist' and select 'My auctions' for all auctions that you have placed a bid on, and 'My Watched Auctions' for auctions that you want to watch. |
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| How do I see the bids I've placed on a particular auction? |
You can view the bids that you've placed most recently under 'Bid history' on the right hand side of the auction detail page, just under the JohnnyBot section.
You can see a full bid history under Bid Account ('My IamAnArtist' -> 'Account' -> 'Bid account') by clicking on the '+' sign alongside every auction. |
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| How do I see how much I have spent on bids in an auction? |
| You can always see how much you have spent in a single auction by looking at the 'Savings' section just below the 'Bid' button on the auction detail page. |
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| How do I see who's bidding on an auction? |
| Just look under 'Bid history' to see a list of the most recent bidders on that auction and the type of bid they placed. |
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| I have just placed a bid but still currently I am not the highest bidder, why? |
When a bid is placed, it will always be the highest bid, but might get out-bid very quickly. This can happen if there are many bidders or if there's another user's JohnnyBot also bidding on the auction. You might not see this simply because other bids have been placed with a few seconds of each other.
To help you make your bidding more effective, here are some tips:
* Look at the bid history, check the number of bidders on the auction and the type of bid placed. If there are only single bids, try placing a JohnnyBot, a JohnnyBot can not only save you bids, but also help you to become the highest bidder.
* Try looking for a similar auction with fewer bidders. You can often find a similar product on auction at the same time but with fewer users. You could pick up a bargain without needing to place as many bids. |
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| Can I bid on a future auction? |
| We rather ask you to wait until the auction's countdown has begun. These auctions are shown in the drop down menu under "live auctions". |
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| JohnnyBot |
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| How does the JohnnyBot work? |
| For a visual introduction of the JohnnyBot, please click here. |
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| How would the JohnnyBot decide when exactly to place my Bids? |
Our JohnnyBot are instructed to be as stingy as possible when bidding. For this reason they wait until the last 10 seconds of the auction countdown to place your bids. When there are two or more JohnnyBot set on the same auction, they duke it out there and then, placing all their bids immediately. This battle means that the price and countdown both increase with each bid placed. (We do this so that bidders can easily see the auctions that will end soon unless another bid is placed).
We have a few simple rules about how your JohnnyBot can be used - just remember these when telling your JohnnyBot when to bid:
* You must use at least two bids when setting a JohnnyBot: if you just want to place a single bid, just click the bid button.
* Your maximum price has to be at least one dollar ($1) higher than the current end price.
* Once the bidding has reached the ‘Bid From price at which you instructed your JohnnyBot to start bidding, you are then not allowed to cancel your bids. |
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| Can I cancel a JohnnyBot? |
| You can cancel the JohnnyBot only till the auction has not reached your JohnnyBot’s “Bid From” price. To cancel the JohnnyBot, you need to select the JohnnyBot’s overview tab and click on the red cross. |
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| How come the auction ended before my ‘Bid To’ price was reached? |
| JohnnyBot is supposed to bid only that many number of times as specified by the “Bids” value specified by you while setting of the JohnnyBot. This is done to control the spending of your JohnnyBot. If the JohnnyBot hits its spending limit then no more bids are place, even though the current price maybe below your “Bid To” price. |
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| What happens to JohnnyBot bids that don’t get used? |
| Bids not used by JohnnyBot are credited back to your IamAnArtist account. This might usually happen when you win an auction. It can also be the case when an auction ends before your ‘Bid From’ price is reached, or if your ‘Bid To’ price is reached before all your bids are used up. |
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| Any advice on how to bid? |
| Many times people want to know the ways to improve their chances of winning an auction on IamAnArtist. There’s no such "sure-shot" winning formula, but here are a few tips to help you get started, as well as a few of the traps that novice bidders sometimes fall into. |
- Place your bid late
Watch the countdown and try to jump in to bid in the last few seconds. If the timer has reached the last few seconds, you know that it will end unless another bid is placed. (Don’t leave it too late though, or you might miss out)
- One should start with the cheapest products
Even though our most expensive items can get you some of the best bargains but then they also tend to attract hundreds of bidders. The cheaper products listed on the website tend to have fewer people bidding for them and hence increasing the likelihood of your winning the deal.
- Use the power of JohnnyBot.
The JohnnyBot is a great tool. If you get the timing right you can actually scare off other bidders by placing one. Nobody likes to see their bids matched over and over again by your all conquering JohnnyBot. This discourages people to bid again and hence they give up easily.
- Use their JohnnyBot against them
Some people just forget about the JohnnyBot they have placed. In such times it is easy to swoop in and win with a quick single bid if your rival has gone away feeling safe in the knowledge that their JohnnyBot will protect them.
As a normal trend, users set the ‘Bid To’ value of their JohnnyBot to a round number, so you need watch out for this and you might be able to sweep a bargain by simply clicking on the “Bid” button when a JohnnyBot has just finished.
- Check what other bidders are up to
You can see the details of the last ten bids placed: try to analyze out who is bidding and when they are bidding. It’s all about timing, so maybe you can work out when is the right time to jump in and grab it.
- Scope out the competition
You are more likely to win if there are fewer bidders interested in a product than if there are lots of competing bidders. So check and see how many different bidders have recently bid on an auction.
- Choose the right time of day
The number of bidders varies throughout the day. Intelligent and smart bidders can make use of the times when people are less likely to bid i.e. when they are busy traveling to office or having their lunch.
- Be smart with JohnnyBot
If you use the JohnnyBot to bid on your behalf, it’s best not to set your ‘Bid To’ value to a round number as the other bidders might be watching out for this.
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| Can I set a JohnnyBot on a paused auction? |
| Yes you can, but the JohnnyBot's bids will not be consumed unless someone else places a JohnnyBot bid, or the auction is unpaused. |
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| How do I see my booked JohnnyBot? |
JohnnyBot bids that you have booked on a specific item are available on the auction detail page. Simply click on the 'JohnnyBot overview' tab next to the 'Book JohnnyBot' tab in the JohnnyBot section.
To see all of your current planned JohnnyBot bids across all auctions, go to 'My JohnnyBot' under 'My IamAnArtist' -> 'Auctions'. Please note that these do not show JohnnyBot bids that have already been placed." |
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| Auctions |
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| I’ve just won an auction. What next? |
Firstly, heartiest congratulations on winning the auction!
Steps you need to take next:- Confirm your win
Once the auction has ended, you will be automatically transferred to a page where we’ll ask you to confirm that you still want the item and explain what to do next. We’ll also notify you via e-mail to explain how to do all this. Just remember if you want the item you need to confirm within 7 days of the end of the auction. If you don’t confirm within 21 days, we would assume that that you no longer want to buy the item.
- Pay for the item you won
You can pay for your item by credit or via Pay Pal. Please make sure that you pay within 7 days of the end of the auction. We’ll confirm your payment via e-mail and arrange for the item to be shipped to you. If you do not receive your product within 14 days of our confirmation of our payment, please contact us at support@IamAnArtist.com.
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| What are the various types of auctions? |
Fixed Price Auction: If you win a Fixed Price Auction, you only pay the fixed price indicated in the heading of the auction (plus delivery charges), regardless of the highest bid price for that auction.
One cent Auction
In the one cent auction, the price rises by just one cent with each bid placed (whereas in a normal auction, it goes up by 10 cents).
NailBiter Auction
In a NailBiter Auction, JohnnyBot are not allowed. Users may only place single bids by manually clicking on the bid button. So you just can’t walk away or you miss the next incredible deal!
100% off
In a “100% off”, auction the winning bidder does not have to pay the final price. You just need to pay the delivery charges!
Night Auction
As a norm we pause our auctions overnight between 1am and 6am, but some of our auctions run all though the night. These are called as Night Auctions. We would mark auctions as night auctions either from the moment we put them on IamAnArtist.com or at least by 9.30pm on the evening before they begin running into the night.
Open Auction
Anyone can bid on an open auction, even if they have already reached their eight auction limit. Open auctions do not count towards your auction limit.
20-Second Auction
These auctions start as 20-second auctions. The countdown increases by a maximum of 20 seconds each time that a bid is placed.
15-Second Auction
With these the countdown increases by a maximum of 15 seconds with each bid placed.
10-Second Auction
And here the countdown increases by a maximum of 10 seconds with each bid placed. |
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| Why do I see most auctions paused during the night? |
IamAnArtist auctions wake-up at 6am and go to sleep at 1am for the night. We do have some auctions turning into Night Auctions at 9.30pm. Night auctions run throughout the night. Night auctions are marked with a special logo and announced on the website at 9.30pm.
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| How do I watch an auction? |
| You can watch an auction if you click on "Watch auction” in “My IamAnArtist" The list of all watched auctions you'll find in "My IamAnArtist > Auctions" under "Watched Auctions". |
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| How can I find the different auctions available on the site? |
Here are a few different ways of looking at the different auctions on the site:
Live auctions
Please click in the menu "All categories" on "Live auctions" and you will see all live auctions with their countdown.
Future auctions
'Future auctions' are auctions that will start in the future. Please click in the menu "All categories" on 'Future auctions' and you will see some of the auctions that we plan to run in the coming days and weeks.
Ended auctions
To have a look at all auctions that have ended, please click on "All categories" and select "Ended auctions" - you'll see a list of all the auctions that have ended, along with the price that they sold for. |
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| What's the difference between a live auction and a future auction? |
| Live auctions are auctions where the countdown has already started running. Future auctions are planned to start at some time in the future, so they don’t have a countdown that's running. You can bid on both types of auctions. |
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| How many auctions can I win within a 28 day period? |
| The limit to the number of auctions that you can win within 28 is eight. This is to enable as many people as possible have a chance of winning our amazing deals. |
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| Why can I only bid on maximum eight auctions at the same time? |
| You can only win eight auctions within 28 days. We don‘t want you to waste any bids or time on auctions outside this limit, so we block you from bidding on more than eight auctions at the same time. |
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| Where can I see how many auctions I’m still allowed to bid on? |
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This can be found at one glance on the top of your “My IamAnArtist” page. |
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| Where can I find information about my auction limits? |
| For more information about Auction limits please visit “My IamAnArtist” and read the section “Auction limits”. Here you can see which auctions you‘ve won and when you‘re allowed to bid again on a new auction in this slot. |
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| When exactly do my auction slots get blocked? |
| Auction slots get blocked when you are bidding on an auction while being or having the potential to be the highest bidder. The auction slot becomes unblocked when your last placed bid has been outbid by another bidder. |
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| When exactly do my auction slots get blocked? |
| Auction slots get blocked when you are bidding on an auction while being or having the potential to be the highest bidder. The auction slot becomes unblocked when your last placed bid has been outbid by another bidder. |
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| What's the difference between the end price and the worth price? |
End price
The end price is the price at which the auction ended. Only the winner of the auction can buy the item at that price.
Worth price
The worth up indicates the price for which this product could be bought elsewhere. |
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| How do I confirm a won auction? |
| Please login to IamAnArtist and in the "My IamAnArtist > Auctions" menu, select "Auctions I've Won". |
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| Posting Products |
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| How can I add a product for auction on IamAnArtist? |
Yes surely you can. Just login to IamAnArtist.com and in the left menu on “My IamAnArtist” page select add product. Once you do so you would be asked to fill up a few details regarding the product which are:
Category
Product Title
Product Description
Product Detail (max 4000 chars)
Images (up to 5)
Product market price
Product Start Price
Bid Start date
Bid End Date
Please note that once you post a product it would then go to our admin for approval. Once approved only then it would be visible for auction on IamAnArtist.com.
We would notify you via email about the approval of your product. |
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| What are the charges for putting up a product for auction? |
| For every product that you post on our website, we would be charging $5 from your IamAnArtist account. |
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| I have added my product but still it is not visible on IamAnArtist? |
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This is one common doubt most users have. Once a product has been posted by you, it is then reviewed by our admin. Once the admin is happy he then approves your product and we then send you an approval mail to notify you about the same. After this your product is visible on IamAnArtist as an auction |
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| Can I edit my product once it is visible for auction? |
| You can edit your product but we have placed some restrictions on the fields which can be edited like you cannot edit the price. You can always update the product description, category, images and a few other fields. In case you have some more queries about this you can contact our support team at support@IamAnArtist.com along with your product description and date of posting of the product. |
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| Can I withdraw my product from an auction? |
| You can withdraw your product if you have a valid reason for the same. To withdraw your product you need to get in touch with our support team at support@IamAnArtist.com who would then consider your case and take appropriate action. |
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| Delivery & Shipping |
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| Delivery Charges |
| The delivery charges for each item are specified on the auction description page. |
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| Delivery time |
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Delivery times may vary for the different items that we auction. Most of our items are shipped directly from our suppliers and should be reaching you within 14 days of payment. We would notify you as soon as your item has been dispatched. |
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| Has my product been shipped yet? |
| If you have not received your product and it’s more than 14 days since you paid for your item, please contact our customer service team. Most of our items are shipped directly from our suppliers and will be sent soon after you have paid. |
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| Which countries does IamAnArtist deliver to? |
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We can deliver the item you've won to anywhere in USA. |
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| Faults and Returns |
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| The item I won is faulty, what should I do? |
Most of our winners have no problems with the goods, but occasionally an item might not work or may get damaged in transit. We would like to resolve this for you as soon as possible.
It can sometimes be useful to check the manufacturer’s website or call their helpline – many of the most common problems are easily solved without having to return the product.
In the event that the product you received is faulty, please contact us and we’ll tell you what to do next. Let us know the auction ID and the serial number of the product, as these help us to deal with your problem more quickly. We work with a range of different suppliers who are happy to help identify any problems and to replace faulty items, if necessary.
Please don’t send the item back to us without contacting us – this is likely to mean that it takes longer to replace your item. If your product does need replacing, we will contact you and let you know what to do. |
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| Do you offer any standard guarantee on the products auctioned? |
| The warranties provided on goods may vary depending on the type of item that you win. To know further please contact our customer service team to know about the warranties or guarantees that apply to an item that you’ve won. |
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| Is it possible to return an item that I have won? |
We want you to enjoy the item you won, but if, for some reason you decide that you do not want the item, please get in touch with our customer service team and we’ll explain what to do next. When you contact us, please make sure that you let us know:
* Your user name
* The auction ID of the item you won
* The reason you’d like to return the item
Please note that we can only offer a refund on the final price of the item you won and the shipping costs. The cost of the bids placed on that auction would still be charged to your account. |
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| Can I get a refund on an item that I have won? |
| Yes you can, provided you decided that you no longer want the item, within 14 days of delivery. We would refund the final price that you paid as well as the delivery costs, provided the item has not been damaged and is still in its original packaging. To work out the details, please contact our support team at support@IamAnArtist.com. Please make sure to quote the auction ID and your user name. Please note that we are unable to refund the cost of any bids placed during the auction or the return shipping costs. |
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| My account |
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| How do I change my password? |
| Please login to IamAnArtist, go to "My IamAnArtist > My data" and select the option "Change password". |
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| What do I do, if I've forgotten my password or user name? |
| Click on the "Help" option. Select the link "Lost password?" in the self help box. We'll send you an email that will explain what to do next - just click on the link in this e-mail. Due to security reasons we need to ask you to change your IamAnArtist password. |
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| Can I change my user name? |
| Unfortunately, your user name cannot be changed. |
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| How do I add or change my address? |
| Please log onto IamAnArtist and from "My IamAnArtist >User data" select the menu option "My address". |
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| Can I change my firstname and surname? |
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Please contact our support team at support@IamAnArtist.com if your name has changed. |
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| How do I check my bids account? |
| Please login to IamAnArtist. The grey status box will show the number of bids you currently have on your account. |
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| How do I check how many auctions I have won? |
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Please login to IamAnArtist and in the "My IamAnArtist > Auctions" menu, select "Auctions I've Won". Please remember to confirm that you want to actually buy any auctions that you have won. |
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| How do I delete my account? |
| Please login to IamAnArtist and in the "My IamAnArtist > My data" menu, select "Close account". |
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| Where do I find my customer ID? |
Once you have successfully registered, we send you your customer ID via email.
You can also select the link "Forgotten my account information" in the self help box to resend an email with your user ID. |
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| Can I change my email address? |
| If you want to change your e-mail address, please contact our support team at support@IamAnArtist.com. Remember to let them know your user name and customer ID. |
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| Payment |
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| How do I pay for my bids? |
| You can pay for your BidPackages by credit or via Pay Pal. We accept all Visa and MasterCard credit cards, |
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| How can I pay for auctions I've won? |
| You can pay for items that you've won by credit or via Pay Pal. We accept all Visa and MasterCard credit cards. |
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| How secure are your payment methods? |
| Your privacy and security are of utmost importance to us. We use high-security encoding (SSL) to protect your payment details when processing your online payments. |
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| What are the payment limits for each payment method? |
So as to prevent frauds in case of credit cards and Pay Pal, we have certain restrictions on how much you can purchase with any given payment method.
These are the limits for using the following payment methods on IamAnArtist:
1. Credit Card (Visa Card, Master Card) $500 per week (1)
2. Pay Pal $500 per week
Note:
Payments using credit cards may be restricted by the payment provider, and are outside of IamAnArtist's influence. Please contact your payment provider directly if you're in doubt.
When using Pay Pal please note that you can only associate a Pay Pal account with a single IamAnArtist account.
If you have any further questions, please contact our support team at support@IamAnArtist.com.
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| Technical Issues |
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| What are the recommended PC requirements to use IamAnArtist? |
You can participate in IamAnArtist auctions with nearly all PCs that allow you to access the internet:
Supported Operating Systems:
* Windows Vista / Windows XP / Windows 2000
* Mac OS X 10.3 or higher
* Linux
Recommended browser:
* Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
* Firefox 2.0 or higher
Recommended internet connection:
* 512k broadband connection or faster |
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| Why hasn't my bid been registered on an auction? |
Very occasionally, even though user might bid before the countdown ended, the bid might not get placed and the auction ends. In these instances, the most likely explanation is so-called "Internet delay times". These are time-delays in the transfer of data between your PC and our servers. This, unfortunately, is a general problem with the internet.
To be absolutely certain that you avoid the problem of "Internet delay times" don't leave your bidding until the last second, or use the JohnnyBot to place your bids. |
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| I am unable to confirm my registration using the link in the registration confirmation email. What should I do? |
| It might be that your email client shows the link in your registration mail as invalid. To rectify this, just copy the complete entire link in the address bar of your internet browser and press 'Enter'. If still it does not work, then please get in touch with our support team at support@IamAnArtist.com, mentioning the email address used for registration and we should be able to sort it out for you. |
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| How do I activate Cookies? |
To enable cookies, please follow the instructions below for the internet browser version you are using.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0+
1. Select Tools from the menu in your browser.
2. Select Internet Options and then in the Internet Options dialog select Privacy tab.
3. On the Privacy tab, under Settings, click Advanced.
4. Check the Override automatic cookie handling under Cookies section in
5. Advanced Privacy Settings window.
6. Under First-party Cookies, select Accept. Under Third-party Cookies, select Accept. Check Always allow session cookies.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+
1. Select "Internet Options" from the Tools menu.
2. Click on the "Privacy" tab.
3. Click the "Default" button under "Settings".
4. Click "OK".
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x
1. Select "Internet Options" from the Tools menu.
2. Click on the "Security" tab.
3. Click the "Custom Level" button.
4. Scroll down to the "Cookies" section.
5. To enable:
– Set "Allow cookies that are stored on your computer" to "Enable".
– Set "Allow per-session cookies" to "Enable".
– Click "OK".
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x
1. Select "Internet Options" from the View menu.
2. Click on the "Advanced" tab.
3. Scroll down to find "Cookies" within the "Security" section.
4. To enable:
– Select "Always accept cookies".
– Click "OK".
Mozilla Firefox 2.0+
1. Go to the "Tools" menu.
2. Select "Options".
3. Select the Privacy tab.
4. Make sure that the Accept cookies from sites under Cookies is ticked (the default setting).
5. Click "OK" to save changes.
Mozilla Firefox (1.0 final release and earlier)
1. Go to the "Tools" menu.
2. Select "Options".
3. Select the "Privacy" icon in the left panel.
4. Check the box corresponding to "Allow sites to set cookies".
5. Click "OK" to save changes.
Netscape 7.1/Mozilla 5.0
1. Select "Preferences" from the Edit menu.
2. Click on the arrow next to "Privacy & Security" in the scrolling window to expand.
3. Under "Privacy & Security", select "Cookies."
4. Select "Enable all cookies".
5. Click "OK".
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