Register For Free:
Anyone may freely browse the listings on PubZilla. However, in order to participate in the auction site and bid, buy or sell, please register to become a member, and kindly adhere to the auction site Rules. Registration and Membership is Free! After you receive your Member ID and Temporary Password by email, you can begin bidding and buying auction items. There are NO user fees charged to browse, bid or buy on the auction site (but the buyer does pay the seller directly the winning bid on auction items, if applicable).

Your Member ID and Password:
Once you have registered you may not change your member ID. You may certainly change your password at any time. Your password is stored in the Contact Info area, and may be accessed by logging in to the Members Area.

Feedback and Trust:
PubZilla will act in a responsible manner allowing access to the auctions. This site is a venue however, and PubZilla cannot take responsibility for transactions that take place between the members of the site. Each member may leave feedback for another member after they have completed a transaction. This feedback may be viewed by anyone by clicking on the number displayed next to a members ID. Use the feedback tool to help you judge who you want to enter into transactions with on this site. While the lack of any feedback may only mean a member is new to the site, the feedback tool is a good way to judge the satisfaction of other members, as well as the timeliness and demeanor of the member who has been left feedback.

Finding the Auction Items:
You look for auction items by clicking the Auctions link located at the top of every page and browsing the categories, or perform a Search for a specific journal title you need. Once you have chosen a particular category or received search results, you will see a list of auction items to review.

Search Tip
Use the 'Find' software feature under 'Edit' on the Web Browser toolbar to search for a specific volume number when many auction items are listed for a particular journal title. The auction site does not sort volumes at present, but this feature will be added in the future.

Description of Auction Items:
Each item in this list will display the Title of the Auction Item listed by the seller, the actual journal 'holdings' (years, volumes, issues) included in the auction item, the minimum bid required, and the time left in the auction. If the seller has provided a picture, you will see a small image as well. Click the title to view the details of the auction item, as well as the policies for payment and shipping provided by the seller. Bidding is allowed from the list of auction items, but it is not recommended that initial bids be placed without viewing the auction details.

Organization and Accuracy of Auction Items:
What sets our auction site apart from other online auctions is organization and accuracy of medical journal auction items. The design of this auction site uses the principles of library subject and descriptive cataloging to maintain systematic organization and accurate description for all auction items.

Auction Categories:
The categories for browsing the medical journals are the Medical Subject Headings used to describe the titles currently indexed in the U.S. National Library of Medicine's Index Medicus, also known as "Journal Descriptors." Medical Journals listed in the Auction for which a Journal Descriptor has not been assigned by NLM will be temporarily listed under the "Miscellany" category until a Journal Descriptor is assigned by NLM.

What It Means to Bid for an Auction Item:
When placing a bid for an auction item, you are promising to pay the seller a disclosed price for the item plus any applicable shipping charges if your offer should result in the winning highest bid. The site has a special feature that allows you to ask the seller a question about a listed item. For example, if there are no bids pending on an auction item, you could ask the seller if they would break up a serial run that was listed as a single item. Otherwise, if and auction item has bids pending, the seller cannot break up the serial run.

Minimum Increases for Bidding:
On every item in an auction, a minimum bid and a minimum increase is set. Our software will not accept a lower bid than either the opening bid, or the current bid plus the minimum increase, unless an item is listed with the 'buy price' feature. If an inappropriate bid is placed, a bidder will be notified immediately that their bid has not been accepted, and is provided with a form to correct the bid. Any current high bidders who are overbid at this time will receive notification by email.

Our software automatically determines minimum increases for bidding based on set amounts for the level of the item's price.

From This Bid Price	To This Bid Price	Automatic Minimum Bid Increase Is
0.50	10.00	0.50
10.00	25.00	1.00
25.00	50.00	1.50
50.00	100.00	2.00
100.00	250.00	2.50
250.00	499.00	3.00
499.00	751.00	3.50
751.00	999.00	4.00
999.00	1,498.00	4.50
1,498.00	1,998.00	5.00
1,998.00	2,504.00	5.50
2,504.00	over	6.00

Maximum Bid:
When entering a bid amount on items with a quantity of 1, you may choose to enter only what is necessary (and make it easy for someone to outbid you!), or you may enter a Maximum Bid. A Maximum Bid is a confidential proxy bid that is used to bid for you should someone raise the bid. The smallest amount of your Maximum Bid necessary to be the high bidder is used when placing your bid.

Buy Price:
If an auction item contains a Buy Price bidding will immediately end if your bid meets this price. Items listed with a buy price of $0.00 will also have a 'Free!' icon placed beside them.

Bidding When Quantities are Available:
Sellers may opt to auction more than 1 of any given item. In the case of quantities greater than 1, slightly different information will be displayed on the bidding form. Typically called a Yankee Auction, this format will allow bidders to state the quantity of the items that they are bidding on (it is not necessary to bid on the entire quantity).

Bidding Example
A seller has copies of the same journal volume or issue, and instead of listing them as separate auction items, decides to list them together as a 'lot' in one auction item using the Yankee Auction format. When the auction closes, bidders with the highest bids win the quantity they bid on, at the price they bid. In the event of a tie in the high bid, the bidder with the greatest number of items bid on wins (not likely to happen). In the event of a tie in both high bid and quantity, the bidder who first bid on this particular lot wins (more likely to happen). The quantity is divided up between the winning bidders until gone.

Ending Dates:
Each item has it's own ending time listed in the bidding form. The bidding time is also displayed on this form. Items end automatically at this time. The items remain viewable till midnight EST of that day, whereupon notifications are sent out to the winning bidders.

Placing a Bid:
Once you have decided to place a bid you will need to have your Member ID and Password handy provided to you at registration (you may have changed your password by now, so use the new one!). The minimum amount you must bid is displayed with the auction item. When entering your bid, enter only numbers and decimal points. Do not enter dollar signs or commas. PLEASE BE CAREFUL. YOU MAY NOT RETRACT A BID ONCE PLACED!

Buyer Responsibilities:
By placing a bid, you are legally and ethically bound to purchase the item at the bid price plus pay any applicable shipping and handling charges should you be the highest bidder at the end of the auction. Fraudulent bids are not tolerated, and any recourse we feel necessary will be taken.

Bidding Results:
After you have placed your bids, you will be informed if your bid has been accepted. If a higher bid is needed you will be informed and allowed to place another bid. At the close of the auction you will be notified of all items won from each seller. This notification takes place once per day so that items won from the same seller can be combined into one invoice. This process generally takes place between 1 and 2 AM EST everyday.

Members Area:
The Members Area includes links to functions for both buying and selling, and a link for updating your membership information. The functions for buying are found in the Buyers Menu.

Current Auctions
You may log into your Members Area to view current auctions that you have bid on, or tracked. Click the link 'View Tracked/Bid Items' in the Buyers Menu. Bids may be placed very quicly in this area. You may bid again on an item, as well as place or raise your maximum bid.

Closed Auctions
Once auctions have closed and notices have been delivered, you may view your activity in the 'Purchases/Sales' area from the link in the Buyers Menu. This area was designed to be an easy place for members to communicate with each other. All of your invoices are displayed here, and can be filed once the transaction has been completed. In this area, you will Leave Feedback once the transaction has been completed.

Auction Results:
The results of items won in an auction are displayed for a period of thirty days on the main auction pages. By selecting an auction, the results for that auction will display the items and winning bidders. This information is provided as a service to our users, and should be used as a guideline to determine the market for a given item, as well as to see whom you may be bidding against.