Questions private sector buyers ask

Any registered buyer over 18 and of sound mind, verified or not. You do not need a deposit to make an offer in this sector.

Registration in the insurance sector does not work here; the two are separate. Register as a private sector buyer.

Nothing. Registering is free, looking is free, and placing an offer is free.

Money only comes into it if you choose to become verified, which is explained below.

Both may bid. The difference is what each of you can see, and what the seller knows about you.

Nobody, at any level, is shown another buyer's phone number or email address.

A deposit you keep with us, shown against every offer you make, which tells a seller your word is backed by money. It is your money and it comes back when you ask for it.

Rs 25,000 at present:

• Rs 20,000 as the deposit itself. This is not a charge and carries no GST; it stays yours.
• Rs 5,000 one-time registration fee, inclusive of GST. You get a tax invoice, so a registered buyer can take the input credit.

Send your proof of residence and identity, verified by any surveyor or loss assessor, with the payment.

Yes. The addition carries no GST, being a deposit; there is a charge of Rs 200 for doing it, inclusive of GST, which covers the paperwork.

What you stand to lose if you make an offer here, the seller accepts it, and you then do not honour it. He complains, we check, and that amount is taken out of your GCA.

It is how a buyer shows he means his offer. A buyer who never leaves a seller waiting never pays it.

Yes, whatever is left of it, by asking us. A deposit coming back carries no GST and there is no charge for the refund.

Two things hold it up: a complaint being looked into, and money of yours locked against an open insurance listing, since one balance serves both sectors. We tell you which.

Yes. It counts as money with us there too, so it can stand behind the earnest money on an insurance listing. The reverse is not true: while a GCA is holding up an insurance bid, it cannot be taken back.

But the same money cannot do both jobs at once, and that is worth understanding before it surprises you. See the next answer.

Only while enough of it is left free. The test is simple:

the part of your GCA that is not propping up an insurance bid must be at least 2 times your guarantee amount.

Your insurance bidding is charged first against the money you have paid in; only what your cash cannot cover leans on the GCA. So a buyer who funds his insurance bidding with cash keeps his GCA whole and stays verified throughout.

If it falls below, you become unverified by yourself: you may still bid here, but offers you make from then on are listed among the unverified ones. Nothing is taken from you, and offers you have already made are not changed.

Two things restore it, either of them, and the moment the figures allow: add to your GCA, or pay in money for your insurance bidding, which frees the GCA those bids were leaning on. The listing page tells you where you stand and by how much you are short.

An example. A GCA of Rs 20,000 with a guarantee amount of Rs 3,000 needs Rs 6,000 free. Bid on insurance listings needing Rs 16,500 locked, with nothing paid in, and only Rs 3,500 of the GCA is left free: just short, so your private offers show as unverified until you put it right.

Open the listing, sign in, type your amount and place it. It is recorded against the listing, and the seller and the other bidders are told by email.

Upward only, as often as you like while bidding is open. A new offer has to beat your own last one on that item.

No. In this sector you may offer less than somebody else; the seller decides what to accept, and he may take a lower offer from a buyer he trusts. You only have to beat your own previous offer.

An offer in the last five minutes puts the close five minutes later, until five minutes pass with no offer.

No. The site provides the space; the seller decides, on his own terms, and may accept or ignore any offer. Deal with him direct, inspect the item, and satisfy yourself before parting with money.

If you bid on that item and your account is verified, yes: every offer with the names and amounts. The surveyor who listed it, and any insurance official, see it in full.

Anyone else may buy the result of that one listing for Rs 100, which brings an emailed link that opens it as often as you like.

None. The charges in this sector are the one-time registration fee and the top-up charge, both only if you choose to be verified.