Auctions

The ABA web site provides an Auction function to allow teams to offer players or draft choices for sale to the highest bidder.  Transactions resulting from completed auctions are the same as any other trades except that the seller will trade a single player or draft choice and the buyer will trade only cash.  See below for instructions on using the Auction function.

Auction Instructions

Any team may begin an auction by specifying the following four pieces of information:

1. Player or Draft Choice to be sold - must be owned by the team
2. Minimum Acceptable Bid - no team will be allowed to enter a bid lower than this amount
3. Effective Series - meaningful for auctions during the regular season
4. End Date - can range from 0 to 7 days from the date the auction begins; the auction will automatically end at 10:00 PM on the End Date

Before beginning an auction, teams should be familiar with the Auction Rules which the web site operates under.  Failure to understand the rules may result in an unsatisfactory experience with the Auction function.

1. When a player or draft choice is put up for auction, that player or draft choice may not be traded until the end of the auction (Note: If there are no bids on the auction, the player or draft choice can be traded and the site will automatically terminate the auction).
2. Until the first bid is entered, the team which began the auction may cancel the auction at any time prior to the end date if so desired.  The player or draft choice remains with that team and may be dealt with as desired. 
3. Once a bid has been entered, the team which began the auction may change the end date such that the auction ends earlier (no sooner than the next calendar day) but may not otherwise cancel or end the auction in progress.
4. A corollary of the above is: As soon as a bid is entered in an auction, that player or draft choice no longer belongs to the original owner.  The seller cannot pull back the player or draft choice at that time and he cannot bid on his own auctions so there is no way to retain the player or draft choice once a bid has been entered.  Therefore, teams should make certain they set the minimum bid to an amount they will be happy with as they may wind up having to accept exactly that amount.
5. A team desiring to bid on an auction must bid at least the Minimum Acceptable Bid as shown on the auction screen.  The Minimum Acceptable Bid will be either the Beginning Bid as set by the original owner (if no bids have been entered) or an amount $1,000 higher than the highest bid (if the highest bid is less than $50,000) or an amount $5,000 higher than highest bid (if the highest bid is $50,000 or more).
6. A team may optionally bid an amount greater than the Minimum Acceptable Bid.  In this case, the bid will be entered as the minimum but the system will automatically re-bid for the bidding team up to the maximum amount they specify.  This allows teams to specify the maximum they are willing to spend on a player without having to be sitting in front of their computer at the end of the auction. 
7. Only money can be bid and a team's bid cannot exceed its current money balance.
8. At 10:00 PM on the end date of an auction, if no bids have been received, the entry will automatically drop off the auction list.  If bids have been received, the player or draft choice will automatically be sold to the new owner with an appropriate entry made in the Transaction List on the web site.
9. If any bids are submitted during the last 5 minutes of an auction, the end time of the auction will automatically be changed to 5 minutes after the last bid is received.  This is to prevent sniping and hasty bidding in the final seconds of an auction.

Non-Bidding Sales

The Auction function also offers teams the opportunity to ask for a specific sale price for a player or draft choice without conducting an auction.  By selecting "Sale" as the Auction Type when beginning an auction, the player or draft choice will go on the auction site but the first team that clicks on the "Purchase Player" button will immediately acquire the player or draft choice for the specified amount.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible to participate in auctions (whether as a seller or a buyer), a team must be current with series reports during the regular season.  If a team has any outstanding series reports from a prior calendar month, that team will automatically be locked out of the auction site.