A: Bidding online is much the same as bidding for an item in an auction room in the real world, but for those of you who have not taken part in an online auction, this page will address how the process works. We have broken it down in to some bite-size sections for you:

• Bidding
• Auto bidding
• Tracking your own bidding history
• Have I won?
• Finding lots
• 'Buy It Now' items

The one interesting feature to note on our site is that bidding updates in real time. This means you do not have to reload or refresh the page to find out what the current highest bid is. The page will update automatically every three seconds. This means your winning and losing status will be updated in real time as bids are entered by other users against your own bids.

A: This online auction site works as a forward auction. This means bidding for an item starts with an opening price determined by the auctioneer and bids are placed by bidders in increments above the previous bid. At the end of the auction, the highest bid wins.

To bid in the first place you have to register with us. This means we know who you are and that you understand and accept the Country Market & Sporting Sale's terms & conditions. Once your registration has been accepted you can begin bidding.

Bidding is made in one of two ways. You either bid at the next increment by pressing the "Bid" button and then pressing "Confirm" to confirm you wish to place the bid. Or you can bid at a higher amount than the current increment and enter your own bid amount (as long as it is greater than or equal to the current bid plus the minimum increment) in to the box by the "Bid" button, press "Bid" and then confirm your bid by pressing "Confirm".

Your bid will then be placed in the system and all bidders will see the change in current bid on the webpage.

If you prefer not to use the internet, please contact us and we will do your bidding for you.

A: You may, if you wish, place an "auto bid" which sets a maximum amount you wish to bid to. The website will then automatically bid on your behalf up to your maximum bid, making sure you stay ahead of the bidding automatically.

Auto-bidding also gives you the opportunity to set your highest desired purchase price and then sit back and wait to see if you were able to secure the lot at that price.

Tracking your own bidding history
If you wish to concentrate on just the lots you are bidding on go to the history section and track just those items. This means you will be able to focus on bidding on those items you are not winning. The history page will update in real time as bidding progresses.

A: Once the auction has finished you will want to know whether you have won or lost the items you were interested in purchasing. You can go to the history page and you will see the finished items now have "won" in green or "lost" in red above the bidding panel instead of the previous "winning" or "losing" indicators. You can now pay for these items by clicking through to the lot page and following instructions from there.

A: You can search for Lots in different ways:

• Search - you can search for lots using the search tool below the main menu in the centre of all pages. Enter key words relating to the items you wish to find and press "Search". If you wish to refine your search by category then you can do so by selecting lot category from the drop down list next to the search box.
• Categories - lots are divided in to categories. This allows you to filter your browsing of the website and show you only lots in those categories.

A: When an item is listed as 'Buy It Now', simply click on the option to buy it now and you will be directed to the Paypal payments page.

In certain circumstances some payments made to charities which are not strictly gifts - such as successful bids at a charity auction - may be treated as donations for Gift Aid purposes, as long as the Gift Aid rules are followed.

To calculate the amount that is treated as a gift, the value of the benefit (Lot reserve price) is taken away from the amount given to the charity (value of highest bid) and any remainder is treated as the donation.

The Heather Trust would like to claim back the gift aid on these donations. If you are a UK taxpayer, please click here to complete the Gift Aid Declaration Form to increase the value of your donation at no extra cost to you.

Thank you.