An online classified ad is a great way to sell an item at a fixed price, but what if you could get several potential buyers bidding for your merchandise? Better yet, what if there were a place where you could search for and bid on collectibles and other types of items? What if there was a kind of online "auction" where you try to get the best deals possible, as either a buyer or a seller?

Well, there is such a thing as an online auction, and you can find it at the Auction Center on Netscape Netcenter.

Ad or Auction  You can't choose to list an item in both a classified ad and an online auction, since Netscape does not permit duplicate ads. If you have an item listed in an ad, you must wait for the ad period to expire before placing the item in an auction; or you can convert your classified ad to an auction ad-click the Edit Ads link on the main Classifieds page, click the Change One of My Ads link, and follow the onscreen instructions.

In general, auctions at the Netscape Auction Center work this way:
1.	The seller creates an ad for an item and lists the item on the Netscape Auction Center. In the ad, the seller specifies the length of the auction (anywhere from three days to two weeks), and the minimum bid he or she will accept.
2.	Potential buyers, searching for a particular type of item (or just browsing through all the merchandise listed in a specific category) read the ad and decide to bid. Each bidder specifies the maximum amount he or she will pay; this amount has to be more than the seller's minimum bid.
3.	Software at the Netscape Auction Center automatically places a bid for the bidder that bests the current bid by a specified amount-but doesn't reveal the bidder's maximum bid. For example, the current bid on an item might be $25. A bidder is willing to pay up to $40 for the item, and enters a maximum bid of $40. The "proxy" software places a bid for the new bidder in the amount of $26-higher than the current bid, but less than the specified maximum bid. If there are no other bids, this buyer will win the auction with a $26 bid. Other potential buyers, however, can place additional bids; unless their maximum bids are more than the current bidder's $40 maximum, they will be informed that they have been outbid-and the first bidder's current bid will be automatically raised to match the new bids (up to the specified maximum bid price).
4.	At the conclusion of an auction, the high bidder is informed of his or her winning bid. The seller is responsible for contacting the high bidder and arranging payment between them. When the seller receives the buyer's payment (generally by check or money order), the seller then ships the merchandise directly to the buyer.
Unlike other online auction sites, there is no charge to list or bid on an item at the Netscape Auction Center.

View All Your Bids and Auctions at Once  You can view the status of all the items you have bid on-as well as any items you are currently selling-by clicking the My Auctions link on the main Classifieds page.