CQout Usage Rules and Site Policies

Guidance Notes for Auction listings and use of Q&A service

The following policy rules and guidance notes apply to auction listings and the use of the Q&A service on the CQout website.
Users should note that any infringement of these rules may result in their user privileges being revoked without notice, in cases of blatant commercial gain or repeated breaches. CQout further reserves the right to charge the User’s account as set out below, for the costs of the management time incurred in dealing with the breach.

 Rules

1-Fee Avoidance:

Any action or listing technique designed to circumvent or avoid payment of CQout commission fees is strictly not permitted.  Examples:

2-Item Titles: 

 Titles which start with special characters such as !!, @@, ** ,1x, 2x, etc... intended to attract attention or to raise the position of the item in the listings are not permitted. Auctions at CQout are listed in alphabetical order and this detracts from usability of the site. Any artificial attempt to raise the position is deemed unacceptable. This includes techniques such as " Brand New- Zulu warrior video" , or " a Zulu warrior video" which would raise the position of an auction with a title "Zulu warrior".

Titles should be clear , contain keywords that help in searches and be relevant. See Title policies and guideline details

 Misleading Titles - Both item title and description should be a true and fair description of the item on offer. Any listing that is clearly designed to mislead or could result in confusion for potential buyers is not permitted.

3- Duplicated listings

Repeated listings of the same item under slightly different titles, intended to improve chances of being seen by potential buyers is not allowed.

4-Item Descriptions: 

 This facility is provided for describing the item for sale (or Wanted), such that the sale is made via CQout auction mechanism. Any actions or listing techniques which encourages or facilitates a sale being made "off-site" and thereby circumvent CQout's fee structure is not permitted. In particular the following is NOT permitted:

- Inclusion of Telephone No's, Email or postal addresses, seller's web site address, either as links or plain text.

- Selling of catalogue and lists for goods, when the goods themselves can easily be offered for sale on CQout. 

Please Note: Picture URL's (<img src=http://www.mysite.com/mypic.jpg>) are not links and hence are permitted.

Misleading Descriptions - Both item title and description should be a true and fair description of the item on offer. Any listing that is clearly designed to mislead or could result in confusion for potential buyers is not permitted.

5- Links or references to other sites

url links, or references to advertising of products relating to other auction sites, shopping sites or your own web site is strictly not permitted. 

6- Banner ads for payment service providers

Banner ads for payment services e.g. Paypal, Nochex etc is not permitted. You may display a small 88x33 pixel button provided it does NOT contain a link with your email address or other direct payment facility without the purchase first being made on CQout.

7- "Trust" sites and third party verification

Advertising of auction services or products such as " Feedback Site" or "Square Trade" are not permitted as these sites display your contact details. 

Description statements designed to indicate to the buyer that you are a "trusted"/ verified Seller is not permitted, as we are not able to verify the authenticity of the claim.

8- Sale of illegal goods

- listing of controlled drugs, counterfeit software, music, films or other products is strictly not permitted See list of prohibited items

9- Matrix or Pyramid Selling

- listing of auctions for products sold by these methods or links to web sites where such systems are used to sell products or services is not permitted. These schemes include : Electric Money Tree, DollarBlaster.com and many more similar operations

10- Shipping Charges:

Postage and Packing charges may include a fair and reasonable charge to cover adequate packaging and for postage at cost by a competitive carrier. Sellers are not permitted to overcharge even if the shipping charge is declared at the time of the auction. In particular listing techniques which result in low bid values, but exorbitant shipping charges are  forbidden. 

If CQout suspects a case of shipping overcharge, it may at its discretion delete the listing or re-list it at a price inclusive of shipping

11- Payment Services Surcharges:

Sellers are not permitted to apply an additional surcharge fee to the buyer for the use of CQout's in-house payment systems, SecurePay & EasyPay. However sellers are permitted to apply such a surcharge for other payment services such as PayPal, Nochex, etc 

12- Escrow Services:

Due to many scams operated using dummy escrow services, NO other escrow services are permitted.   , CQout's own escrow service is available to all users who require the assurance of an escrow service.

13- Question & Answer ( Q&A) Facility: 

- Users may not use the Q&A service to offer or solicit goods or services for which CQout would be entitled to receive a commission if such goods and services were sold via CQout’s normal auction processes.

-Users may not advertise or solicit business for auction services that are not provided by CQout.

Consequences of violating site rules

By using the CQout web site, Users agree to observe the rules listed above. CQout may determine, in its absolute discretion, whether any User has breached these rules

If CQout determines that the rules have been breached, we will issue an email to the relevant User notifying them of the breach of the rules, CQout may, in its absolute discretion;

CQout may vary the above rules or the charges made in respect of management time , at any time, in accordance with of our general terms and conditions.