HELP / F A Q
Q. How do I register to participate in the CMP auctions?
A. The auction program is an extension of the CMP ESTORE. Everyone who is registered in ESTORE is automatically registered for the auction program.
Q. How do I register for ESTORE and the AUCTION?
A. To register, email full name and postal mailing address to custserve@thecmp.org. Allow 3 working days for registration to take effect. Within those three days you will receive a password via separate email from custserve@thecmp.org.
Q. It’s been three days and I still haven’t received my password. What do I do?
A. Go to ESTORE at https://estore.thecmp.org/Account/LogIn and follow instructions for “forgot your password”. If you don’t get a password within minutes of doing this, email custserve@thecmp.org.
Q. My password doesn’t work. What’s wrong?
A. Passwords are case sensitive. You are probably not entering it correctly. Try again. If it still does not work, send email to custserve@thecmp.org and request we assign new password.
Q . How do I place an item for sale?
A. Sorry, individuals cannot place items for sale on this auction site at this time. Only CMP can list items for auction. We may change this policy in a few years, but there are no plans to do this anytime soon.
Q. Why does the CMP auction items?
A. We have found that it is the most economical and fair way to market rare or low quantity items to our tens of thousands of customers.
Q. What type of items can we expect to see auctioned?
A. You can expect to see:
- Rare Collector Grade rifles
- M1C, M1D, M1903A4 sniper rifles
- Four (4) digit Garand receivers
- Memorabilia and Collectibles
- Rifles that we receive very few of.
- Junk – and we describe it as junk.
- Other items for which we use the auction program to determine market value.
Q. I notice there are few items listed for auction. Why is that?
A. Because of other workload, we will only list 5-10 items at any time.
Q. Why is there not any Shipping & Handling fees applying to my order?
Due to the amounts of items being auctioned, and prices items are being auctioned for, the CMP decided to waive S&H charges for all auctioned items.
Q. Whom do I contact if I have questions about the item being auctioned?
A. Email auction@thecmp.org. Allow at least 24 hours for a reply. CMP hours of operation are 7:00 AM – 3:30 PM Mon-Fri. There is no one available to answer your questions on weekends.
Q. How long will an item remain listed?
A. Items will be listed 7-13 days. Closing for all items is on Sundays at 6:00 P.M. CST.
Q. What is the minimum bid increment?
A. The minimum bid increment is the smallest amount you can bid over the current high bid. As a rule, we have the minimum bid increment set at $5.00.
Q. How do I find out what is being currently open for auction?
A. If you have a specific item you are looking for you can go right to our search page, or if you want to just browse, click on any of the categories shown on the main page. If you wish to place a bid you must first register and log in.
Q. What does ‘reserve’ mean?
A. The CMP may wish to put a reserve price on an item. This means that the item will not sell until the current price equals or goes over the reserve price amount.
Q. How do I bid?
A. Once you are registered and logged on the auction site, click on the category and then on the item description. This will take you to the bid page. To bid, click on the bid icon (gavel) on the left side of the page or scroll down to the bottom of the page to the block that reads “YOUR MAXIMUM BID”. You may enter your bid in this block or your maximum bid for the item. Once you enter the amount, click on “REVIEW BID”. This opens another page and asks you to “ACCEPT BID” or “CANCEL BID”. Click on the “ACCEPT BID” tab and your bid is entered.
Q. What is a “PROXY BID OR MAXIMUM BID”?
A. Basically you enter the most you would be willing to pay and as other users bid on the item, the Auction will automatically bid for you again (in stated bid increments) all the way up to the amount of your maximum bid. Example: Someone has bid $200 on an item in which you are interested. You are willing to pay as much as $400 for the item, but don’t want to bid that high unless forced to. You enter a maximum bid of $400. The auction will record your bid as $205. If someone were to bid $250 on the item, the auction would automatically enter a bid for you of $255, and keep doing so each time someone bid over you, up to the maximum of $400 you authorized.
Q. I bid on an item and someone overbid me at the same time. What happened?
A. The person that bid over you had a maximum bid entered for the item. His maximum bid was higher than your bid or maximum bid.
Q. How do I know if my bid is no longer the high bid?
A. You will receive an email from auction@thecmp.org that reads “You have been outbid on the following CMP Auction item: xxxxx. The current price is now: $xxx.xx
Q. Can I review bidding history on an item?
A. On the description page for an item, there is a line “# number of bids”. To the right of that is a link # bid history. Click on that link to see the bidding history for the item.
Q. Why are items on the auction home page interchanging every time I visit the website?
A. The CMP home page for the auction site only allows 17 items to be listed. When there are over 17 items, the website will change items around if someone refreshes the screen, leaves and then comes back, or logs out and then logs back into the site. If one would like to look at all the items, look to the left hand side of the home page, and then click one of the links under the word Categories. This will provide viewers with all the current auction items in that subcategory.
Q. I made a mistake in submitting an amount and bid too much, how can I correct this?
A. Please be careful and review your preview before you submit your bid, but if you do make a mistake - please email auction@thecmp.org immediately and report the error. We currently have a process which provides CMP the means to enter into a particular auction item and delete maximum bids.
Q. Are bidding wars allowed, or will the auction close at its posted closing time?
A. Bidding wars are allowed. Regardless of posted closing time, the auction will remain open and bidding will be allowed until 10 minutes have elapsed from the last bid. Our past auctions have shown some items to not close for an hour or more after the posted closing time.
Q. Why does the CMP allow bidding wars?
A. In the past, we received too many complaints from members who thought they had submitted their bids on time, only to miss bidding because of the speed of their computers, the type of Internet connection they had, or other reasons. We feel this balances the playing field for everyone regardless of their equipment or their location in the nation or in the world. It’s not about who pushes the button first, it’s about who bids the most.
Q. I had the highest bid at closing time. What happens next?
A. Shortly after the auction closes, you will receive an email from auction@thecmp.org notifying you that you were the successful bidder and providing instructions for completing the purchase.
Q. What happens when bidders don’t complete the purchase?
A. Our instructions will advise the successful bidders that they have 30 days to complete the purchase. If purchase is not completed within the 30 days or other arrangements made during that time, the purchase will be considered in default. Unless satisfactory reason is provided, member may be barred from participating in future auctions.