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Bidding & Auction Rules
These rules explain how timed and live auctions work on BoliApp, what sellers and bidders commit to, how a winner is decided, what happens after an auction ends, and what we do to keep bidding fair.
1. Scope of these rules
BoliApp is operated by BOLIAPP Private Limited, Lahore, Pakistan. These rules apply to every auction on BoliApp and to everyone who creates an auction, places a bid or hosts a live auction. They are part of our Terms of Service (/legal/terms-of-service). Auction listings must also follow our Prohibited & Restricted Items rules (/legal/prohibited-items) and Community Guidelines (/legal/community-guidelines), and returns and refunds after an auction are covered by our Return & Refund Policy (/legal/refund-policy).
All auction prices and bids are in Pakistani rupees (PKR).
2. Types of auction
BoliApp offers two kinds of auction. Both follow the same rules on binding bids, winning, payment and fair bidding.
- Timed auctions run for a fixed period chosen by the seller. Bidders can place bids at any time until the end time shown on the auction page.
- Live auctions run in real time, led by a host who presents the item, answers questions and takes bids during a live session. Bidding on each item closes when the host closes it or when its timer ends.
3. What sellers set and must disclose
When creating an auction, the seller sets the starting price, the bid increment (the minimum amount by which each new bid must exceed the current highest bid), the end time, and, optionally, a reserve price. The reserve price is the lowest price the seller is willing to accept; it is not shown to bidders, but the auction page shows whether the reserve has been met.
Sellers must describe the item accurately, including its condition, defects, and, for phones, its PTA status, using real photos of the actual item. Delivery options, location for collection, and whether returns are accepted must be stated before bidding starts.
- Once a bid has been placed, the seller may not change the starting price, reserve, increment or end time, or materially change the description. Corrections that do not affect value, such as fixing a typo, are allowed.
- A seller may end an auction early or cancel it only for a genuine reason, such as the item being lost, damaged or found to have an error in the listing. Repeatedly cancelling auctions with bids, or cancelling because the price is too low, is not allowed.
- Sellers may not list the same item in an auction and sell it elsewhere while bids are active.
4. Placing a bid
A bid is a binding offer to buy the item at the amount you bid if you win. Only bid if you intend to buy and are able to pay. Each bid must be at least the current highest bid plus the bid increment, or at least the starting price if no one has bid yet.
You need a BoliApp account in good standing to bid. We may ask you to verify your phone number or identity, or limit the amount or number of bids you can place, before you bid on higher-value items or if your account is new. Your bid is placed when it appears on the auction page; if two bids of the same amount arrive, the one received first ranks higher.
5. How an auction ends
A timed auction ends at the end time shown on the auction page. To give every bidder a fair chance to respond, if a valid bid is placed in the final moments of an auction, the end time may be extended by a short extension, shown on the auction page. Extensions can repeat as long as new bids keep arriving in the final moments.
When the auction ends, the highest valid bid wins, provided the reserve price (if any) has been met. If the reserve is not met, there is no winner, but the seller may make an offer to the highest bidder, who is free to accept or decline it.
6. Live auctions
Live auctions add some extra rules because bidding happens quickly and in front of an audience.
- The host must present the actual item being sold, and anything said by the host about the item counts as part of the item description.
- The bids recorded by BoliApp are the official record. A bid spoken or typed in the live chat is not a bid unless it is placed through the bidding controls.
- A short delay in the video stream does not change bid times; bidders should rely on the bidding panel, not the video, for the current price and time remaining.
- If the stream drops or a technical problem affects bidding, the host may pause, reopen or relist the item. Bids placed before the problem remain valid unless BoliApp voids them.
- Hosts and their staff may not bid, or encourage others to bid, to raise the price of items in their own live auction.
7. After you win
When an auction ends, BoliApp notifies the winner and the seller and shares the details they need to complete the sale. The winner and seller must make contact through BoliApp and complete the purchase within 48 hours of the auction ending, unless they agree a longer period in BoliApp chat.
Payment is made in the way stated in the listing: directly to the seller, for example by cash on collection, cash on delivery, bank transfer, JazzCash or EasyPaisa, or through BoliApp Checkout where it is available. Payments made outside BoliApp are not covered by BoliApp buyer protection.
- A winner who does not contact the seller or complete the purchase within 48 hours, without a valid reason, may receive a non-paying-bidder strike.
- Repeated non-paying-bidder strikes lead to bidding limits and may lead to suspension of the account.
8. Seller obligations and second-chance offers
The seller must honour the winning bid and sell the item to the winner at the winning price, on the terms in the listing. A seller may not refuse to sell because the final price was lower than hoped, ask the winner for more money, or offer the item to someone else after the auction has a winner.
If the winner does not complete the purchase, or the sale cannot go ahead for a reason that is not the seller’s fault, the seller may send a second-chance offer to the next-highest bidder at that bidder’s highest bid. The next bidder can accept or decline, and declining has no penalty. Second-chance offers must be made through BoliApp.
9. Retracting bids and cancelling sales
Because bids are binding, they generally cannot be withdrawn. A bid may be retracted only in these cases, and only if you report it promptly through the auction page or boli-app.com/help/contact:
- You clearly entered the wrong amount by mistake, for example Rs 150,000 instead of Rs 15,000. You must report this at once, and you may need to place a corrected bid.
- The seller materially changed the item description after you placed your bid.
- You cannot reach the seller after making reasonable attempts through BoliApp.
- Retracting bids to find out the reserve price or another bidder’s maximum, or retracting in the final moments of an auction, is not allowed.
- A completed auction sale may be cancelled only with the agreement of both buyer and seller, or by BoliApp under these rules. Cancelling without a valid reason may lead to a strike for the party at fault.
10. Fair bidding: prohibited conduct
Auctions only work when prices reflect genuine demand. The following are strictly prohibited:
- Shill bidding: a seller, or anyone connected to the seller such as family, friends, employees or another account they control, bidding on the seller’s own items to raise the price.
- Bid shielding: placing a very high bid, often with a second account, to scare off other bidders and then retracting it so that a lower bid wins.
- Collusion: bidders agreeing not to bid against each other, or sellers and bidders agreeing to fix the price.
- Using multiple accounts, automated tools or scripts to bid, or to monitor and interfere with auctions.
- Contacting bidders to offer the same item outside the auction, or encouraging them to retract bids.
- Placing bids with no intention of paying, including to harass a seller.
11. Risk checks, voided bids and cancelled auctions
BoliApp runs automated risk checks on bidding patterns, such as links between bidder and seller accounts, unusual bidding behaviour and repeated non-payment, and our team reviews flagged activity. Where there are risk signals, we may, without notice:
- Void individual bids, in which case the next valid bid becomes the highest bid.
- Pause, extend, cancel or relist an auction.
- Cancel a completed auction result where we find shill bidding, collusion, fraud or a prohibited item.
- Limit bidding or selling by the accounts involved while we investigate.
12. Disputes and enforcement
If something goes wrong with an auction, first try to resolve it with the other party through BoliApp chat. If you cannot, report it using “Report listing” or “Report user”, or contact us at boli-app.com/help/contact or info@boliapp.pk with the auction number. We will review the auction record, bid history and chat, and where BoliApp Checkout was used, the dispute is handled under our Return & Refund Policy (/legal/refund-policy).
Breaking these rules can lead to bids being voided, auctions cancelled, strikes, a lower trust score, limits on bidding or selling, and suspension or permanent closure of the account and any linked accounts. Where we find fraud, we may preserve records and share information with law enforcement, such as the FIA Cyber Crime Wing, on a valid legal request. We may update these rules from time to time; the version in force when an auction starts applies to that auction.