Terms & Conditions

User’s Agreement. Terms and Conditions

Welcome to homebids, a part of Online Real Estate Services, Inc.. By using homebids (including homebids.com. and its related sites, services and tools), you agree to the following terms with homebids and the general principles for the websites of our subsidiaries and international affiliates.

This Agreement is effective on April 06, 2010, for current users, and upon acceptance for new users.

Scope

Before you may become a member of homebids, you must read and accept all of the terms in, and linked to, this User Agreement and the homebids Privacy Policy. We strongly recommend that, as you read this User Agreement, you also access and read the linked information. By accepting this User Agreement, you agree that this User Agreement and Privacy Policy will apply whenever you use homebids sites or services, or when you use the tools we make available to interact with homebids sites and services. If you use another homebids site, you agree to accept the User Agreement and Privacy Policy applicable to that site. Some homebids sites, services, and tools may have additional or other terms that we provide to you when you use those sites, services, or tools.

Using homebids

While using homebids sites, services and tools, you will not:

  • post content or items in an inappropriate category or areas on our sites and services;
  • violate any laws, third party rights or our policies;
  • use our sites, services, or tools if you are not able to form legally binding contracts, are under the age of 18, or are temporarily or indefinitely suspended from using our sites, services, or tools;
  • fail to deliver payment for items purchased by you, unless the seller has materially changed the item’s description after you bid, a clear typographical error is made, or you cannot authenticate the seller’s identity;
  • fail to deliver items purchased from you, unless the buyer fails to meet the posted terms, or you cannot authenticate the buyer’s identity;
  • manipulate the price of any item or interfere with other users’ listings;
  • circumvent or manipulate our fee structure, the billing process, or fees owed to homebids;
  • post false, inaccurate, misleading, defamatory, or libelous content (including personal information);
  • take any action that may undermine the Feedback or ratings systems (such as displaying, importing or exporting Feedback information off of the sites or using it for purposes unrelated to homebids;
  • transfer your homebids account (including Feedback) and user ID to another party without our consent;
  • distribute or post spam, unsolicited, or bulk electronic communications, chain letters, or pyramid schemes;
  • distribute viruses or any other technologies that may harm homebids, or the interests or property of homebids users;
  • export or re-export any homebids tools except in compliance with the export control laws of any relevant jurisdictions;
  • copy, modify, or distribute rights or content from the homebids sites, service, or tools or homebids‘ copyrights and trademarks; or
  • harvest or otherwise collect information about users, including email addresses, without their consent
  • sell an undivided interest in a land real estate property. An undivided interest is defined as a partial interest by two or more people in the same property. This prohibition shall not apply to mineral rights.

 

Abusing homebids

homebids and the Community work together to keep our sites and services working properly and the Community safe. Please report problems, offensive content, and policy violations to us.

Without limiting other remedies, we may limit, suspend, or terminate our service and user accounts, prohibit access to our sites and their content, services, and tools, delay or remove hosted content, and take technical and legal steps to keep users off the sites if we think that they are creating problems or possible legal liabilities, infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, or acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of our policies. We also reserve the right to cancel unconfirmed accounts or accounts that have been inactive for a long time, or to modify or discontinue homebids sites, services, or tools.

Fees and Services

Joining homebids and bidding on listed items is free. We do charge fees for using other services, such as listing items. When you list an item or use a service that has a fee, you have an opportunity to review and accept the fees that you will be charged based on our fees schedule, which we may change from time to time. Changes to that schedule are effective after we provide you with at least 14 days’ notice by posting the changes on the homebids site. We may choose to temporarily change the fees for our services for promotional events (for example, free listing days) or new services, and such changes are effective when we post the temporary promotional event or new service on the sites.

Unless otherwise stated, all fees are quoted in U.S. Dollars. You are responsible for paying all fees and applicable taxes associated with our sites and services in a timely manner with a valid payment method. If your payment method fails or your account is past due, we may collect fees owed using other collection mechanisms. (This includes charging other payment methods on file with us, retaining collection agencies and legal counsel.)

Content

When you give us content, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise any and all copyright, trademark, publicity, and database rights (but no other rights) you have in the content, in any media known now or in the future.

Limitation of Liability

You will not hold homebids responsible for other users’ content, actions, or in actions, items they list or their destruction of allegedly fake items. You acknowledge that we are not a traditional auctioneer. Instead, our sites are venues to allow anyone to offer, sell, and buy real estate. We are not involved in the actual transaction between buyers and sellers. While we may help facilitate the resolution of disputes through various programs, we have no control over and do not guarantee the quality, safety, or legality of items advertised, the truth or accuracy of users’ content or listings, the ability of sellers to sell items, the ability of buyers to pay for items, or that a buyer or seller will actually complete a transaction or return an item. A bid or offer initiates a non-binding transaction representing a buyer’s serious expression of interest in buying the seller’s item.

We do not transfer legal ownership of items from the seller to the buyer, and nothing in this agreement shall modify the governing provisions of California Commercial Code § 2401(2) and Uniform Commercial Code § 2-401(2), unless the buyer and the seller agree otherwise. Further, we cannot guarantee continuous or secure access to our sites, services, or tools, and operation of our sites, services, or tools may be interfered with by numerous factors outside of our control. Accordingly, to the extent legally permitted, we exclude all implied warranties, terms and conditions. We are not liable for any loss of money, goodwill or reputation, or any special, indirect or consequential damages arising, directly or indirectly, out of your use of or your inability to use our sites, services, and tools.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of warranties or exclusion of damages, so such disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you.

Regardless of the previous paragraphs, if we are found to be liable, our liability to you or to any third party is limited to the greater of (a) the total fees (under homebids Fees and Services) you paid to us in the 12 months prior to the action giving rise to the liability, and (b) $100.

Release

If you have a dispute with one or more users, you release us (and our officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, and employees) from claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes. If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code §1542, which says: “A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor.”

Access and Interference

Regardless of the previous paragraphs, if we are found to be liable, our liability to you or to any third party is limited to the greater of (a) the total fees (under homebids Fees and Services) you paid to us in the 12 months prior to the action giving rise to the liability, and (b) $100.

Additionally, you agree that you will not:

  • take any action that imposes or may impose (in our sole discretion) an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
  • copy, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, or publicly display any content (except for your information) from the sites without the prior express written permission of {0} and the appropriate third party, as applicable;
  • interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the sites, services, or tools, or any activities conducted on or with the sites, services, or tools; or bypass our robot exclusion headers or other measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the sites.

 

Privacy

We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent. We use your information only as described in the homebids Privacy Policy. We view protection of users’ privacy as a very important community principle. We store and process your information on computers located in the United States that are protected by physical as well as technological security devices. You can access and modify the information you provide us and choose not to receive certain communications by signing in to your account. We use third parties to verify and certify our privacy principles. For a complete description of how we use and protect your personal information, see the homebids Privacy Policy. If you object to your information being transferred or used in this way please do not use our services.

Indemnity

You will indemnify and hold us (and our officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, and employees) harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your breach of this Agreement, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

No Agency

No agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer, or franchiser-franchisee relationship is intended or created by this Agreement.

Notices

Except as explicitly stated otherwise, legal notices shall be served on homebids’ national registered agent (in the case of homebids) or to the email address you provide to homebids during the registration process (in your case). Notice shall be deemed given 24 hours after email is sent, unless the sending party is notified that the email address is invalid. Alternatively, we may give you legal notice by mail to the address provided during the registration process. In such case, notice shall be deemed given three days after the date of mailing.

Resolution of Disputes

If a dispute arises between you and homebids, our goal is to provide you with a neutral and cost effective means of resolving the dispute quickly. Accordingly, you and homebids agree that we will resolve any claim or controversy at law or equity that arises out of this Agreement or our services (a “Claim”) in accordance with one of the subsections below or as we and you otherwise agree in writing. Before resorting to these alternatives, we strongly encourage you to first contact us directly to seek a resolution by going to the Contact Us page. We will consider reasonable requests to resolve the dispute through alternative dispute resolution procedures, such as mediation or arbitration, as alternatives to litigation.

  • Law and Forum for Disputes – This Agreement shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the State of California as they apply to agreements entered into and to be performed entirely within California between California residents, without regard to conflict of law provisions. You agree that any claim or dispute you may have against homebids must be resolved exclusively by a state or federal court located in Contra Costa County, California, except as otherwise agreed by the parties or as described in the Arbitration Option paragraph below. You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the courts located within Contra Costa County, California for the purpose of litigating all such claims or disputes.
  • Arbitration Option – For any claim (excluding claims for injunctive or other equitable relief) where the total amount of the award sought is less than $10,000, the party requesting relief may elect to resolve the dispute in a cost effective manner through binding non-appearance-based arbitration. In the event a party elects arbitration, they shall initiate such arbitration through an established alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) provider mutually agreed upon by the parties. The ADR provider and the parties must comply with the following rules: (a) the arbitration shall be conducted by telephone, online and/or be solely based on written submissions, the specific manner shall be chosen by the party initiating the arbitration; (b) the arbitration shall not involve any personal appearance by the parties or witnesses unless otherwise mutually agreed by the parties; and (c) any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.
  • Improperly Filed Claims – All claims you bring against homebids must be resolved in accordance with this Resolution of Disputes Section. All claims filed or brought contrary to the Resolution of Disputes Section shall be considered improperly filed. Should you file a claim contrary to the Resolution of Disputes Section, homebids may recover attorneys’ fees and costs up to $1000, provided that homebids has notified you in writing of the improperly filed claim, and you have failed to promptly withdraw the claim.

 

General

homebids is located at 2355 San Ramon Valley Blvd, Suite 100, San Ramon, California, 94583. If any provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be struck and the remaining provisions shall be enforced. Headings are for reference purposes only and do not limit the scope or extent of such section. Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others doesn’t waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. We do not guarantee we will take action against all breaches of this Agreement.

We may amend this Agreement at any time by posting the amended terms on this site. Except as stated elsewhere, all amended terms shall automatically be effective 30 days after they are initially posted. Additionally, we will notify you through the homebids Message Center. This Agreement may not be otherwise amended except in a writing hand signed by you and us. For purposes of this provision, a “writing” doesn’t include an email message and a signature doesn’t include an electronic signature.

This Agreement sets forth the entire understanding and agreement between us with respect to the subject matter hereof. The following Sections survive any termination of this Agreement: Fees and Services (with respect to fees owed for our services), Release, Content, Liability, Indemnity and Resolution of Disputes.

In accordance with Cal. Civ. Code §1789.3, you may report complaints to the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs by contacting them in writing at 400 R Street, Sacramento, CA 95814, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210

Privacy Policy

 

Scope

This Privacy Policy describes how we handle your personal information for our services on the homebids websites. It applies generally to the homebids website and content and other related websites where this policy appears in the footer of the page. The policy that applies on any of our domains or subdomains is always the policy that appears in the footer of each website.

Our subsidiaries’ and joint ventures’ privacy practices are similar to those described in this Privacy Policy. Subject to the requirements of applicable law, we strive to provide a consistent set of privacy practices throughout the global homebids trading community. By accepting the Privacy Policy and the User Agreement in registration, you expressly consent to our collection, storage, use and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Collection

You can browse our sites without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information about yourself. Once you give us your personal information, you are not anonymous to us. If you choose to provide us with personal information, you consent to the transfer and storage of that information on our servers located in the United States.

We may collect and store the following personal information:

  • email address, physical contact information, and (depending on the service used) sometimes financial information, such as credit card or bank account numbers;
  • transactional information based on your activities on the sites (such as bidding, buying, selling, item and content you generate or that relates to your account);
  • shipping, billing and other information you provide to purchase or ship an item;
  • other information from your interaction with our sites, services, content and advertising, including computer and connection information, statistics on page views, traffic to and from the sites, ad data, IP address and standard web log information;
  • additional information we ask you to submit to authenticate yourself or if we believe you are violating site policies (for example, we may ask you to send us an ID or bill to verify your address, or to answer additional questions online to help verify your identity or ownership of an item you list);
  • information from other companies, such as demographic and navigation data; and other supplemental information from third parties (for example, if you incur a debt to homebids.com, we will generally conduct a credit check by obtaining additional information about you from a credit bureau, as permitted by law).

 

Marketing

We don’t sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent. We may combine your information with information we collect from other companies and use it to improve and personalize our services, content and advertising. If you don’t wish to receive marketing communications from us or participate in our ad-customization programs, simply indicate your preference in My Account or by following the directions provided with the communication or advertisement.

Use

Our primary purpose in collecting personal information is to provide you with a safe, smooth, efficient, and customized experience. You agree that we may use your personal information to:

  • provide the services and customer support you request;
  • resolve disputes, collect fees, and troubleshoot problems;
  • prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities, and enforce our User Agreement;
  • customize, measure and improve our services, content and advertising;
  • tell you about our services and those of our corporate family, targeted marketing, service updates, and promotional offers based on your communication preferences; and
  • compare information for accuracy, and verify it with third parties.

 

Our Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose personal information to respond to legal requirements, enforce our policies, respond to claims that a listing or other content violates the rights of others, or protect anyone’s rights, property, or safety. Such information will be disclosed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

We may also share your personal information with:

  • Service providers under contract who help with our business operations (such as fraud investigations, bill collection, affiliate and rewards programs and co-branded credit cards).
  • Other third parties to whom you explicitly ask us to send your information (or about whom you are otherwise explicitly notified and consent to when using a specific service).
  • Law enforcement or other governmental officials, in response to a verified request relating to a criminal investigation or alleged illegal activity. In such events, we will disclose information relevant to the investigation, such as name, city, state, zip code, telephone number, email address, User ID history, IP address, fraud complaints, and bidding and listing history.
  • Other business entities, should we plan to merge with or be acquired by that business entity. (Should such a combination occur, we will require that the new combined entity follow this privacy policy with respect to your personal information. If your personal information will be used contrary to this policy, you will receive prior notice.)

Without limiting the above, in an effort to respect your privacy and our ability to keep the community free from bad actors, we will not otherwise disclose your personal information to law enforcement, other government officials, or other third parties without a subpoena, court order or substantially similar legal procedure, except when we believe in good faith that the disclosure of information is necessary to prevent imminent physical harm or financial loss or to report suspected illegal activity.

Information You Share on homebids.com

Your Display Name is displayed throughout homebids.com (and so available to the public), and is connected to all of your homebids.com activity. Other people can see your bids, purchases, items for sale, feedback, ratings and associated comments. Notices sent to other community members about suspicious activity and policy violations on our sites refer to Display Names and specific items. So if you associate your name with your Display Name, the people to whom you have revealed your name will be able to personally identify your homebids.com activities.

If you access our sites from a shared computer or a computer in an internet café, certain information about you, such as your Display Name, activity or reminders from homebids, may also be visible to other individuals who use the computer after you.

Using Information from homebids.com

homebids enables you to share personal and financial information to complete transactions. We encourage you to disclose your privacy practices and respect the privacy of other users. We cannot guarantee the privacy or security of your information and therefore we encourage you to evaluate the privacy and security policies of your trading partner before entering into a transaction and choosing to share your information. To help protect your privacy, we allow only limited access to other users’ contact, shipping and financial information to facilitate your transactions. When users are involved in a transaction, they may have access to each other’s name, Display Name, email address and other contact information through the means of homebids.com. In all cases, you must give other users a chance to remove themselves from your database and a chance to review what information you have collected about them.

You agree to use user information only for:

  • homebids transaction-related purposes that are not unsolicited commercial messages;
  • using services offered through homebids (such as escrow, and fraud complaints), or
  • other purposes that a user expressly chooses.

 

Cookies

We use “cookies” (small files placed on your hard drive) on certain of our pages to help analyze our web page flow; customize our services, content and advertising; measure promotional effectiveness, and promote trust and safety.

A few important things you should know about cookies are that:

  • We offer certain features that are available only through the use of cookies.
  • We use cookies to help identify you and maintain your signed-in status.
  • Most cookies are “session cookies,” meaning that they are automatically deleted from your hard drive at the end of a session.
  • You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, although doing so may interfere with your use of some of our sites or services.
  • You may encounter cookies from third parties on certain pages of the sites that we do not control. (For example, if you view a web page created by another user, there may be a cookie placed by that web page.)

 

No Spam, Spyware or Spoofing

We and our users do not tolerate spam. Make sure to set your homebids communication preferences so we communicate to you as you prefer. You are not licensed to add other homebids users, even a user who has purchased an item from you, to your mailing list (email or physical mail) without their express consent. To report homebids-related spam or spoof emails to homebids, please forward the email to spam@Oresy.com or spoof@Oresy.com . You may not use our communication tools to send spam or otherwise send content that would violate our User Agreement. We automatically scan and may manually filter messages to check for spam, viruses, phishing attacks and other malicious activity or illegal or prohibited content, but we do not permanently store messages sent through these tools.

Account Protection

Your password is the key to your account. Use unique numbers, letters and special characters, and do not disclose your homebids password to anyone. If you do share your password or your personal information with others, remember that you are responsible for all actions taken in the name of your account. If you lose control of your password, you may lose substantial control over your personal information and may be subject to legally binding actions taken on your behalf. Therefore, if your password has been compromised for any reason, you should immediately notify homebids and change your password.

Accessing, Reviewing and Changing Your Personal Information

You can see, review and change most of your personal information by signing on to homebids. Generally, we will not manually modify your personal information because it is very difficult to verify your identity remotely. You must promptly update your personal information if it changes or is inaccurate. Once you make a public posting, you may not be able to change or remove it. Upon your request, we will close your account and remove your personal information from view as soon as reasonably possible, based on your account activity and in accordance with applicable law. We do retain personal information from closed accounts to comply with law, prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our homebids User’s Agreement, and take other actions otherwise permitted by law.

Security

Your information is stored on our servers located in the United States. We treat data as an asset that must be protected and use lots of tools (encryption, passwords, physical security, etc.) to protect your personal information against unauthorized access and disclosure. However, as you probably know, third parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications, and other users may abuse or misuse your personal information that they collect from the site. Therefore, although we work very hard to protect your privacy, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information or private communications will always remain private.

Third Parties

Except as otherwise expressly included in this Privacy Policy, this document addresses only the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. If you disclose your information to others, whether they are bidders, buyers or sellers on our sites or other sites throughout the internet, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them. homebids.com does not control the privacy policies of third parties, and you are subject to the privacy policies of those third parties where applicable. We encourage you to ask questions before you disclose your personal information to others.

General

We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time by posting the amended terms on this site. All amended terms automatically take effect 30 days after they are initially posted on the site. If your questions are not answered online, you may write to us at: homebids, 2355 San Ramon Valley Blvd Suite 100 San Ramon CA 94583, or using the Contact Us form.

Seller’s Agreement. Terms and Conditions

 

Policy overview

To run a great business, sellers work hard to ensure a smooth and professional transaction with their buyers. This includes setting buyer expectations and meeting those expectations.

Some of the most basic things you can do are to provide accurate and consistent details about your item and to be clear and specific about the terms and conditions of the sale. You should also make every effort to provide excellent customer service from start to finish, including:

  • Provide precise and detailed requirements for the buyers to get approval for participating in the bidding/offering process on your item
  • Responding to buyers’ questions promptly
  • Being professional throughout the transaction
  • Making sure the item is sold to the buyer as described in your listing

Be sure to follow the guidelines in this policy. If you don’t, your listings may be removed, and you may be subject to a range of other actions, including restrictions of your buying and selling privileges and suspension of your account.

Item description

The listing page serves as the main source of information for buyers, helping them decide what to buy and what to expect when they get an item. So the page should only be used to describe the item for sale and to professionally communicate the terms of the sale.

You’re required to:

  • Describe only the item you’re selling in the listing.
  • It’s important that you clearly specify the terms and conditions of the sale in your listing, so buyers know what to expect.
  • Provide precise and detailed requirements for the buyers to get approval for participating in the bidding/offering process on your item
  • Show opens house dates
  • Attach all mandatory disclosures and reports
  • Describe if your item is available for viewing at any other dates, besides the open house dates
  • Describe in details the condition of the item
  • Attach interior and exterior pictures

You may not:

  • Include conflicting or misleading product information in a listing. For example, note that an item is located in top rated school district, when it is not.
  • Include pictures that don’t accurately represent the item for sale.
  • Include comments that discourage buyers from participating or that could make them lose trust in homebids sellers and our website.
Communication

Do whatever you can to provide excellent customer service. Meeting or exceeding buyers’ expectations can help you improve your performance on homebids:

  • Respond promptly to any questions during the bidding or buying process, as well as after the item has been purchased.
  • Communicate professionally, including in your emails.
  • Be responsive to any buyer concerns or problems.
  • You’re not allowed to use profane or offensive language with anyone on homebids.

 

Other rules for sellers

You’re responsible for reviewing and understanding our rules for sellers, as well as all applicable laws and regulations in the User Agreement. Knowing our policies before you list an item can lead to smoother, more successful transactions, and it can help you avoid breaking rules by mistake.

Payment

You’re responsible for all charges up to the amount as set in an online account, and you shall pay all charges in U.S. Dollars. Unless agreed to by the parties in writing, Customer shall pay all charges in accordance with the payment terms. Late payments bear interest at the rate of 1.5% per month (or the highest rate permitted by law, if less). Charges are exclusive of taxes. You’re responsible for paying (y) all taxes, government charges, and (z) reasonable expenses and attorneys fees homebids.com incurs collecting late amounts. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Customer waives all claims relating to charges (including without limitation any claims for charges based on suspected invalid visits) unless claimed within 60 days after the charge (this does not affect Customer’s credit card issuer rights). Charges are solely based on homebids’ usage measurements for the applicable item, unless otherwise agreed to in writing. To the fullest extent permitted by law, refunds (if any) are at the discretion of homebids and only in the form of advertising credit for only homebids postings. Nothing in these Terms may obligate homebids.com to extend credit to any party. You acknowledge and agree that any credit card and related billing and payment information that you provide to homebids may be shared by homebids with companies who work on homebids‘ behalf, such as payment processors and/or credit agencies, solely for the purposes of checking credit, effecting payment to homebids and servicing your account. homebids may also provide information in response to valid legal process, such as subpoenas, search warrants and court orders, or to establish or exercise its legal rights or defend against legal claims. homebids shall not be liable for any use or disclosure of such information by such third parties.