The SoapSaver auction site is exclusively for members in good standing of the Dish Forum, who meet the following criteria: (1) They have been a member for 3 months or more, and (2) They have at least 100 posts to their name, (3) They register at the SoapSaver auction site using the username and email address they use at the forum,(4) They remain in good standing at both Dish Forum and the SoapSaver auction site, and (5)They are at least 18 years of age or older.
Suppliers to the soapmaking craft may register for membership and participate at the SoapSaver auction site at the discretion of the Soap Dish admin and moderators. If you are a supplier and you wish to buy and sell off your personal supplies *only*, you may register as a regular member provided you meet the criteria for membership above. If you are a supplier and you wish to buy, sell your personal supplies, and offer items from your business (overstock, sale items, discontinued items, etc) on the SoapSaver auction site, please contact us at soapsaver@soapdishforum.com before registering.

Simply click on the link that says "register" at the top of any page. Follow the instructions on the screen and fill in the boxes where asked. You must use your display username and the same email address as you use at The Dish Forum to register, or your registration will be denied (sorry!). After you submit your registration, your information will be forwarded for consideration and verification to the administrator of this site. You will receive a notice via email, usually within 72 hours, letting you know if your registration has been approved and what to do next.

You should use your display name so that other members can identify you.

Log in to the Dish. Click on My Controls. You'll see your Dish email address in the top right panel. You must use this email address to register for SoapSaver.

After you register, your information is submitted to the administrator of this site for review. You will receive an email letting you know whether your registration has been approved, usually within 72 hours. Please do not contact the administrator about your registration unless 72 hours has passed and you have not received an email from us.

Nope, sorry. We can't see users' passwords, same as at the forum, so please don't ask. To retrieve your password, click on the "login" link at the top of any page, then click the link that says "Forgot your password? Click here to retrieve your login information". If you do not receive this email, check to make sure that the email address soapsaver @ soapdishforum.com is on your spam-blocker safelist and try again.

First, have you activated your account? You should have received an email within 3 days of registering with a link to activate your account. If it has not been 3 days since you registered, keep watch for your activation email. If three days have passed, email the admin from the email account you used to register at admin@thedishforum.com.
If you know your account is activated, but you still can't log in, check your browser to make sure it will accept cookies from SoapSaver. Also, make sure your browser is set to allow sessions. If this still does not fix the problem, contact the admin from the email account you used to register with an explanation of your problem.

Yes! You will not be charged any fees for bidding on or winning an auction. However, should you win an auction, you are responsible for paying the amount due for the item, shipping, and so on.

You can browse through the categories and subcategories located at the left of any page, or through the pull-down menu at the top of the page. Or, you can do a search through the box at the top of any page.

You should bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay. If you are the winner, you may not have to pay the amount you bid (you may only have to pay slightly more than the second-highest-bidder's bid), but you should be prepared to pay the full amount of your bid, plus shipping and insurance as necessary.

You will be notified immediately after you bid whether you are the highest bidder. If you are not the highest bidder, you may bid again if you wish.

If you are outbid by someone else after you place your bid, you will typically be notified by email. However, since emails can be unreliable, you should check the auction regularly to keep tabs on who is the highest bidder.

If you win, you will typically be notified by email. However, since emails can be unreliable, you should check in soon after the auction has ended to see if you are the highest bidder. You can also use the "bidding" page of the members' area to keep track of auctions that you win.

Log in to SoapSaver. Go to your Members' Area. On the bidding page, go to the "Won Items" tab. Click the "Message Board" link. You will be taken to a page showing the seller's contact information, including email address.

Selling is free of charge! This site is funded through member donations, as is the forum.

Everyone who is eligible to participate at the SoapSaver site and who remains in good standing at both the SoapSaver site and the Soap Dish forum may sell items.

Well, it depends on what kind of item you have to sell! Browse through the available categories and subcategories and use your best judgment in picking the category and subcategory for your auction. Along with soapmaking supplies, you can sell other handcrafted items, plants and seeds, and non-handcrafted used items. Co-ops should be listed in the co-ops category under the appropriate subcategory.

On the second page of the listing process, after you select a category and subcategory for your item(s), you'll have the option to choose a full listing or a quick listing. In a nutshell, the full listing option simply gives you more choices when you are listing your auction. A quick listing gives you all the basic and essential options.

Options not included in the quick listing:

• Custom Bid Increment


• Custom Start Time


• Custom End Time


• Private Auction


• Accept Swap Offers


• Auto-relist (and its associated options)

If you want to use any of these options, select "Full Listing."

If you have one item for sale, you should use the standard auction option. If you have multiple different items for sale (8 oz FO, 1 LB kokum butter, 3 soap molds, etc) you should create a separate standard auction for each item or lot. A lot is a group of items that are being sold together for one price (e.g., 10 lip balm tubes for $2). If you have multiple of the same item, that are not being sold as a lot, you should use the Dutch Auction option. For example, if you have 100 bags for sale and you want to sell all 100 to the same person, you should sell them as a lot of 100 for $X in a standard auction. If you have 100 bags for sale and don't care whether people want 1 bag, 20 bags, or all 100 bags, list 100 bags at $X a piece using the Dutch auction option.

Yes, you can. Advanced formatting, javascript, css, and so on may not work properly. Generally you should be able to use standard formatting tags, < a > tags, < img > tags, and even tables.

Sure. Check out our html cheat sheet (linked from your members' area on the selling page) for some standard formatting tags, like bold, italics, underline, color, and

skip a line. Keep in mind that a simple description without any fancy formatting is perfectly acceptable, though.

It depends. On certain browsers, you can use the built-in html editor to format your description without having to know any html yourself. It works like a word processor, so it should be intuitive for many people to use. However, if you are using a browser or platform that is currently not supporting the html editor, formatting your description by hand using html is the only way to do it.

You are allowed to upload one (1) picture, under 50K in file size, to use in your auction listing. This photo is uploaded straight from your computer; you don't have to have it hosted online anywhere to use. This photo is converted to a thumbnail for the category listing pages and home page, and displayed full-size in your listing description.
When you get to the "upload photo" option on page three of the auction listing process, click the "browse" button. A browsing window will appear. From there, browse to the location of the photo on your computer, click on the photo, and click "open" or "ok." You'll see text appear in the "upload photo" box. Click the "Upload" button. The page will refresh, and your image will appear on the screen when it has been uploaded.
Alternatively, you can use a photo that you have hosted online somewhere (like your website) as your main auction photo. To do that, type or copy the URL into the box marked "or Enter File URL". Then, click the "upload" button. The page will refresh, and your image will appear on the screen when it has been uploaded.

If you'd like to include additional photos in your auction, you must add them to your description using html or our html editor. Any additional photos must be stored online, just like any photos you want to display at the forum. To add a photo to your description using html, use the following code:
< img src="http://www.website.com/folder/imagename.jpg" >, replacing the URL of the photo for http://www.website.com/folder/imagename.jpg. Don't forget the quotes! Or the pointed brackets starting and finishing the code < >. There also shouldn't be any empty spaces in the code.

Most likely, your photo's file size is too large. Your photo can be no larger than 50k. You need to resize and possibly optimize your photo. You can do this using photo editing software on your computer. Refer to the help files in your individual software for instructions on resizing photos. Or, you can use our Photo Resizer. Once you've resized your photo and its file size is 50k or under, you can try to re-upload your photo provided there have been no bids on your auction. To do this, first log in. Go to your Members' area and then to the selling page.
You'll see the title of your auction listed under "Open Auctions". To the right of the auction title will be a link that says "edit" provided there are no bids on your auction yet. Simply click edit, and then re-upload the photo the same way you did when you originally started the auction.

That's up to you! There are pros and cons for using the buy-out feature. If you are unsure of the value of an item, you might consider not using the buy-out feature, and setting the starting bid at the lowest amount you're willing to accept for the item. Or, setting the starting bid at something attractively low, and setting your reserve price for the lowest amount you're willing to accept for the item. That way, people can bid on your item until your auction is over. You might be surprised, someone may be willing to pay more for your item than you would have thought. If you would have set the buy-out price, you may have undersold yourself.
However, the buy-out feature has its perks too. Some people really like the immediacy of the buy-out feature and prefer to buy from auctions where they don't have to wait until the auction is over to win the item. Some buyers also think it's nice to turn over auctions quickly.

The auto-relist features is much as it sounds. If you select this feature, your auction will automatically be relisted when the auction ends. If you want the auction to relist even if the items is sold, select "yes" for the second auto-relist option (auto relist even if sold). If you want the auction to relist only if the item is not sold, select "no" for the second option. In the third option, you can specify how many times you want the auction to auto-relist (up to 5 times).

On the last page of the selling process, you'll have an option to save your auction as a draft instead of listing it now. If you do this, your auction will be saved for you to edit and/or post (or delete) at a later time. To find your saved auctions draft, go to Members' Area > Selling > Drafts. Here you will see a list of your drafts. To edit or post the auction, click the "List Now" link to the right of the auction's title in this list, under the "Options" heading. You will be taken back through the selling process pages, but these pages will be prefilled with the information you entered before you saved the draft. You can make any edits you wish, and when you get to the end of the process, click the "List Now" button.
You can preview the auction from your list of drafts by clicking on the auction's title. To delete the draft, click the link that says "Delete" under the "Options" heading.

It's up to you. You can relist the item now or later on, leaving the price the same, or reducing the price to encourage sale. Sometimes the price isn't the problem; you could consider adding more information to your auction description, or maybe a photograph if you don't already have one.

If no one has bid on your auction, you are able to edit or delete it through the selling section of the members' area. However, once someone bids on your auction, you are not able to edit or remove it except to add to the description. Make sure you are positive you want to sell your item before you put it up for auction; auctions are binding once they've gotten bids. If it's an emergency situation, you could contact the bidders and explain the situation, asking them to retract their bids. Understand that the buyers are not obligated to do so, however.

If you have a successful auction as a seller, you will be notified by email. However, since email can be unreliable, you should keep an eye on all of your auctions. You should contact the buyer as soon as possible to arrange payment details. Provide the buyer with whatever information he or she needs to submit payment, and ship the item as soon as possible after payment is received and processed. Typically you should ship sold items within (3) days of payment (excluding weekends and holidays).

Log in to SoapSaver. Go to your Members' Area, then go to the Selling page, then the "Sold" tab. Click the link that says "Message Board." On this page you will find the buyers' shipping information and email address.

We have a handy step-by-step tutorial for listing co-ops and other informative documents available in the Co-op Resource Center, which you can access through the selling page of your Members' Area. Information about fast buys can be found here too.

If you don't have a hostess fee, put $.01 (one penny) as your starting and buy-now price. You should also specify in your listing that you don't have a hostess fee, just so all participants are clear on that.

You should try to offer an item (or items) that are similar in value to the item(s) being auctioned. Alternatively, you can offer a combination of money and items. Keep in mind that your swap offer may be rejected if the seller doesn't feel your swap is of equal value with his or her auction, or if the seller doesn't have a need for the item(s) you are offering. Don't take it personally if your offer is rejected, it's possible that the seller is only looking for a specific list of things that your item or items didn't happen to be on.

If a seller has chosen to accept swap offers for an auction, you will see a link on the auction page that says "offer a swap deal". Just click this link and type a description of your swap offer in to the appropriate box. Watch your email to find out if your swap offer has been accepted or rejected.

So, you found something great for sale on SoapSaver and want to offer a trade - but the catch is, the item you want to offer is already up for auction itself? Well, you might be in luck. If your auction hasn't gotten any bids yet, you can delete the auction through the selling section of the members' area. However, if there have been any bids on your auction, sorry to say you're stuck. Starting an auction is binding once bids have been made. You are obligated to finish out your auction and sell the item to the highest bidder.

That's totally up to you! If you are offered an item or items that you'd like to have and feel are a good trade for the item you are selling, then you should definitely consider accepting the swap offer. Otherwise, you may want to deny the swap offer and let the auction run its course.

Log in to SoapSaver. Go to your Members' area, and then to the selling page. The auction for which you have received a swap offer will be on the "Items with Bids/Offers" header. Look under the subheader "max. bid". In this column will be a link that says "You have a swap offer from (username)".

Swapping is absolutely free.

For starters, less than 5 stars isn't necessarily a "negative" rating. 3 or 4 stars indicate Neutral or Satisfactory ratings and are not considered negative. If you were left a truly negative rating, you should take a step back and ask yourself if the buyer or seller's complaints are valid. Its possible that for whatever reason the auction didn't go well, and you deserve the rating. You should leave an appropriate comment and rating for the other person; this doesn't mean leave them a negative rating and comment as well. If they held up their end of the bargain satisfactorily, you should leave them a rating and comment that indicates as much.
If you feel as though you received the negative rating or comment when the transaction was not problematic in the least, file an abuse report (through the members' area) or contact the site administrator.

Generally, yes you should! Your feedback allows others to get a feel for other buyers and sellers and makes the auction experience more comfortable. It is considered good etiquette on auction sites to leave a rating and comment for every transaction you complete, buying or selling.

That depends entirely on your level of satisfaction with the transaction. You are rating the other person's actions, so don't hold them responsible for problems that are out of their control (items damaged in transit, you end up not liking the scent of the FO you purchased, etc). Even transactions for which there are problems can result in positive ratings if the other person handles the problems well. Use this as a guide:
= Very Satisfactory
= Satisfactory
= Neutral
= Unsatisfactory
= Very Unsatisfactory

The Soap Dish user agreement and the Terms & Conditions of the SoapSaver site apply to comments and ratings on Soapsaver. Purposeful deception relating to comments and ratings could result in revoking of membership at the SoapSaver auction site and/or the Soap Dish forum.

Not necessarily. The seller should not be held responsible for problems that occurred during transit unless the damage is a result of obviously inadequate packaging on the part of the seller. If the item was packaged adequately and the shipping company is at fault for the damage, the seller should not be held responsible. If you did not purchase shipping insurance, you could be out of luck.

Typically the standard acceptable timeframe for sending payment is (3) business days. The goal for everyone is a smooth and successful transaction. So, if three business days have passed and you have not heard from the winner, try contacting him or her to see what's what. You can send a payment request through paypal or contact them through the forum or SoapSaver site. If you still cannot get in touch with the buyer, it is reasonable to relist the item if you wish and leave a negative rating and comment for the buyer.

Typically the standard acceptable timeframe for delivering items to the shipper once payment is received or processed is (3) days, excluding weekends and holidays. Keep in mind that if you pay by check or money order through the mail, you need to allow time for your payment to arrive and be deposited. If you paid by check, you need to allow time for the check to clear, which could take several days to a week. Sellers will usually not ship an item until the funds for payment are fully in their possession. Once an item is shipped, you should allow plenty of time for transit depending on the type of shipping you and the seller agreed upon (2-3 days for USPS Priority, 5-7 days for UPS Ground, etc). Items shipping internationally will take even longer.

If you come across an auction you want to keep tabs on, just click the "Watch this item" link under the title of the auction on the auction page.

To access a list of auctions you're watching, go to the bidding page of your Members' area. You'll find a tab that says "Watched Items"; just click on that.

Stores are great for regular sellers, sellers with many items for sale, and businesses. Potential buyers can easily access all of your auctions through your store, as well as get a little information about you. You can even upload your logo to appear on your store page. Your store will also appear in the "Stores" part of the site, accessible through the tab at the top of any page.
If you're an occasional seller, an "About Me" page might work better for you. On these pages you can include some text about yourself, what you're looking for, etc.

Absolutely! The Dish Forum's SoapSaver site can be a great way for you to sell overstock, discontinued items, sale items, seasonal items, and more! If you're interested in participating, please contact the site admin before registering. You may be eligible for SoapSaver membership without meeting the criteria in place for regular members.

At this time, we are not selling advertising on either the Soap Dish or the SoapSaver site. However! You can register under your business name and sell items here at SoapSaver, which not only allows you to make sales, but is great exposure too! You can also create a "store" with your logo and a link to your web site, or an "about me" page through the Members' Area.

Sorry about that! We've found that email can be pretty unreliable, and mass automated emails like those that come from sites like this (and the forum) to be more so. We do our best to make sure the emails get sent, but glitches happen, emails get caught in spamblockers, and so on. We are not responsible for any email that does not arrive as it should. Double check to make sure our email address (soapsaver @ thedishforum.com) is listed in your "safelist" or whatever you need to do to make sure that our emails can get through your spamblocker.

Through the members' area. Go to My Account > Personal Information.

If your username has changed at the Dish, but was not changed here at SoapSaver as well, contact the admin.

Those are sort of like our ranks at the Soap Dish, except the colored stars are doled out depending on how many feedbacks a person has. It goes as follows:
1-9 feedbacks
10-49 feedbacks
50-99 feedacks
100-199 feedbacks
200+ feedbacks