How this works

A plain-language guide. If you can use Facebook, you can use this.

What is this?

EastBid is an online auction site for Newfoundland and Labrador. Local people sell things (furniture, tools, dishes, old tea cups, a snow blower) and other local people bid on them. The highest bid when the timer runs out wins. The winner picks the item up nearby.

Think of it like a garage sale, except everyone's on their phone instead of standing in your driveway, and nobody haggles. The price just goes up until the timer's done.

Which one are you?

Tap the card that fits, and we'll explain your part.

Option 1

I want to bid on stuff

Jump to how bidding works. What you'll see on screen, how the money works, and how you pick up what you win.

Option 2

I've got a house, shed, or garage to clear out

Downsizing, moving, cleaning out after a parent's passed. We come to you, catalogue everything, and run the auction for you.

Option 3

I run a thrift store, charity shop, or pawn shop

You've got standout items that deserve better than sticker pricing. Post them here and let bidders compete.

Is this safe?

Reasonable question. Here's the straight answer on each worry we hear most:

Is someone going to take my credit card number?

No. We use Stripe, which is the same company Shopify, Instacart, and Lyft use for payments. Your actual card number never touches our servers. We just see the last four digits so you can recognize it.

What if I bid too much by accident?

Before every bid, we show you a confirmation screen with the exact amount. You have to tap 'Yes, bid this much' to actually submit. One slip of the finger doesn't cost you money.

What if something goes wrong with the pickup?

Every winner's pickup details are locked in by the time the auction closes. You get a 15-minute time slot (for estate auctions) or storefront hours (for thrift-store items). If anyone doesn't show, we handle it.

What if I bid, and then decide I don't want it?

All sales are final. This is the same rule as an old-fashioned auction in a hall. It's also why we show big clear photos and descriptions of every item, so you can look carefully before you bid.

Who's behind this?

A small team based right here in NL. Not a Silicon Valley app, not a company in Ontario. If something goes wrong you can call us and a person will answer.

Option 1

Bidding on stuff

A big auction house in a city shows up on TV with a guy shouting "do I hear fifty, fifty, fifty?" This isn't that. There's no shouting and no pressure. You scroll, you see something you like, you tell us the highest you'd pay, and you go do something else. The site does the bidding for you.

The whole thing, start to finish

Browse the list

Scroll through the home page. Every item has a photo, a price, and a timer showing when bidding ends. Tap a photo to see it bigger and read the description.

You can look all day without signing in. No account needed to browse.

Make an account

When you want to bid, we'll ask you to sign in. Easiest way: you type your email, we send you a six-digit code, you type the code back. No password to forget. Or if you already use Google for email, you can tap the Google button.

This takes about 30 seconds.

Put a card on file

Before your first bid, we ask for a credit or debit card. Nothing gets charged yet. It's just so that if you win, the payment works automatically.

Think of it like leaving your card with a bartender to run a tab. They don't charge you until you order something.

Tell us your max bid

This is the one new idea you have to learn. When you bid, you don't type the price you'd pay right now. You type the highest amount you'd ever pay.

Example: the chair is at $10 and you'd go as high as $40. You type $40. If nobody else bids, you win at something close to $10. If someone bids $25, our system automatically bids $26 for you. If someone bids $45, you lose. We send you an email so you can decide if you want to go higher.

You never pay your max. Just enough to beat the next bidder.

Wait for the timer

Every item has a countdown. When it hits zero, bidding closes and the highest bidder wins.

One wrinkle: if someone bids in the last 2 minutes, the timer extends by 2 minutes. That way nobody "snipes" the auction at the last second. It ends when everyone's finished, not on an artificial deadline.

If you win, we charge your card

Automatic. You get an email saying "You won! Here's your pickup info." Your card gets charged the winning bid plus 15% HST. No chasing, no e-transfers.

Pick it up

Estate items: you pick a 15-minute slot during the pickup day (usually a Saturday at the estate address).

Thrift store items: stop by the store during their open hours. The email tells you which store and where.

Bring help and a truck if it's heavy. You're responsible for moving the item. We don't deliver.

For instance

What this actually feels like

Margaret (67, Paradise) sees a sewing cabinet on the site Tuesday night. The timer says "ends Friday 7pm." She's watched Antiques Roadshow, and one like it went for $200. She signs in (email code, 30 seconds), enters her Visa (60 seconds), taps Bid and tells us her max is $60.

Wednesday she gets an email: "You've been outbid, current price $65." She decides $65 is too rich and does nothing. Friday at 6:58pm a new bid comes in for $85. The timer extends to 7:00pm. At 7:00pm the hammer falls. Margaret didn't win. Her card was never charged, and she's out nothing. Nothing else happens. No sales call, no spam.

Option 2

Clearing a house, shed, or garage

This is the one where you call us. You've got a property-full of stuff. Maybe it's a parent's house after a move to long-term care, or a downsizing to a smaller place, or a cleanout before selling, or a shed that's been filling up for thirty years. You don't want to throw it away. You also don't want "Is this still available?" messages that go nowhere, no-shows on Saturday morning, people haggling you down on every item, or strangers tramping through your yard for a whole weekend.

What we do, step by step

You call or fill out the form

Tap Sell my stuff or call us. Tell us roughly what you've got and where. A person calls you back the same day or next.

We come to your place

Usually two of us, often a weekend. We walk through with you and decide what to list. Anything you want to keep, we leave alone. We photograph each item, measure, note any scratches or missing pieces.

You don't move anything until pickup day. Everything stays where it is.

The auction runs, usually a week

We put your items online. Bidders across NL see them, bid over the week. You can watch the prices go up if you want, or you can ignore the whole thing until it's over.

Items that would be $5 at a yard sale often sell for $25-$40 here, because the audience is bigger and people who actually want that specific thing can find it.

Winners pay automatically

When each item's timer runs out, the winning bidder's card is charged. No chasing anyone, no e-transfer, no "I'll pay next week." If their card fails, the next-highest bidder gets the item and we charge them instead.

One pickup day

All winners come pick up the same day, usually the Saturday after the auction ends. We give each one a 15-minute time slot so you don't get thirty cars at once. We're there to help check people in and verify they're taking the right items.

They're responsible for loading. You don't have to help lift anything.

You get paid

After pickup day, we calculate your payout: total sales, minus our 27% commission, minus HST (which we remit to CRA for you). You get the rest by cheque or e-transfer.

27% sounds high but it covers everything. Our time to come photograph, the site to run it on, card processing fees (about 3%), and running pickup day. A traditional estate sale company typically takes 30–40%.

For instance

What this actually feels like

Gerald's mother went into long-term care last month. Her house in Mount Pearl has to be cleared before the family sells it. There's a dining set, three bedrooms of furniture, kitchen stuff, and a garage full of tools Gerald doesn't know what to do with.

Gerald calls us Monday. We come Saturday, spend six hours going through the place. He keeps a few things that matter (the china cabinet, his dad's tool chest). The rest goes online Tuesday. Auction ends the following Saturday at 7pm. 84 items sell for a combined $3,100. Our cut is $837. HST of $465 goes to CRA. Gerald gets a cheque for $1,798, plus a cleared-out house.

A local reseller had offered him $400 cash for everything.

Why this is different from a regular estate sale

Regular estate sale: one weekend, cash only, strangers walking through your house, and whatever doesn't sell is yours to figure out. Online auction: everyone in NL is your audience (not just whoever drove by your sign), no one's in your house except the photographers, and most things sell.

Option 3

Thrift stores, charity shops, pawn shops

You run a shop. Once in a while something walks in the door that shouldn't be priced at $15 on the shelf. A solid oak dresser, a vintage Singer, a decent guitar. You know resellers circle your store for exactly these items. They buy low, flip online for 10× what you got. That money could have gone to your cause.

This path lets you post those items yourself and let the market decide.

How it works for you

We set you up once

Contact us. We set up a partner account for your shop. You give us your address, your open hours, and a contact person. We verify you're a real organization. Takes about a day.

Snap a photo, fill in the form

When you get a standout item, open the partner page on your phone. Tap the big blue button. Take a photo of the item. Write a short description. Tap a starting price ($1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100). Tap when bidding should end (Tonight, Tomorrow, This Friday, Next Friday).

That's the whole form. It takes about a minute. Your volunteer staff can do it.

Bidders compete

Your item appears in the public feed alongside estate items. It shows a green badge with your organization's name so buyers know the purchase supports you.

Winner picks up at your shop

When the auction ends, the winner's card is charged and they get an email with your address and open hours, along with a unique pickup code. They walk in during business hours, show the code, take the item. No time slots. They fit into your normal day.

You get paid, charity keeps the difference

Standard commission is 27%. For registered charities we'll often do lower. Call and we'll talk about it. The rest (minus card fees and HST, which we remit to CRA) comes to your organization.

You'll often make 3–5× what a reseller was going to pay you.

For instance

What this actually feels like

A local charity thrift shop gets an oak roll-top desk donated Friday morning. On the shelf they'd price it at $80 and a reseller would grab it before lunch. Instead, the volunteer snaps a photo with her phone, taps through the partner form (takes 90 seconds), sets it to close "This Friday at 7pm."

That evening it's got 14 watchers. By Friday it closes at $325. The charity's cut after our 20% negotiated commission and HST: about $227. The buyer drives to the shop Saturday morning, shows his code, carries the desk to his truck. The volunteer goes back to sorting clothes.

Words you'll see, explained

Bid: The amount you're willing to pay. Every bid is a promise. If you win, you pay.
Max bid: The highest amount you're willing to go. Our system bids up to that on your behalf, but only if someone else forces it higher.
Watch / watching: You tap the heart on an item to "watch" it. It doesn't mean you're bidding, it just saves it so you can find it again.
Lot: One item being auctioned. A dining set might be one lot, or the chairs might be one lot and the table another.
Reserve: We don't use reserves. Every item sells to the highest bidder, no secret minimum price.
Soft close: If someone bids in the last 2 minutes, the timer extends 2 minutes. Nobody gets to steal it at the last second.
Hammer price: What the item sold for. Doesn't include HST or any fees.
HST: Harmonized Sales Tax. 15% in NL. Added to your winning bid and remitted to the government, same as buying anything in a store.
Pickup slot: A 15-minute window you choose for when you'll arrive at the pickup location. Only for estate auctions.
Card on file: Your card stored safely with our payment company (Stripe). We don't see the number. It's so winning happens automatically.

Still have questions?

Call us. Seriously, we're small enough that a person answers. We'd rather spend ten minutes on the phone than have you struggle with the website.

I've got stuff to sell Just show me what's listed