Action Research Essentials (Research Methods for the Social Sciences)

Bidder Agreement for U.S. Members
Goodwill Industries of Orange County, d.b.a. SHOPGOODWILL.COM

THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBES THE TERMS ON WHICH GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF ORANGE COUNTY, d.b.a. SHOPGOODWILL.COM OFFERS YOU ACCESS TO OUR SERVICES. BY REGISTERING, YOU ACCEPT THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS BELOW.

This Agreement describes the terms and conditions applicable to your use of our services at SHOPGOODWILL.COM. By registering, you accept and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement. If you do not agree to accept and be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement, do not register and do not use or access our services. If you have any questions that our Frequently Asked Questions cannot answer, please contact SHOPGOODWILL.COM via e-mail at info@shopgoodwill.com.

SHOPGOODWILL.COM reserves the right to amend this Agreement at any time by posting the amended terms on our site. Amended terms shall automatically be effective 30 days after they are initially posted on our site. This Agreement may not be otherwise amended except in writing signed by both parties.

1. Eligibility for Membership. Our services are available only to individuals who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law. Without limiting the foregoing, our services are not available to minors. If you do not qualify, please do not use our services. SHOPGOODWILL.COM may refuse our services (such as, but not limited to listings, chat, and bidding) to anyone at any time, at our sole discretion.

2. Fees. Joining SHOPGOODWILL.COM is free to all Bidders except as indicated in Section 1. You are responsible for paying all applicable taxes and for all hardware, software, service and other costs you incur to bid, buy, procure a listing from us or access our servers. We may in our sole discretion add, delete or change some or all of our services at any time.

3. SHOPGOODWILL.COM is Only a Venue. Our site acts as the venue for sellers, restricted to registered members of Goodwill Industries International, to conduct auctions and for bidders to bid on sellers’ auctions. We are not involved in the actual transaction between buyers and sellers. As a result, we have no control over the quality, safety or legality of the items advertised, the truth or accuracy of the listings, the ability of sellers to sell items or the ability of buyers to buy items. We cannot and do not control whether or not sellers will complete the sale of items they offer or buyers will complete the purchase of items they have bid on. In addition, note that there are risks of dealing with foreign nationals, underage persons or people acting under false pretense. Because we do not and cannot be involved in user-to-user dealings, in the event that you have a dispute with one or more users, you waive and release Goodwill Industries of Orange County, d.b.a. SHOPGOODWILL.COM, (and our agents and employees) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with any such disputes which might arise, and you further agreed to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Goodwill Industries of Orange County, d.b.a. SHOPGOODWILL.COM, against any loss, cost, liability, or expense of any kind of nature, including without limitation to reasonable attorney’s fees, in the event that Goodwill Industries of Orange County, d.b.a. SHOPGOODWILL.COM is named in any action arising from any such dispute, or otherwise made a party to any such dispute. For legal reasons, we cannot nor do we try to control the information provided by other users which is made available through our system. By its very nature, other people’s information may be offensive, harmful or inaccurate, and in some cases will be mislabeled or deceptively labeled. We expect that you will use caution -- and common sense -- when using our site.

4. Bidding and Buying. New bidders (accounts less than 30 days old) will be restricted to participating on no more than 15 active auctions at one time. As a bidder, if you have the highest bid at the end of the auction, at or above the minimum bid price (or in the case of reserve auctions, at or above the reserve price), and your bid is accepted by the seller, you are OBLIGATED to complete the transaction. Please read the shopgoodwill.com non-paying bidder policy. Bids are not retractable except in exceptional circumstances such as the seller materially changing the description of the item after your bid or clear typographical errors, or when you can not authenticate the identity of the seller. You may not bid in a way that pulls other bidders to their maximum bid, retract the high bid, and then rebid at a small increment above the legitimate high bidder (bid manipulation). If you choose to bid on adult items, you are certifying that you have the legal right to purchase items intended for adults only.

5 .Your Information. Your information includes any information you provide to us or other users during the registration, bidding or listing process, in any public message area or through any email feature (defined herein as "Your Information"). With respect to Your Information:

5.1 SHOPGOODWILL.COM will only use Your Information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

5.2 You are solely responsible for Your Information, and we act as a passive conduit for your online distribution and publication of Your Information. However, we may take any action with respect to such information we deem necessary or appropriate in our sole discretion if we believe that to do otherwise may create liability for us or may cause us to lose (in whole or in part) the services of our ISPs or other suppliers.

5.3 You agree to indemnify and hold us and (as applicable) our affiliates, officers, directors, agents, 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 the documents it incorporates by reference, or your violation of any law, rule or regulation or the rights of a third party.

5.4 Solely to enable us to use the information you supply us with, so that we are not violating any rights you might have in that information, you agree to grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise the copyright, publicity, and database rights you have in Your Information, in any media now known or not currently known, with respect to Your Information.

1. System Integrity. You may not use any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the SHOPGOODWILL.COM site or any auction being conducted on our site. You may not take any action, which imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure. You may not disclose or share your password to any third parties or use your password for any unauthorized purpose.

2. Breach. We may immediately issue a warning, temporarily suspend, indefinitely suspend or terminate your membership, any of your current auctions, and any other information you place on the site if you breach this Agreement or if we are unable to verify or authenticate any information you provide to us. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we do not undertake to verify or authenticate all information provided to us, and we disclaim any obligation to you or to any other person to do so.

3. Privacy. Our current privacy policies, available at http://www.shopgoodwill.com/policies/privacy.asp, are Incorporated herein by reference.

4. No Warranty. WE AND OUR SUPPLIERS , (SUCH AS BUT NOT LIMITED TO, UTILITIES, INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS, CONSULTANTS, ETC.) PROVIDE THE SHOPGOODWILL.COM WEBSITE AND OUR SERVICES "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. OUR SUPPLIERS AND WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, and FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. Some states do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties, so the foregoing disclaimer may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other legal rights, which vary, from state to state.

5. Limit of Liability. Except as provided in the next paragraph below, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS, DAMAGES, CLAIMS, EXPENSES OR INJURY (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENCIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, CLAIMS, EXPENSES OR INJURY, AND REGARDLESS OF WHETHER WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, CLAIMS, EXPENSES OR INJURY) THAT ACCOMPANY OR RESULT FROM YOUR USE OF THIS WEB SITE, OR FROM USE OF THE SERVICES PROVIDED HEREUNDER, OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BUYING, SELLING, TRADING, ADVERTISING, AUCTION, OR OTHER FACILITIES OF SHOPGOODWILL.COM. OR FROM YOUR USE OF ANY OTHER WEB SITE WHICH IS ACCESSIBLE FROM THIS WEB SITE.

OUR LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT DAMAGES TO YOU OR TO ANY THIRD PARTIES UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (a) THE AMOUNT OF FEES YOU PAY TO US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE ACTION GIVING RISE TO OUR LIABILITY, OR (b) $100.

1. General Compliance with Laws. You shall comply with all applicable laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations regarding your use of our service and your bidding on, and purchase of items.

2. No Agency. You and SHOPGOODWILL.COM are independent contractors, and no agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer or franchiser-franchisee relationship is intended or created by this Agreement.

3. Notices. Except as explicitly stated otherwise, any notices shall be given by email to info@shopgoodwill.com (in the case of SHOPGOODWILL.COM) or to the email address you provide to SHOPGOODWILL.COM during the registration process (in your case), or such other address as the party shall specify. 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 notice by certified mail, postage prepaid and return receipt requested, to the address provided to SHOPGOODWILL.COM during the Registration process. In such case, notice shall be deemed given 3 days after the date of mailing. If notice cannot be given by e-mail to SHOPGOODWILL.COM because the address is invalid or the e-mail is otherwise undeliverable, notice MUST be sent by certified mail to: SHOPGOODWILL.COM, C/O Goodwill of Orange County, 410 N. Fairview, Santa Ana, CA 92703.

4. Arbitration. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement shall be settled by binding arbitration (except errors of law) in accordance with the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association and in accordance with the rules set forth in this Agreement. Any such controversy or claim shall be arbitrated on an individual basis, and shall not be consolidated in any arbitration with any claim or Controversy of any other party. The arbitration shall be conducted in Orange County, California, and judgment on the arbitration award may be entered into any court having jurisdiction thereof. Either you or SHOPGOODWILL.COM may seek any interim or preliminary relief from a court of competent jurisdiction in Orange County, California necessary to protect the rights or property of you or SHOPGOODWILL.COM pending the completion of arbitration.

5. General. This Agreement shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the State of California as such laws are applied to agreements entered into and to be performed entirely within California between California residents. We do not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted or secure access to our services, and operation of our site may be interfered with by numerous factors outside of our control. 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 in no way define, limit, construe or describe the scope or extent of such section. Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. This Agreement sets forth the entire understanding and agreement between us with respect to the subject matter hereof.

6. Disclosures. The services hereunder are offered by Goodwill of Orange County, d.b.a. SHOPGOODWILL.COM, C/O Goodwill of Orange County, 410 N. Fairview, Santa Ana, CA 92703. If you are a California resident, you may have this same information emailed to you by sending a letter to the foregoing address with your email address and a request for this information. Parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filtering services) are commercially available that may assist you in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors. If you are interested in learning more about these protections, information is available at http://www.safetysurf.com/ or other analogous sites providing information on such protections.

Goodwill Industries of Orange County, d.b.a. SHOPGOODWILL.COM, does not claim to be providing any legal advice in certain matters noted above. For legal advice, buyers must seek their own counsel.

The Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 400 R Street, Sacramento, CA 95814, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.

Amendments will be automatically effective after initial posting to the site 30 days.

Revised 11/11/2005