REGISTRATION & RULES. . . Person and/or Fish

1) All participants in the auction, buyers and sellers, must register and receive a bidder number. This number will allow your bill or return money to be calculated at the end of the auction. The computer will be ready for registration at 9:00 AM in the CAT auditorium Saturday morning.

2) The auction cut is 50/50 for TBAS (50%) and the breeder (50%) however if you use 'early registration' of your fish (the auction is now 70/30 in favor of the breeder) it must be e-mailed to jdcfish@tampabay.rr.com by the Thursday (10/22/09) before the Saturday auction 10/24/09 and should contain the your name, address, phone number, the fish's scientific name and its popular name along with how many bags of each fish you will be bringing. CAUTION: We only allow 3 bags of a particular species of fish (max. 7 fish per bag) per person to be auctioned off at this auction (interpretation of this rule is solely the responsibility by the T.B.A.S. president and that decision will be final). I hope you understand the reason for that rule. You will need to register or just look at the choices availiable so please show up in time to properly label and put your fish on the tables or to get your paddle for participating in the auction and be able to look around prior to the starting time of 12:00 AM . . . I am sure you would wish the people to see your fish before the auction so they can make their plans. If you have not 'registered early' you must arrive at the auction with enough time to get you and your fish registered in the computer. Understand there will be a bunch of people with the same intent so help us start on time by registering EARLY (and get a 70/30 split) and/or getting here with time to spare. You may also register early if you know you are coming as a person and just walk in and get your paddle and off you go . . . this would help us as well! THANK YOU, FOLKS!

3) The order of the actual auctioning of the fish will be determined by the Auction Committee of the TBAS. All decisions by this committee are final. If there is a circumstance where a fish you wish to buy or sell has not been put up for auction and you need to leave then a $2.00 fee will be added to the end of the requester's bill. Please understand if this was a 'willy-nilly' process everyone would want their fish first and that can't happen. Again, we hope you understand we have to be concerned about EVERYONE!

4) DOA Fish . . . you must understand that there are NO guarantees at an auction of this nature. This is not a fish store where such promises can be implied. If the fish are alive when you bought them there is no further recourse. We have all been through this many, many times and we all have been caught in this predicament and while it is not pleasant I am sure you understand the problems with returning money to you and then not being able to tell the seller in an auction situation becomes a very difficult problem . . . please be reasonably cautious when looking at the fish for sale. You will be allowed to look at the fish during it's auction process and the auctioneer will be instructed to mention if a fish does not look in good health. After that you are basically on your own and we REALLY don't mean to be flippant on this note.

5) You may 'check out' of the auction only during breaks or at the end of the auction (bidder or bringer of fish) however if you have fish that are yet to be sold then TBAS will send you a check for your fish. This check should not take any longer than 10 days to reach you under normal circumstances and probably it will arrive before that amount of time.

The Tampa Bay Aquarium Society thanks you for your understanding and your very much appreciated support of this endever. The ever increasing cost of "doing business" is getting a little out of hand and we all want T.B.A.S. to be around for quite a while.

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