FurBid-SF

FurBid-SF was an auction website for Science Fiction, Fantasy and anthropomorphic items such as artwork, comic books, clothing, and fursuits.
 * Addresses:
 * Website: http://www.furbid.ws/
 * LiveJournal: http://community.livejournal.com/furbid/ (not originally official)
 * Ran from/to: November 8, 1999 - December 5 2015

In January 2016 trying domain results in "This page provided to the domain owner free by Sedo's Domain Parking."

Administrators

 * Furbid: Aatheus (1999 - 2004), Ayukawataur (2004 - 2005)
 * FurBid-SF: Ayukawataur (2005 - present)
 * LiveJournal: Ayukawataur
 * Assistant Administrator:
 * FurBid: Ayukawataur (2004)
 * FurBid-SF: Gushi (November 13, 2007 - present)

Fees
There was a great deal of controversy when Ayukawataur announced that FurBid-SF was including paid features. Though minor, many claimed it was unfair, or that she was nothing more than a money hungry tyrant. Over time these claims have subsided and the fee structure has become an accepted function by the majority of the community.

The purpose of these fees was to provide a symbiotic relationship with those who wished to provide support with FurBid-SF's substantial bill. As a reward for this support a user could have better placement or better visibility. It also provided better accounting records for the IRS than just having donations.

According to the Administaur, the basic functions of FurBid-SF, which include listing, bidding, and buying, shall forever remain free to all users. It is only the additional items which will ever have an associated investment.

For a detailed breakdown of the minor charges which are associated with FurBid-SF, refer to http://www.furbid.ws/cgi-bin/auction/fees.pl

The Administaur of FurBid-SF has constantly fought with PayPal for the right to allow her community to use it for paying their FurBid-SF fees. To date she has been unsuccessful in convincing them that paying for an auction service is not the same as purchasing adult oriented items.

Mascots
Toward the end of 2001, Aatheus held a contest for a Furbid Mascot. There were five major participants and a total of 501 votes. On January 1, 2002 Aatheus tallied all the votes. The winner was Caribou with her creation Sheckles the Bat with a total of 161 votes. Runner up was Kacey Maltzman with her character Breeze the Spotted Skunktaur with 122 votes. Flinthoof created Jake and earned 102 votes, Iron Badger submitted Fiona with 61 votes and Silverwyvern created Tyler bringing in 55 votes.

Shortly after Sheckles fell to the wayside due to many previous commitments of his creator, and in Sheckles' place Kacey created some images that were used on official Furbid merchandise.

On June 17, 2004, Ayukawataur reopened the idea of a mascot for FurBid-SF, or, to be more precise, as FurBid-SF is a community, a group of mascots. Of the many mascot ideas submitted, five were selected by community vote on August 15, 2004. Breeze returned, this time to take the greatest portion of votes (62.04%), followed by Rachele Raccoon (40.74%) created by Vanessa Santato (author of Pleasure Bon Bon Next), Faria, Keesa created by Zyden, and Seru.

Although the mascots were originally intended to maintain a presence on FurBid-SF itself and to provide a measure of community spirit, the only work using them so far has been by Kacey Miyagami.

Breeze currently graces the Discussion Board banner and the FurBid-SF main banner.

Conventions
FurBid-SF has no convention presence. The Administaur prefers FurBid-SF gain new members through word of mouth.

At Anthrocon 2004, Jurann, the administrator of FurBuy, approached Ayukawataur with an offer of $50,000 (initially $1,000) "for the rights and ownership to Furbid" to shut down FurBid-SF. She declined, claiming that it was the right of the community to decide which service they wanted to use.

Bans
The Administaur has constantly rejected pressure by a small portion of the community to ban non-synthetic animal fur from FurBid-SF. Some have also requested a ban on imitation animal fur, arguing that it encourages those who do not know the difference to use real fur.

Only four persons have been permanently banned from using FurBid-SF. Of these four, only Mozdoc has had his ban lifted and then reinstated.