Auction Rules

1. What is sold and the display period

These rules set out how L2DB (the service) sells the TOP 1, TOP 2, and TOP 3 advertising places in the server rankings by auction. The rules supplement the Terms of Use and form part of them.

• A lot is one place (TOP 1, TOP 2, or TOP 3) for one display period.
• A display period lasts 7 days: from Monday 00:00 UTC (03:00 Moscow time) to the following Monday 00:00 UTC.
• The winner receives the place in the server rankings for the whole display period for the server the bid was placed for.
• TOP 4–10 places and other paid placements are sold at a fixed price in the Advertising section and are not governed by these rules.

2. Bidding schedule

Bids for the next period are accepted while the current one is displayed, so the place never stands empty. Times in these rules are Moscow time (MSK, UTC+3, no daylight saving); the lot card also shows them in the visitor's time zone.

• Bidding for a period opens on Monday at 03:00 MSK, one week before that period starts.
• Bidding is scheduled to close on Thursday at 20:00 MSK of the same week.
• Lots are created in advance, two periods ahead; the schedule and the times of each lot are shown in the Advertising section. If the time on a lot card differs from the general schedule, the time on the card applies.
• Soft close: a bid that changes the price or the leader during the last 10 minutes before closing extends bidding until «bid time + 10 minutes». All extensions together do not exceed 24 hours beyond the scheduled close.
• The bid time is determined by the service's server clock. A bid received after closing is not accepted.
• If the service was unavailable in the last minutes before closing, bidding is extended by 10 minutes after it recovers, and participants are notified.

3. Bids and auto-bidding

Prices and bids are in whole US dollars. A participant enters the maximum amount they are willing to pay, and the service raises their bid automatically within that maximum (auto-bidding).

• The starting price is set separately for each place and shown on the lot card. The first bid must be at least the starting price; while there is only one participant, the current price equals the starting price.
• The bid step depends on the price: below $100 — $5; $100 to $499 — $10; $500 to $999 — $25; from $1000 — $50.
• The current price equals the second-highest maximum plus one step, but no more than the leader's maximum.
• The next bid must be at least the current price plus one step; the minimum amount is shown in the bid window.
• With equal maximums, the participant whose maximum was set earlier leads.
• The leader may only raise their maximum, strictly above the previous one. A maximum cannot be lowered.
• Other participants' maximums are hidden from participants and from the service staff until the lot closes. A participant can always see their own maximum.
• The bid history is public: participants appear under pseudonyms that stay the same within a lot («Participant 1», «Participant 2»).
• If a maximum is more than five times the current price, the service asks to confirm the bid once more.
• Limits: a maximum may not exceed the available balance or 100 times the lot's starting price; no more than 10 bids per minute per participant in one lot; in one lot a participant bids for only one of their servers.

4. A bid is binding

Every bid is a commitment to pay for the place at the final price if the participant becomes the winner.

• A bid cannot be withdrawn, cancelled, or lowered. A bid placed by obvious mistake (for example, an extra zero) can be cancelled only by the service staff upon a support request; the cancellation is logged.
• While a server has an active bid or a won period that has not started yet, the owner cannot delete the server. During that time the server's opening date can be changed, or the server transferred to another owner, only through the service staff.
• Server eligibility is checked at the moment of the bid. The won place stays with the server for the whole paid period even if the server card changes later.

5. Money

Bids are secured by the L2DB internal balance. The available balance is the balance minus held amounts.

• A bid requires an available balance of at least the stated maximum. The balance can be topped up in the profile; some payment methods take up to an hour to be credited.
• The leader's maximum is held on the balance. When the leader is outbid, the hold is released at once; when the leader raises the maximum, the hold grows. Holds in several lots add up.
• A held amount cannot be spent on other services while it is held.
• When a lot closes, the final price is charged to the winner, the hold is released, and the difference between the maximum and the final price becomes available again.
• Fallback sale: if a lot received no bids, after closing the period can be bought at the starting price. It goes to whoever pays first before the period starts; once the period has started, the lot is not sold.
• Refunds: if a lot is cancelled before closing, the hold is released and nothing is charged; if the service staff cancel the result of a lot, the final price is refunded in full to the internal balance. The refund goes to whoever paid for the place, even if the server is later transferred to another owner.
• Once the display period has started, no refund is provided. For a confirmed failure of the service, it compensates by extending the placement or crediting the balance; mandatory statutory rights of the user remain unaffected.
• If the winner's server already has a paid TOP 4–10 place for the same period, that purchase stays in effect and is not refunded separately; the rankings show the server in the higher place.
• The final charge and refunds are shown in My Payments; holds and their release are shown in My Bids.

6. Fair play and annulment

The service may annul a participant's bids or the result of a lot if these rules are violated. The decision is made by the service staff, who state the reason.

• Grounds: bids from a second or related account to drive the price up (shill bidding); collusion between participants; an obvious error in a bid or a failure of the service; participation by a person or server not allowed to participate (section 8).
• If the leader's bid is annulled before closing, the leader and the price are recalculated from the remaining bids.
• If a result is annulled after closing, the amount paid is refunded in full to the payer's internal balance. The place does not pass to the next participant automatically.
• Every bid, extension, hold, and staff action is logged with its time and reason. To verify fair play, the service stores the IP address and time of every bid.
• Only verified accounts with money on the balance can bid, and the bid rate is limited.

7. Claims

Claims about the result of a lot are accepted within 24 hours after it closes via Support Requests in the profile. Specify the lot and the substance of the claim. After this period the result of the lot is final; mandatory statutory rights of the user remain unaffected.

• Results of all lots are published in the Advertising section.

8. Who may participate

A signed-in user with a verified email address who has at least one own server published in the directory may participate. A bid is placed on behalf of a specific server of the participant.

• Service staff (administrators and moderators) do not participate.
• Servers affiliated with the service do not participate. The service maintains their list; such servers may only buy a period that received no bids, through the fallback sale.

9. Offer, consent, and rules version

Each lot is a public offer by the service to place a server in the stated place for the stated period; the placement price is determined by the bids. A bid means the participant agrees to conclude the contract at the final price if they become the winner when the lot closes. Under Russian law, the auction is a way of determining the price under the offer and is not a tender (torgi) within the meaning of Articles 447–449 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

The rules are published on this page with a version number and effective date. The rules version is fixed in a lot when the lot is created. With their first bid in each lot, the participant confirms consent to the rules of that version, and the version number is stored with the bid.

• A new edition applies to lots created after it is published; lots created earlier follow their own version.
• In all other respects the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy apply.