Just a quick note to let folks know - we've found the error involving new auctions missing images from time to time and have corrected it. If you should notice any other bugs or glitches, don't hesitate to Let Us Know! Thanks. =)

Wow, so many updates to give this time around!

First off auctions: we've broken 250 live auctions today, setting a new FurBuy record! And speaking of records, a new record high for closing bid on FurBuy was also reached last week on Orange04's digital commission auction, congrats on a $4025 closing bid!

We have completely revamped the Comments pages for auctions, including making use of the new Avatar features. To set your Avatar, login to My Account - Images and upload an image to use for your Avatar, then go to the Prefs tab and select/set it. Avatars will also appear on the forthcoming Forums, in a new special Seller Spotlight page, and in upcoming changes to the User Details pages. Set your Avatar now, don't be left out!

We now have initial FAP integration, so if you have an account with Furry Art Pile, you can set your username in the My Account - Prefs page and a FAP icon will appear after your username.

We've implemented the beginning of a new Themes system for FurBuy, allowing you to choose a pre-built color and image scheme for FurBuy. You can try it out in the My Account - Prefs page, we're still working out some little design issues for the Dark Theme, our first non-default theme. If you have any ideas for new themes, we'd love your input!

Some users may have also noticed new Feedback Reminders in their e-mail boxes. Every 30 and 60 days FurBuy will send a reminder e-mail for any feedback that has not yet been left. Upcoming changes put great importance on User Ratings, so these reminders will hopefully help increase the amount of feedback left.

Man it takes a lot of... Cajones... To remove the bidding and selling capability of over 1500 user accounts, and then send over 2000 e-mails to all of their addresses in the span of 30 minutes... And it's very nerve-wracking sitting here watching the mailer script slowly drift through all of those addresses making sure each and every user of FurBuy gets the ever-important notice to verify their address in order to re-activate their account.

E-mail Verification is now required in order to place bids or post auctions on FurBuy. Every account that had access previously, minus those which had already validated their e-mails and those with positive ratings, has been disabled until they verify one or both e-mail accounts. This has been planned and in the works for 4 years now, but until very recently we've had no need for this type of system. All new accounts for the last 24 hours have had to go through this system already, and we've verified that it's working.

This marks the first active layer of user protection, and we have many more methods in mind in the event that we need to bring them online. But this one is by far one of the biggest leaps we've made, esp concerning revoking the main functions of the site to 80% of our userbase.

So everyone check your e-mail or login and verify those e-mail addresses! You can't post auctions or bid on auctions until you do. =)

If you did not receive an e-mail verification e-mail from us, then we either have the wrong address for you in our system OR you had a positive rating at the time we enabled the system, so we consider you safe. If you have a positive rating, we'd still like you to verify your address, so see the section below in How To Verify Your Address. If you did not have a positive rating and did not receive mail, there may have been a glitch delivering the mail or we have the wrong account on record. If you can still login to your account, please do so and change the e-mail addresses in your account information, then verify them using the procedure below. If you did not receive the verification e-mail and do NOT know your password, please Contact Us and we'll work with you to restore your access or update your information.

Simply login to your My Account - Prefs tab and click the "Verify Address" link next to each e-mail address you'd like to verify. You should see a confirmation page and receive an e-mail to that address very promptly. Simply follow the directions in that e-mail and you're all set!

We've been working like crazy on FurBuy lately, making some behind-the-scenes improvements and a few visible changes. Some of the new changes you might notice are:

* Automatic Image Resizing: A lot of people noticed that, when they tried to upload an image, the site USED to tell you it was too big, and would force you to either resize the image, or give up and host it elsewhere. Not anymore! If your image is too big (either filesize or pixel size), our Image Uploader will now ask if you would like it to resize your image for you!

* Account Avatars: Under the Prefs tab in the My Account page, you can now set a custom avatar for yourself. We're planning on adding a page that lists auctions by seller, and we're still working on getting the forums up and running, both of which will use the avatar you set. Oh, and we'd also like some feedback on the seller's page we're setting up: http://www.furbuy.com/spotlight.html Keep in mind, it's still under construction, but we want your input before we roll it out! (Oh, and we had to update the Terms of Use to accommodate for the change: no adult avatars!)

* RSS/Atom Feeds: Here's where we need some expert advice. Neither Jurann nor I use RSS feeds on a regular basis, but we'd like to have them available to those of you who do, for your convenience! We have them set up right now on our General Listings, Adult Listings, and List All Auctions pages, but there's no way we can test it across all the available RSS feed readers out there. So if you use RSS/Atom feeds, let us know if you find any bugs or possible improvements for the feeds, and what kind of reader you use!

We've got even more plans for site improvements, so keep an eye out. And as always, let us know if there's something you'd like to see changed, added, or updated!

After watching auctions come and go on this site for a long time, we've decided to add a page dedicated to helping sellers make their auctions more appealing and successful. If you've been having trouble with your auctions, or just want some ideas on how to get better results, visit our Successful Selling Tips page. And if you have any additional tips you'd like to share on how to make any auction more successful, LET US KNOW!

Also, we're pleased to announce that FurBuy has teamed up with FurPlanet to give them free auction listings. Please feel free to browse through their site and support our partners!

We've opened up a separate page for Contests & Voting under the "Special Features" section of our site (under the Auction Listings on the front page). This page is dedicated to information on any contests we may have, so we're not cramming this page with long news posts. Please visit this page to find out more about voting on the Mascot Contest and the results of the T-Shirt Contest! As a side note, the original announcement said the voting ends in November. This was a typo, it should have read as ending September 25th.

We have just updated the New Auction Form with a better, more compact single-page version for easier auction posting! The new form uses Javascript, so if you have Javascript disabled, we recommend using the old New Auction Form (which can be accessed via a link from the "Sell" page) as the new form may not work without it.

With the new form, you will need to upload images before posting the auction. This is to minimize the occurrence of broken image links from linking to outside sites. However, you can still load images to your My Images from outside URLs. Please, try the new form and let us know if you have any questions or suggestions!

We are also in the process of implementing context help all over the site, so expect to see little blue question marks cropping up. These link to valuable FAQs that will make use of the site easier. There has also been a minor clarification to the Terms of Use, so please familiarize yourself with the new version. As always, the newest changes are highlighted in red to make it easier.

Our Terms of Use have been updated with the requirement that all auctions listed on the FurBuy system are centered around anthropomorphic ("furry") or animal characters. Please take the time to read the new terms and familiarize yourself with the new additions. This should not impact the majority of auctions on our system, but it will serve to help maintain the theme of the site and keep off-topic items from cluttering up the system. Thanks again to everyone who has been posting auctions! We are doing our best to make sure this site is exactly what you need. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please Contact Us.