Help & FAQ

Glossary

Plain-English definitions of every ITAD, data-destruction, and auction term used on the VIG site.

ITAD & data destruction

ITAD: IT Asset Disposition — the end-to-end process of collecting, sanitizing, refurbishing, remarketing, and recycling retired enterprise IT hardware in a compliant, auditable way.
NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 1: The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology guideline for media sanitization. Defines Clear (logical wipe), Purge (cryptographic erase or block erase), and Destroy (physical shred / degauss) — VIG aligns every job to it.
R2V3: SERI's Responsible Recycling standard, version 3. The leading independently audited certification for electronics recyclers and ITAD providers. VIG's R2V3 number is #274644.
Certificate of Destruction (CoD): The audit-ready document issued at the end of a data destruction job, listing every serial number processed, the sanitization method, the technician, and the date. VIG issues a serialized CoD downloadable from your portal.
Chain of custody: The unbroken, documented record of every transfer of a device — from your loading dock through sealed transit to the VIG floor. Every step is serialized and timestamped.
Wipe / Erase: Logical sanitization that overwrites the storage with patterns or zeros. Sufficient for most modern drives per NIST 800-88 Clear.
Shred: Physical destruction of storage media (down to specified particle size). Required when the buyer specifies, or when the drive can't be verified wiped.
Degauss: Magnetic field destruction of legacy magnetic media (HDD, tape). Renders the drive unreadable AND unusable.
Downstream recycler: The certified facility that processes commodities (steel, aluminum, copper, plastic, gold) after VIG extracts them. R2V3 requires the chain of downstream recyclers to be auditable and disclosed.
Reverse logistics: The collection + transport leg of the ITAD process — pickup, sealed transit, intake.

Auctions & bidding

Proxy bidding (max bidding): You enter the most you'd pay. The system bids on your behalf — raising your standing bid by the minimum increment as competitors come in — up to your ceiling. You only ever pay one increment over the next-highest max.
Increment: The minimum bid step. VIG's tiers: $50 under $500, $100 under $5,000, $250 at $5,000 and above.
Reserve price: The confidential minimum the lot must reach to sell. Lots show whether the reserve has been met live, but the dollar amount is never disclosed.
Soft close (anti-snipe): A bid placed in the last two minutes before close extends the close by two minutes (up to ten extensions per lot). Prevents last-second sniping and gives every bidder a fair chance to respond.
Hammer price: The winning bid before buyer's premium and tax. Your invoice total is hammer + 15% premium.
Buyer's premium: A flat percentage added to the hammer price on auction wins. VIG's default is 15%, configurable per auction; it's shown on every lot card before you bid.
Condition grade (A / B / C / Parts): VIG's cosmetic grade — functional condition is always 100% except on “For Parts.” See the full grading guide.
Manifest: The per-lot line-item list (serial, model, specs, grade) buyers see before bidding. VIG ships manifests with every auction and wholesale lot.
Lot: A bundled set of hardware sold as one unit on the auction or wholesale catalog. Could be 1 device or 500.
Watchlist: The list of lots you're tracking without bidding yet. Visible in your portal.

Settlement & wholesale

Settlement: The post-sale step where wire funds clear and title transfers to the buyer. All VIG settlement is by wire — see payment instructions.
Wire transfer: Bank-to-bank funds transfer. VIG's wire details are never posted on this site or sent by email — they're provided through a verified secure channel once your invoice is issued.
Wholesale reservation: The flat-rate alternative to auction. On /wholesale, verified buyers reserve a lot at the listed price; an invoice is issued immediately, payable by wire. No buyer's premium.
DOA (Dead on Arrival): A device that arrives non-functional. Covered by VIG's 7-day misrepresentation warranty — report via portal Messages within seven days of delivery.
Misrepresentation warranty: VIG's 7-day promise that every lot matches its description and grade. See the full terms in the Auction Bidder Agreement.
Resale certificate: The document tax-exempt resellers provide to VIG before invoicing, certifying the purchase is for resale and exempting it from sales tax in qualifying jurisdictions.

Compliance & business

ISO 9001 / 14001 / 45001: International quality (9001), environmental (14001), and occupational health & safety (45001) management standards. VIG is independently audited under all three.
ESG / CSR: Environmental, Social, Governance / Corporate Social Responsibility — the reporting framework enterprise customers use to track diversion-from-landfill, CO₂ avoided, and ethical disposition.
HIPAA / GLBA / FERPA / SOX: U.S. data-protection regimes for, respectively, healthcare PHI, financial-services GLB, education FERPA, and Sarbanes-Oxley financial controls. NIST 800-88 sanitization satisfies the media-destruction obligations under all of them.

Need something explained that isn't here? Email ks@viginc.ca and we'll add it.