Welcome to PIPA
PIPA is recognized globally as the number one broker of exclusive quality racing pigeons and world’s most prominent pigeon news source. PIPA's mission is to be the most exclusive auction house for racing pigeons worldwide. We want to accomplish this by only selling pigeons of the highest possible quality that can make our customers win.
Our current activities are
- online newspaper (world's largest in the pigeon industry)
- exclusive online and offline brokerage of quality pigeons
- organizing public auctions of quality pigeons
- management agency for top fanciers
- cultivating and maintaining exclusive varieties in PIPA Elite Center
PIPA was founded in 2000 by Nikolaas Gyselbrecht as a hobby-project where information was collected about everything related to the pigeon sport. Later on PIPA became a term in the world wide pigeon sport. PIPA stands for Pigeon Paradise, the original name of the website. Nowadays everyone refers to Pigeon Paradise by the abbreviation “PIPA”, a professional company under the name PIPA Holding.
Yes, PIPA is a trustworthy partner and recognized as such by our many customers around the world.
Our core values are:
- transparency: we are transparent in all that we do. People are always welcome to visit our company and get a free guided tour and talk to our staff to better understand the process of how we work.
- long-term relationships: we look to build long-term relationships and do not care about short-term profit. We get satisfaction from happy customers and from solving problems should any arise.
- caring: we care about people, our buyers, suppliers, our staff, and all the other stakeholders that are connected to us.
- trust: we only work with trustable breeders of pigeons and we only hire trustworthy people.
Within the online auctions on the PIPA platform, you will find the most exclusive racing pigeons in the world. In addition, our online auctions are easily followed via computer or mobile phone. This means you can bid 24 hours a day, from anywhere on the globe.
Registration & approval
In order to place a bid in one of the auctions on the PIPA platform you need to make a profile. After making your profile, it first needs to be approved by one of the PIPA employees; only then, will you be able to place bids. Only one profile can be made per person.
If you only want to be able to follow the auctions without bidding, no profile is required.
You can register here or contact us for help.
Once you’re registered, a PIPA staff member will contact you by phone to approve your account and assign you a limited budget that you will determine together. Once your account is approved you can start placing bids within your budget.
IIn order to ensure that every bid you place is legitimate, you need permission to bid. You only need to ask us permission once to enable this.
We will call you personally to confirm your registration and ask you several questions as a background check to guarantee the honesty of your bids. It may take up to 48 hours before you receive permission to bid. In certain circumstances this may take longer due to holidays. Therefore we advise you to ask for permission well beforehand when wanting to bid on a certain pigeon. At any rate, we always contact new users to approve their bidding accounts before the end of every auction.
Upon approval we will also determine your bidding budget. This budget is the total amount in EUR you can spend per auction weekend. You can always check the height of your budget in your auction profile.
In some cases, for example if you are from a country we do not have much experience with,we may ask you for a deposit before approving your account.
In case you wish to bid on a pigeon immediately, you can contact us for help.
You can request a new password here.
Still having problems with your password? Please contact us.
Bidding
Within the bid amount, the VAT (if applicable) and the administration cost of 80.00 EUR are not included. VAT does not apply if you as a non-EU citizen have a pigeon delivered outside of the EU, with a valid export declaration.
Other taxes and tariffs that might apply in certain circumstances, such as import tax, are not included in the offered bid of the buyer. In addition, all other extra costs, such as potential bank transfer fees, are for the buyer.
When logged into your bidding account you can place a bid by clicking on "Place a bid". You can submit your own bid and/or buying order and then click on "Place your bid".
As soon as you confirm your bid by clicking on "Confirm your bid", your bid will be saved.
You will be notified by email and/or SMS when you have been outbid. If you have not activated these notifications yet, you can change your settings to enable these on the "Auction profile"-page.
Bidding starts at 200 euro.
IMPORTANT
If you are still experiencing problems bidding by yourself, or if you prefer to bid by phone, please contact us.
An online auction lasts in most of the times two weeks.
Through an online auction you can’t handle the pigeon in real life before you’ve actually bought it. Through the use of high resolution photos, PPQC (PIPA Quality Control) and in some cases videos, we give you the most accurate detailed description of the pigeon as possible.
In some cases it’s possible to come over and have a look/hold the pigeon. You can always contact us to ask if it’s possible.
By issuing a buying order you tell our auction system up to which maximum amount you want to bid for a certain pigeon. Should we receive a higher bid than your current bid, but it is lower or equal to your current buying order, our system will automatically bid higher than your competitor’s bid and the highest bid will be in your name once again.
A buying order is always given priority with regards to a popular bid. This means that a buying order of 2,000 EUR will win from a regular bid of the same amount of 2,000 EUR.
When there are equally high buying orders, the buyer who placed his buying order first will win the bid.
Your buying order is never visible to any other visitors/buyers. The buying order on our auction website is visible to you only.
IMPORTANT
- If you are still experiencing issues, or if you prefer to place a buying order by phone, please contact us.
- You can change or remove your buying order by clicking the "Change b.o."-button next to the pigeon.
All young birds (for the season 2021-2022 a pigeon from 2021-2022 is considered a young bird; for 2022-2023 a pigeon from 2022-2023 is considered a young bird, etc.) that are sold on PIPA are subjected to a DNA-test in order to determine their sex with the following exceptions:
Young birds that are not sold by the fancier who bred them
These pigeons are usually sold without a DNA certificate. Obviously, for older pigeons, the sex already has been determined earlier.
When a new bid is made for any given pigeon within the last 5 minutes of an auction closing time, the auctioning closing time of that particular pigeon will be extended by another 5 minutes.
For example:
- The auction was set to end at 17:00. A bid is made for a certain pigeon at 16:57.
- The auctioning of that pigeon is automatically extended to 17:05, the auction for all other pigeons that did not receive a bid in the last 5 minutes will still end at 17:00.
If you would like to change your nickname you can go to the "Auction profile" page.
Please bear in mind that you cannot bid with this bidding name until it has been accepted by the auction admin. In the meantime, you can continue bidding under your current bidding name.
Note that you cannot change your bidding name when you have placed a bid in ongoing auctions.
We can’t accept bidding names that are provocative or that have another person’s name in them. The word ‘PIPA’ is also forbidden in a bidding name.
No, the bid amount is excluding VAT
VAT does not apply if you, as a non-EU citizen have a cock/hen delivered to an address outside of the EU with a valid export declaration
Alerts & communication
If you are outbid you may be notified by text message (SMS) and/or email. If you have not activated these notifications yet, you can change your settings to enable these on your auction profile.
Receiving notifications by SMS or email are free of charge, anywhere in the world.
Note: we can’t guarantee that messages will arrive because of reception or services. Please always check your profile to be sure you aren’t outbid.
Yes, for this you can use our ‘alerts’. When you go to the overview of planned auctions, you will see a bell at each planned auction. When you click on this bell, you will be notified when that auction starts.
You can change your mobile phone number on the "My auction profile"-page. You will have to revalidate your mobile phone number on our website by entering a code which we’ll send to your new mobile phone number.
First, check if you’ve entered the right mobile phone number and/or correct country code. If that was correct, you may request a new validation code on your auction profile. If you still do not receive an SMS on your mobile phone, please contact us so we can personally take a look at the problem.
My auction
Your account details are listed on your auction profile page.
An overview of all your bids is found on the "My bids"-page in your Auction Profile and in the header of every page via "My favourites".
Be aware that these are only the bids you’ve placed in one of the currently ongoing auctions.
When you click on ‘my account’, you will find the button ‘my purchases’. You will see an overview of all your purchases and you can also view and download the photo, DNA certificate (if available) and pedigree of the pigeon you’ve bought.
Yes, having multiple billing addresses is a possibility. For instance, you may want to have multiple billing addresses in case you buy pigeons both for private use and through your company (be aware: VAT may apply).
While bidding, you will be asked on what address the pigeon needs to be billed if you win the bid.
Every billing address will be checked and validated by our auction administrators.
Yes, multiple delivery addresses are possible.
When placing a bid, you can select the delivery address the pigeon needs to be shipped to if you win the bid. Our logistics department will confirm this delivery address prior to shipping your pigeon(s).
Please bear in mind that when your billing address is outside of the EU and the delivery address is inside of the EU, VAT will be added to your bidding amount.
Payment
The invoice ought to be paid in full within 7 calendar days after the invoice date, no matter the time of delivery.
The pigeon is only sent away for delivery or will be available for pick up at PIPA after the full amount has been received. we have chosen payments in euros to avoid losses through valuta transactions.
In the case of a platform auction, you are to pay the purchasing price to the platform seller within seven (7) calendar days after the end of the auction, unless another date is mentioned at the platform auction.
If the purchasing price is not paid in time by the customer, PIPA, or the third party seller, reserves the right to, if there is no case of a prearranged agreement, undo the sale to the disadvantage of the buyer, and resell the pigeon.
The valuta in which the payment is supposed to be done can differentiate from the platform auction.
The purchase price is compromised out of the:
- Amount of your winning bid
- An administration fee of EUR 80 per individual pigeon. (In exceptional cases, this administration cost can be higher than 80 EUR per pigeon. These cases will always be clearly communicated to the Buyer.)
- Value-added tax (VAT). VAT is not applicable if you, as a non-EU citizen, have a cock/hen transported to an address outside of the EU, with a valid export declaration.
The VAT amount is shown on the bidding screen, on the condition that the customer has selected the correct billing address and delivery method.
All amounts are depicted in EUR.
The following is never included in the purchase price:
- Other taxes or tariffs (such as import taxes)
- Other costs, such as bank costs
- Transport costs for the pigeon
When you pay for the purchase on an auction that is organised by a third party on the PIPA website, you pay to the third-party seller and not to PIPA. In this case, there is no case of VAT being added. The purchase price that you pay to the third seller is only compromised out of the amount of your winning bid.
The prices of the auctioned pigeons are given in EUR. The exchange rate of your foreign currency to EUR is subject to change. The actual exchange rate in accordance with the bank’s spot selling exchange rates prevails.
Calculate the current exchange rate to EUR of your preferred currency: http://www.x-rates.com/calculator/?from=EUR&to=USD&amount=1
Those who buy a pigeon at PIPA, receive an invoice thereof. Invoices are sent over e-ail on the first Monday after the conclusion of an auction. The invoice can be paid in the following ways:
- By transferring the sum to our Belgian bank account (Beware: Potential banking costs are for the buyer)
- Payment via credit card, VISA or Mastercard (Beware: the service costs of 3% are for the buyer)
Beware, in case of a platform auction you pay the purchasing price directly to the platform seller. Because of practical reasons, PIPA will usually send you the payment request of the outside platform seller with the required payment details, but PIPA is not the seller, and thus the payment can not be done to PIPA. The invoice you receive will be from the platform seller.
We are only able to order shipping after we or (in the case of a platform auction) the platform seller have received the full amount of the purchase.
No, the bid amount is excluding VAT
VAT does not apply if you, as a non-EU citizen have a cock/hen delivered to an address outside of the EU with a valid export declaration
Transport
Select a destination country from the drop-down list to display the available delivery methods.
Aftersales
PIPA maintains a strict selection procedure and avoids selling pigeons that are too old or that have had too few youngsters in the last few years. However, PIPA cannot guarantee 100% fertility once the pigeons are brought into a new environment. In this case, pigeons that seem to be infertile should be reported to PIPA Headquarters within two months after receipt of the pigeon (two months at the very latest).
If a pigeon is sick on arrival, this must be reported to PIPA Headquarters within 24 hours after receiving the pigeon.
A pigeon in good condition shows:
- Normal white wattles
- Has sufficient muscles at the sternum
- Has a pale pink throat without scraping
- Shows shiny feathers
- Provides a vital impression
If a pigeon is dead on arrival, photos should be taken and reported to PIPA Headquarters (through the sales agent) and the original ring, ownership card and pedigree should be sent back to the sales agent within 24 hours after receipt.
All young birds (for the season 2021-2022 a pigeon from 2021-2022 is considered a young bird; for 2022-2023 a pigeon from 2022-2023 is considered a young bird, etc.) that are sold on PIPA are subjected to a DNA-test in order to determine their sex with the following exceptions:
Young birds that are not sold by the fancier who bred them
These pigeons are usually sold without a DNA certificate. Obviously, for older pigeons, the sex already has been determined earlier.
You can contact our main office in Belgium in case of questions or complaints surrounding your purchase.
In such a situation, you contact the outside party seller, the organiser of the specific platform auction.
Platform auctions
At a so-called Platform Auction, we differentiate between 3 involved parties:
A third party, as an outside partner, which in this case is the platform seller, the bidder and/or buyer is the platform customer. PIPA is the platform owner and supplies the platform
In the case of a platform auction, a third party (the actual seller) uses the PIPA auctioning platform to offer pigeons to interested buyers. In these circumstances, PIPA only fulfils the role of the platform owner, the PIPA auctioning site is the platform that is offered for use to the platform seller, which is an outside, third party (for example the organiser of a One Loft Race), during such an auction
Attention, the finalisation of this kind of platform auction is done outside of PIPA. For example, both the payments as well as the transport are arranged between the third party and the buyer. PIPA, in the case of a platform auction, would not be involved in this. Therefore, at every platform auction, there will be a specific expansion on the `Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), which goes into more detail on the finalisations of that platform auction.
Attention: possible extra costs and long delivery times, read the information below before placing a bid
General:
- The pigeons in this auction are currently in South Africa, and not in Europe as usual.
- Depending on the location, take into account additional transport costs and delivery times to ship your purchased pigeon from South Africa.
- Payment of your purchased pigeon will be done directly to the organization of AFRIKAPRO (within 3 days after the auction has ended)
- Your name and delivery address will be communicated to AFRIKAPRO and the transport company.
- The pedigree you see in the auction, is the pedigree you will receive. Not all pedigrees come with a signature of the original breeder. We will do our best to obtain all ring cards as well, but we cannot guarantee this.
Delivery times:
- Buyers from US/CA/MX and the Middle East should expect a delivery time of at least 4 months after the end of the auction.
- Buyers from Europe should expect a delivery time of at least 6 months after the auction ends.
Additional transport costs:
- South African buyers will have to pay local transport costs themselves.
- The additional transport cost for destinations in the Middle East can be up to 200 euro extra per purchased pigeon on top of the usual transport cost.
- The additional transport costs for destinations within the USA/MX/CA can amount up to 400 euro extra per purchased pigeon on top of the usual transport cost.
- The additional transport costs for destinations within Europe can amount up to 700 euro extra per purchased pigeon on top of the usual transport cost from Belgium.
Additional info transport:
- AFRIKAPRO will help South African customers by providing contact information of transport companies to arrange transport of pigeons within South Africa. Feel free to contact AFRIKAPRO to arrange transport within South Africa: lara@afrikapro.com.
- For US/CA/MX please contact hitham@haaexport.com.
- For all other countries: please contact the transport company for more information on costs and delivery times for your exact situation via khadir@groupatp.be or Whatsapp +32 49040295.
AFRIKAPRO breeding loft:
Buyers in the AFRIKAPRO auction can have pigeons bred at AFRIKAPRO's breeding loft, the cost is 100USD per youngster bred and sent to AFRIKAPRO 2025. More info at hendrik@afrikapro.com.
Payment:
- Payment of your purchased pigeon will go through the organization of AFRIKAPRO. After the auction has ended, you will receive an e-mail from PIPA with the necessary bank transfer information. You will also receive an invoice from salome@afrikapro.com. The purchased pigeon will have to be paid to AFRIKAPRO within 3 days after the auction has ended, otherwise the pigeon will be brought back to auction.
Bank details AFRIKAPRO:
General bank account (USD/EURO/GBP)
Account Number USD : 090876350
Account Number EURO: 090883373
Account Number GBP: 090883381
Account Name : AFRIKAPRO One Loft (PTY) LTD
Address : 29 Teesdale Road, Hyde Park, 2196 Johannesburg, South Africa
Swift Code : SBZAZAJJ
Branch code: 6605
Bank Name : Standard Bank
Bank Address : 5 Simmonds Street, Saiby, Johannesburg 2001
Reference: band number
South African bank account (ZAR)
Account No : 402254457
Account Name : AFRIKAPRO One-Loft PTY LTD
Address : 29 Teesdale Road, Hyde Park, Johannesburg, South Africa 2196
Swift Code : SBZAZAJJ
Branch code: 051001
Bank Name : Standard Bank
Bank Address : 5 Simmonds Street, Saiby, Johannesburg 2001
Reference: band number
Contact information AFRIKAPRO:
salome@afrikapro.com
Tel: +27 82 836 7904
Important information
- Payment of the pigeon will be handled by the organization Dubai International Pigeon Race (bank details can be found at the bottom of this page). First, you will only have to pay the pigeon to Dubai International Pigeon Race (+80 euro administration cost), you will receive an invoice for transportation costs later via the shipment company. The transportation costs are to be wired directly to the shipment company. Please pay in EURO.
- Your name and shipping address will be shared with Dubai International Pigeon Race and the shipment company.
- All pigeons that have not been paid for within 3 days, will be automatically auctioned a second time. Your account will be blocked.
- The pedigree that you see in auction, is the pedigree you will receive. Not all pedigrees come with a signature of the original breeder. We will do our best to acquire all ringband cards, but we cannot guarantee this.
- The pigeons are currently in Dubai.
- The delivery time differs depending on the land/address you would like to ship the pigeon to.
ATTENTION! THE DELIVERY TIMES AND PRICES ARE AN INDICATION AND MAY DIFFER FROM THE ACTUAL COSTS.
Country | Price PER PIGEON | Delivery time |
---|---|---|
Dubai | Local fee | |
Philippines/China | Please contact your local sales agent. | |
Middle-East | 60 EUR + local transport fee | at least + 1 month |
USA-Canada-Mexico | 420 EUR + local transport fee | at least + 5 months |
Europe | 690 EUR (excl. 21% VAT) + local transport fee (countries outside the EU also need to take the shipment cost to the final destination into account) | at least + 7 months |
In case you wish to receive more detailed info on the exact prices of transport as a buyer, please contact khadir@groupatp.be or via Whatsapp +32 490 43 02 95.
Bank details Dubai International Pigeon Race
Rekeningnummer: AE330260001025865090103
Swift code: EBILAEADXXX
Contact details Dubai International Pigeon Race
Important information
- Payment of the pigeon will be handled by the organization Victoria Falls World Challenge Pigeon Race (bank details can be found at the bottom of this page). First, you will only have to pay the pigeon to Victoria Falls World Challenge Pigeon Race (+80 euro administration cost), you will receive an invoice for transportation costs later via the shipment company. The transportation costs are to be wired directly to the shipment company. Please pay in EURO.
- Your name and shipping address will be shared with Victoria Falls World Challenge Pigeon Race and the shipment company.
- All pigeons that have not been paid for within 3 days, will be automatically auctioned a second time. Your account will be blocked.
- The pedigree that you see in auction, is the pedigree you will receive. Not all pedigrees come with a signature of the original breeder. We will do our best to acquire all ringband cards, but we cannot guarantee this.
- The pigeons are currently in the United States.
- The delivery time differs depending on the country/address you would like to ship the pigeon to.
ATTENTION! THE DELIVERY TIMES AND PRICES ARE AN INDICATION AND MAY DIFFER FROM THE ACTUAL COSTS.
Country | Price PER PIGEON | Delivery time |
---|---|---|
Philippines/China | Please contact your local sales agent. | |
USA-Canada-Mexico | 565 USD + local transport fee | at least + 2 months |
Europe | 900 EUR (excl. 21% VAT) + local transport fee (countries outside the EU also need to take the shipment cost to the final destination into account) | at least + 4 months |
In case you wish to receive more detailed info on the exact prices of transport as a buyer, please contact khadir@groupatp.be (shipment to Europe), hitham@haaexport.com (shipment inside North America, Canada and Mexico).
Bank details Victoria Falls World Challenge Pigeon Race
Account number: 9060006198878
Swift code: SBICBWGX
Contact details Victoria Falls World Challenge Pigeon Race