Total time, approx 20 mins.

Now, here's a little thing you need to understand... Those "I'll let you buy the character" auctions... Yeah, those are scams.

You cannot own an idea. Characters (with the exception of registered trademarks) are ideas. You cannot copyright an idea.

You CAN copyright the work that said character is featured in (as is this case with this image which, as you can see by the watermark at the bottom, I have laid claim to which is my right under the Berne convention and other copyright legislation.) So, this work IS mine legally.

Don't fall for those "I want to sell you this character" things... They cannot legally own the character itself so they cannot legally sell it to you (or license, pass off, hand over, etc.) They CAN sell you their work CONTAINING the character... But not the character itself.

So if anyone gets up in your face about a character, remind them of the simple truth that characters are ideas and ideas cannot be owned/copyrighted. So if someone's bullying you about a character, stand up to them.

So, if you've gotten caught up in one of those "character auctions" and you didn't even get any art out of it, you might want to open a ticket to dispute it with whatever payment host you used.

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/5-things-you-cant-copyright