Arkansas tax deeds sale out of state investor

[Tan Su]

hi BP!

I am new to the forum and eager to ask questions about the ongoing Arkansas tax deeds sale! 

I am been working on tax sales for a while but new to the state of Arkansas, there are a few questions that really confuses me,

1) It seems like that you have to pay to use their partnered third-party GIS/Recorder data platform https://www.datascoutpro.com/ and there is no county level free GIS data open to the public, is that true or I am just not finding the right place?

2) The COSL provides a mail-in bids form for non-local investors but it says 'Bids received by the Commissioner prior to the sale date will be announced immediately preceding the oral auction of the parcel.', I feel this is super unfriendly to the non-local investors since anybody at the oral onsite auction who gets interested in the same property could easily outbid me by just increasing their bids to a slightly higher price, has anyone gone through the mail in bids process and is that the case?

3) Is it better to send in a representative other than using the mail in bid form? Has anyone attended the COSL auction can you share your experience? 

Thanks you very much!