Single Bid vs. Autobid

A single bid can be placed as a one-time bid for any amount. An autobid can be placed and set at your maximum amount you are willing to spend. With autobid, our system will place your bid at the minimum amount needed to lead. When you are outbid, our system will bid automatically for you until your maximum is reached.

Who wins?

When two bids are placed for the same amount, the bid placed first based on the timestamp wins. Timestamps are set when the initial bid is placed; for autobids, this is when a maximum was set, not when the system prompted the bid to win.

Why are there bids with the same amount?

We list competing bids of the same amount to indicate what prompted an autobid to be placed. Otherwise, it would be unclear as to why an autobid was increased.

For example, Item 100 has a current amount of $100 and a bid increment of $50. John placed an autobid at 7:00 PM with a maximum amount of $200. John is winning at $150. Jill placed a bid for $200 at 7:30 PM. John's bid is increased to $200 by our system. John wins because he committed to the amount earlier than Jill. The list shows both John and Jill at $200 so we can see what prompted John's bid to increase.