Bidding on Equip-Bid is simple. Find an item, decide the most you'd pay and let us handle the rest.
Your max stays private until someone bids past it. You can bid from the auction page, the item page or your dashboard.
A max bid example
Here's how it works when the starting bid is $2 and the bid increment is $1.
You bid $100, and no one else bids. You win at $2.
Another bidder bids $50. We bid for you automatically, and you stay in the lead at $51.
Another bidder bids $110. They take the lead at $101, one increment above your max.
Your max is your limit, not what you'll pay. You pay just enough to stay in the lead.
When another bidder sets a max bid, we bid for them automatically up to that amount. So even a bid you placed seconds ago can be outbid right away.
You'll get an outbid alert by email, text or both. Choose how in Profile, under Notifications. To bid again, click the outbid alert on your dashboard. It takes you straight to those items.
Open the item and enter a new, higher max. Raising it doesn't raise the current price unless someone bids against you.
Here's an example:
- The current bid is $500, and the bid increment is $50.
- Bidder A enters a maximum bid of $710.
- Bidder B enters a maximum bid of $700.
Bidder A remains the highest bidder because their maximum bid is $10 higher than Bidder B's.
Even though the bid increment is $50, the difference between the two maximum bids is only $10.
The key takeaway:
Bid increments control the minimum increase required for a new bid, but maximum bids can create situations where the difference is smaller than the standard increment.
For example, Bidder A sets a $100 max at 2 PM. Bidder B sets a $100 max at 2:05 PM. Bidder A keeps the lead, because their bid came first.
Some listings include many identical items, like a pallet of 571 tiles. Instead of bidding on each tile, you bid a price per tile. That price is multiplied by the quantity to get your total bid.
The item page shows the total high bid. The next required bid is still a per-unit amount.
The $1.50 item fee is charged once per item/lot, not once per unit. Win the pallet of 571 tiles, and you pay one $1.50 item fee.
Sellers also can't have someone else bid for them. Fair bidding keeps every auction honest.
Bids are final
A bid is a contract to buy, so it can't be removed. See Can you cancel a bid?