How the auction works

Each lot uses one of two auction types. The lot shows which one with an Open or Sealed label.

• Open auction: everyone can see the current bid and the bid history. You set a maximum bid and the system bids for you, only as much as needed to keep you ahead. Late bids extend the end time (soft close).
• Sealed auction: bids stay hidden until the lot closes. The highest bid wins, and the winner pays the amount they bid. There is no soft close.

Some open-auction lots have a hidden minimum selling price, called a reserve. The lot shows whether the reserve has been met, but not the amount. If the reserve isn't met when bidding ends, the lot isn't sold.

When a bidder's maximum reaches the reserve, the current bid jumps up to the reserve right away.

In an open auction, every bid you place is a maximum: the most you're willing to pay. The system bids on your behalf, only as much as needed to keep you in the lead, and never more than your maximum. Other bidders can't see your maximum.

The Bid button (for example "Bid $5,100") places the smallest bid allowed right now: the current bid plus the lot's increment, or the starting bid if nobody has bid yet. To let the system bid for you, type a higher maximum instead.

If another bidder's maximum beats yours, you're outbid. Your maximum then shows in the bid history as your last bid, and you can bid again.

A truck has a starting bid of $5,000 and an increment of $100.

If bidding ends now, Carol wins and pays $7,100, not her $8,000 maximum.

Yes. Raising your own maximum while you lead doesn't change the current bid and isn't shown to anyone, so nobody can tell you raised it.

Tie-raise note: there are two exceptions where your raise does move the price. If you were tied at the top with another bidder's maximum (step 5 above), the price rises to one increment above their maximum. And if your new maximum reaches the reserve, the price jumps to the reserve.

Open auctions use a soft close so nobody can win by bidding in the last second. If a bid changes the current bid or the leader during the final few minutes (the lot page shows how many, usually 2), the end time moves to that many minutes after the bid. This repeats until nobody bids for that long.

The lot shows an Extended label when this happens. Raising your own hidden maximum while you lead doesn't extend the lot. Sealed auctions never extend.

• Your bid stays hidden from everyone, including auction admins, until the lot closes. You can always see your own bid.
• The highest bid wins, and the winner pays the amount they bid. If two bids are equal, the one placed first wins.
• Sealed bids can only be raised. You can't lower or withdraw a sealed bid. Raising it gives you a new time priority, as if you had placed it at the moment you raised it.
• The minimum bid is the lot's starting bid.

Some sales limit how many items one person can win, for example one vehicle per employee. The sale page shows the limit and a Closing order list.

Items are awarded one at a time in their scheduled closing order. If late bids extend an earlier lot, later lots still stop taking bids on time but aren't awarded until the earlier lots close. Once you win the maximum number of items for this sale, your bids on items that haven't closed yet are withdrawn automatically and aren't restored.

A lot that has stopped taking bids but is waiting for earlier lots shows "Closing: waiting for earlier lots". Once you reach the limit you can't bid on the sale's other lots.

Other employees never see your name. On each lot, bidders are shown as "Bidder 1", "Bidder 2" and so on, in the order they first bid. You see your own bids as "You". The numbers are different on every lot.

Auction admins can see who is bidding, so they can run the sale and contact winners, but they can't see hidden amounts either:

Nobody, not even an auction admin, can see the current high bidder's maximum or any sealed bid amount through this site until the item has closed. As in any proxy auction, when another bidder's maximum beats yours, your maximum appears in the bid history as your last bid.

If a lot is withdrawn, its hidden amounts stay hidden permanently. Admins who have bid on a lot can't make changes to it.

No. Bids are binding. By bidding you agree to buy the item at the winning price if you win. The site asks you to confirm every bid before it's placed. If you made a genuine mistake, contact the sale's contact person right away.

Each sale can have its own terms (payment, title transfer, pickup deadlines). Before your first bid in a sale, the site shows the terms and asks you to accept them. If the terms change, you'll be asked again.

Items are sold as-is, as described in the sale terms, with no warranty. Read the description, details and any documents on the lot page, and ask the sale contact if you have questions before you bid.

You'll get an email, and the lot appears under My Bids > Won with the pickup and payment details and the sale contact. The status there shows when your payment and pickup are recorded.

If a winner doesn't complete the purchase, the admins may offer the lot to the next-highest bidder. That offer is marked Second chance.

For security, you're signed out after 15 minutes without activity, and a warning appears shortly before. Watching a page doesn't count as activity. If you were typing a bid amount when this happened, it's put back in the box after you sign in again. It is never submitted for you.