Auction Outbid Alerts: Know When Someone Outbids You

What outbid alerts does Auktia send?

Being outbid in a timed auction only hurts if the item closes before you notice. Auktia gives you four ways to hear about it, and you can use any mix of them.

• On screen: an alert appears as soon as you're outbid, wherever you are on Auktia.
• Device alerts: Settings → Alerts → Alert me on this device when I'm outbid. On iPhone, add Auktia to the Home Screen first and open it from the icon.
• Text alerts: add a mobile number and you get a text the first time you're outbid on an item, and about 3 minutes before it closes if you're not winning. Reply STOP to end them.
• Reminders: Remind me before it closes, on any item, at 2, 10 or 30 minutes, or an hour, before it ends.

Why do outbid alerts matter in a soft-close auction?

Auktia's timed auctions use extended bidding (soft close). A bid in an item's closing window, which the seller (auction house) sets at 1, 2, 3 or 5 minutes, resets that item's clock to the full window, and keeps doing so until bidding stops. Nobody wins on network speed, so an alert that reaches you near the end still leaves you the window to answer.

Items also close one after another, with a gap the seller sets from all at once to 2 minutes apart, so an auction's closing can run a while. Alerts let you follow the items you care about without staring at every clock. The soft close guide walks through the timing minute by minute.

How do I turn on outbid alerts on my phone?

Device alerts are the ones that reach you when Auktia isn't open in front of you. Setting them up takes a minute.

1. If you use an iPhone, first add Auktia to your Home Screen: tap Share → Add to Home Screen, then open Auktia from the new icon.
2. Sign in with the one-time code sent to your email, or with Google.
3. Open Settings → Alerts.
4. Turn on Alert me on this device when I'm outbid.
5. For texts as well, add your mobile number for text alerts. Reply STOP to any of them when you want them to end.
6. On items you haven't bid on yet, tap Remind me before it closes and choose 2, 10 or 30 minutes, or an hour.

How do text alerts for auctions work?

Text alerts are opt-in: you get them only after you add a mobile number. Auktia texts you the first time you're outbid on an item, not on every bid after that, so a bidding war doesn't flood your phone. If you're still not winning about 3 minutes before the item closes, you get one more text.

The closing text is the useful one on a busy day. You may have shrugged at the first outbid hours earlier; 3 minutes out, you know whether you still want the item, and extended bidding gives you time to act. To stop text alerts, reply STOP.

Do I still need alerts if I set a max bid?

A max bid does most of the work. You enter the most you'd pay, and Auktia bids for you one step at a time up to it. Nobody sees your max, not even the seller, and if two max bids are equal, the earlier one wins. You're outbid only when someone else's max beats yours.

That is exactly when an alert earns its keep: it's the moment to decide whether to raise your limit or let the item go. Check the item page's You pay total before you raise, since the buyer's fee (buyer's premium) and sales tax ride on top of every bid. The max bid guide covers the strategy.