Auction Bid Increments: How Much the Next Bid Goes Up

What is a typical bid increment chart?

Each auction house or platform publishes its own schedule, and each bid increment depends on the current price. Auktia's standard is short, so an item never jumps more than $2.50 a bid; a seller can set its own steps for an auction, and the auction page says which.

Bids are whole dollars or 50 cents. The item page always shows the next acceptable bid, so you never have to work it out yourself.

• Under $100: $1 steps. A $60 bid is followed by $61.
• $100 and up: $2.50 steps, at any price. A $240 bid is followed by $242.50.
• Many other sites grow the step with the price, often $10 under $100, $25 up to $500 and $50 up to $1,000.

Why do auctions use bid increments?

Without increments, two bidders could trade $1 raises on a $2,000 lot for hours, especially with soft close resetting the clock after every late bid. Increments keep the price moving in steps that matter at each level, so a lot closes in a sensible time.

They also scale with value. A $10 step is meaningful on a $40 lamp but trivial on a $4,000 tractor, so the steps grow as the price does.

How do bid increments affect your max bid?

With proxy bidding, the system raises your bid one increment at a time until your max. That means the final price is usually one increment above the second-highest max, not your max.

Example: your max is $500 and a rival's is $410. The price goes to $412.50, one $2.50 step above the rival, and you win at $412.50. If the rival's max had been $499, you would win at $500, because the next step of $501.50 is over your cap and the bid stops at your max.

Picking a max just above a round number helps. Plenty of people stop at $300, so a $310 max beats them without costing you much more.

What if I type a bid that is much too high?

Typos happen, especially on a phone. Auktia asks you to confirm any bid that is five times the next bid or more, or $5,000 or more over it. If the next bid is $70 and you type $700, you get a prompt instead of a $700 commitment.

Bids are binding once placed, so read any confirmation carefully. If a mistaken bid gets through, contact the auction house immediately; whether it can be removed is up to the house and its terms.

What mistakes do bidders make with increments?

Increments are simple, but a few habits cost people lots they would happily have paid for.

• Setting a max of $495 to feel under budget. A rival at $500 wins by $5, and you would have paid it.
• Forgetting that steps jump at $500 and $1,000. At $975, the next bid is $1,025.
• Bidding one increment at a time on a lot you want. Each manual raise gives a rival another chance to respond; one max bid does the work.
• Treating the bid as the total. Increments apply to the hammer, and the premium and tax come on top. See all-in pricing.

Do live auctions use the same bid increments?

Live auctions publish increments too, but the auctioneer runs them in the moment. An auctioneer may open a lot high and drop the asking price until someone bids, or accept a half step late in the bidding to keep a hesitant bidder in, often called cutting the bid. Online bidders in a live sale usually bid at the step the auctioneer is calling.

Timed online auctions apply the schedule automatically and the same way for everyone, so there is no judgment call. What you see as the next bid is exactly what the system will accept, whether you bid at noon or in the closing window.