FAQ: How Does Auto-Bid Work?

Question: How does Auto-Bidding Work?

Answer: Auto-Bid, sometimes called Max Bid or Proxy Bidding, is a MobilBid function that allows a patron to set a dollar amount for a specific silent auction item, the maximum they are prepared to pay for that item, and the system will incrementally bid on their behalf up to, but never beyond that maximum.

For example, if an item currently has a high bid of $100 with a $50 minimum increment, and you are prepared to pay up to $500 for that item but don't want to have to keep watching your phone, you would set the auto-bid amount to $500. You would become the highest bidder at $150. If another person bids $200, the system would instantly bid $250 on your behalf and notify you.

If no one else bids against you, you'll win the item, with your high bid of $250.

If others bid against you, they will be outbid instantly on your behalf by the system - but only to a maximum of $500. If someone bids more than $500, your auto-bid expires and someone else is the highest bidder. You can walk away, choose to raise the bid manually, or set a higher auto-bid amount.

Some scenarios where it gets interesting (and confusing):

Appearance of Bids less than the Minimum Increment: Sometimes it appears that auto-bids are made for less that the minimum increment - that is because the system will only bid up to, but never beyond the maximum set by the patron, even if it is less than the minimum increment. One can set the auto-bid max for any amount, not just in multiples of the minimum increment. We've had feedback ("You should only allow auto-bids to the set in multiples of the minimum increment!") - but another scenario is that a person manually bids more than the minimum increment, but not a multiple of the minimum increment (e.g. current bid is $100, minimum increment is $10: a patron bids $145, but there is an auto-bid already set at $150 - the system outbids the $145 up to $150 - the auto bid was indeed set at a multiple of the minimum increment at the time it was placed, but can only bid to the pre-set maximum of $150, the appearance of a $5 increment. The patron who bid $145 feels "robbed" by the $5 increment, but if the system didn't bid up to $150, the patron who had set their $150 max would feel it was unfair - they were prepared to pay to that amount...)
Tie-Breaking: When there is an auto-bid set for an amount, such as $500, and someone else manually bids the same amount of $500 - who is the high bidder? In this case the auto-bid was set first, so the system will break the "tie" by declaring the person who set the auto-bid as the highest bidder. On screen it looks like two people bid the same amount at the same time, but it was the system instantly re-bidding on behalf of the holder of the auto-bid. Another way of looking at it - if this was a "sealed-bid" auction where bidders submitted their bids in envelopes and no one knew the value of the other bids, and the administrator date/time stamped each envelope when submitted - if there was a tie, the earlier submission would be the winner.
Two Bidders Place Auto-Bids: When two patrons set auto-bids for the same item - Since the patron of the "lower" auto-bid has declared their willingness to pay up to a specified amount, the system will jump right to that amount, then bid once more to make the holder of the higher auto-bid the highest bidder. It appears that a whole bunch of intermediate bids are skipped, but the auto-bid is doing the right thing and jumping ahead.
A variation/combination on #1 & #2 is when two patrons set the same maximum for their auto-bids. The patron who set their max first will win the tie-breaker. It looks like the system made two auto-bids of the same amount at the same time (which it did, that is how it breaks the tie.)

Essentially, THE FIRST PERSON TO SET AN AUTO-BID AND DECLARE THEIR WILLINGNESS TO PAY UP TO A CERTAIN AMOUNT HAS AN ADVANTAGE OVER OTHERS. The system can't predict what others will do, it can only react to bids made and respect the limits set.