What is an 'Open' Auction?

Open Bid Auctions

When you participate in open bid auctions, you will immediately see whether you are winning an auction or have been outbid. You can enter bids manually or import your max bids.

View Open Bid Auction Details

You can review lot details by clicking on the individual lot names or by exporting the auction details.  The auction details export also has a second tab that allows you see the lot details by line item, helping to make more accurate bids. 

Open Bid Auction Listing Overview

Details on the Auction Listing screen are outlined in the diagram below.

Current Bid vs Max Bid

Current Bid: Your Current Bid is the minimum bid needed to win the lot, and will be automatically updated until your Max Bid is reached. Other customers can see your Current Bid. 

Max Bid: Your Max bid is the MOST you are willing to pay for the lot. Other customers cannot see your  max bid and must bid higher to win the lot. This function allows you to continue bidding automatically  until reaching your max bid, without having to continually check the auction.

Max Bid Example:

1. Your Current Winning Bid = $400.
2. Your Max Bid = $500.
3. Bidder 2 places a bid of $401 and is immediately outbid by you at $402.
4. Bidder 2 places a bid of $430 and is immediately outbid by you at $431.
5. With a Max Bid of $500, you would continue to automatically outbid
Bidder 2 until the bidder places a bid at $501 or higher. At that point, you
could increase your maximum bid to try to outbid Bidder 2

How to Manually Bid on Open Bid Auctions

Follow the steps in the diagram below to submit manual bids. Please note that winning bids may not be awarded if the Reserve Price is not met. 

How to Enter a Counter Bid

What is a 'Popcorn-Style' Auction?

All Open auctions are considered Popcorn auctions, meaning that if a bid is made within the final 3  minutes of a lot bidding period, that lot end time is extended by another 3 minutes.

• Popcorn-style auctions prevent last-minute “sniping” and provide every
  participant with the best opportunity to win.
• The popcorn auction experience is the same whether you import bids
  or manually enter bids.
• A benefit of the ASP platform is that there is enough bandwidth to
  handle many simultaneous bids and/or bid imports. The system won’t
  time out, meaning all buyers have an opportunity to record their bids.