How does the bidding process work?

Each auction consists of two different phases:

• Open Bidding: You place your bid against other buyers. This phase usually lasts for a few days or weeks.
  • • Note: The "Current Bid" does not always exactly equal the highest bid. Instead, it’s an incremental increase from the second highest bid. For instance, if the highest bid for an auction is $500, but the second highest bid is $100, the current bid will be shown as $100 + an incremental increase*. That way the highest bid is never exposed.
      
    • Explained differently: The current bidder has set a maximum bid that they are willing to go up to. Once your bid surpasses their maximum, you will become the top bidder. If you are the second highest bidder and you place a bid that's higher than your current one but lower than the top bidder's, the "Current Bid" value may increase, while you still wouldn't overtake the top bidding position. 
    • Example:
      1. Let’s say the top bid is $500.
      2. Your bid is $225.
      3. The Current Bid will be shown as $225 (assuming that yours is the second highest bid) + an incremental increase. Let's say that the incremental increase is $0 in this case, meaning that the Current Bid is $225. (Please note that the incremental increase value will vary from item to item.)
      4. If you place a bid of $300, the current bid will be updated to $300 + an incremental increase (again, the incremental increase will vary). At this stage, you are still not the top bidder, since the top bidder's max is $500.
      5. This will keep going until you bid above $500. Once you’ve bid above $500 (based on this example), you would become the top bidder.
         
         
• Extended Bidding: Any auction with at least two bidders leads to an extended bidding session; a private bidding period open only to users who placed a bid during the Open Bidding period. The Extended Bidding begins as soon as the Open Bidding period ends, and initially lasts for 15 minutes. Each bid placed during the Extended Bidding extends the duration by 15 minutes for that individual item. For instance: If the Open Bidding ends at 6:00pm, the Extended Bidding initially ends at 6:15pm. However, if a new bid is placed at 6:03pm, the Extended Bidding is extended until 6:18pm for that individual item, and so on. The Extended Bidding ends once no bids have been placed in 15 minutes, at which point the winner of the item is determined.

* The incremental increase is not a set/static number, but is calculated based on the second highest bid. Depending on the current value, the incremental increase is occasionally $0, meaning that the current bid may exactly equal the second highest bid.