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.
      
      
• 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 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, and so on. The Extended Bidding ends once no bids have been placed in 15 minutes, at which point the winner is determined.

* The incremental increase is not a set/static number, but is calculated based on the second highest bid.