Mechanics
How bidding works
Six rules run this floor. None of them are unusual, all of them are published, and every one of them is enforced by the software rather than by somebody's judgement on the day. If you have bid at an auction before, skim it. If you have not, this page is the whole game.
1. Increments step with price
A bid has to clear the current price by at least one increment, and the increment is set by the band the price is in. This is not arbitrary: without it, a $60,000 excavator would be bid up twenty-five dollars at a time by four people and the sale would never close.
The table on the right is the whole rule. It is the same table on every lot page, and the band a lot is currently trading in is highlighted there.
Worked example. A lot standing at $14,500 sits in the $10,000–$24,999 band, so the increment is $500 and the next accepted bid is $15,000. Enter $14,600 and it is refused — not rounded up, refused, with the minimum shown.
| Price band | Increment |
|---|---|
| $0 – $99 | +$5 |
| $100 – $499 | +$10 |
| $500 – $999 | +$25 |
| $1,000 – $2,499 | +$50 |
| $2,500 – $4,999 | +$100 |
| $5,000 – $9,999 | +$250 |
| $10,000 – $24,999 | +$500 |
| $25,000 – $49,999 | +$1,000 |
| $50,000 and above | +$2,500 |
2. Bid your maximum once, not forty times
Every bid on this floor is a proxy bid. You enter the most you are prepared to pay; the system bids the minimum it needs on your behalf and holds the rest back. You are not expected to sit at a screen refreshing for six hours, and doing so gains you nothing.
The part that surprises people: if somebody already holds a maximum above yours, your bid is answered instantly. You place $12,000, the price jumps to $12,250, and you are outbid before you have finished reading the confirmation. Nothing has gone wrong — you have simply discovered that their number is bigger than yours. Every lot page on this site will tell you that in words when it happens, because "outbid" with no explanation is how people conclude an auction is rigged.
On this site, the colour tells you first: green means you hold the high bid, amber means you have been passed. Those two hues mean nothing else anywhere on the site, and the customizer cannot repaint them.
Rule 3
Soft close — sniping does not work here
A hard close rewards whoever has the fastest connection at 8:59:59. A soft close rewards whoever is willing to pay the most, which is the only thing an auction is supposed to measure. Bid inside the final two minutes and the hammer moves out to two minutes from your bid. Try it.
Time to hammer
2:00
Extensions: 0 · Price: $4,500
Bid with under two minutes left and the hammer moves out to two minutes from your bid. Keep bidding and it keeps moving. That is why sniping does not work on this floor.
There is no cap on extensions. A contested lot in our storage category ran ten minutes past its scheduled hammer through five extensions with two bidders trading $25 increments. That is the system working, not failing.
4. Reserve, no reserve, and what "passed" means
A reserve is a confidential minimum set by the seller. Bidding below it is real bidding — the price moves, the count goes up — but if the lot closes under the reserve it passes: nobody buys it, and it usually comes back the following week, often with the reserve lowered.
A no-reserve lot has no minimum. It sells to the high bid, whatever that is, including a bid of five dollars. We mark these clearly because they behave differently and they attract different bidders.
Every lot page states which it is, and whether the reserve has been met, before you place a bid. We will not tell you what the reserve number is — that is the seller's — but you will never be left guessing whether you are above it.
5. The number on the board is not the number you pay
Three things sit between the hammer price and your card: the buyer's premium, sales tax on the total of those two, and a per-lot documentation and loadout fee. None of them are hidden and all of them are on the lot page — but a first-time buyer who budgets the hammer price and nothing else gets a shock, every time.
Illinois sales tax is charged at 10.25% unless a valid resale certificate (Form CRT-61) reaches us before the invoice is issued. It is charged on hammer plus premium, not on hammer alone.
Every lot page carries a calculator that does this arithmetic with that lot's actual premium.
| Hammer price | $14,500 |
|---|---|
| Buyer's premium at 10% | +$1,450 |
| Subtotal | $15,950 |
| Illinois sales tax at 10.25% | +$1,635 |
| Documentation & loadout | +$79 |
| You pay | $17,664 |
That is 22% on top of the number you were watching on the board.
6. As-is, where-is — and what that actually obliges you to do
There are no returns, no warranties and no adjustments after the hammer. In exchange, we tell you the truth about a lot in the description, photograph the damage from the angle that shows it, and run an inspection window before every close so you can look for yourself.
What it obliges you to do is turn up, or accept that the photographs are your inspection. It also obliges you to read the removal deadline before you bid, because a lot you cannot collect inside the window becomes a storage bill and then, after 21 days, an abandonment.
Registration
A card on file and a verified phone number. There is no fee to register and no fee to bid. Approval is same-day for most bidders; corporate accounts wanting a resale certificate on file take a little longer because we have to check it.
Payment
The invoice is issued at the hammer and is due within 48 hours. Card up to $5,000; ACH or wire above that. Nothing leaves a yard until the invoice clears.
Questions
The six we get most
What is a buyer’s premium and why is it charged?
A percentage added to the hammer price and paid by the buyer. It is how the house is paid on top of the seller’s commission. On this floor it is 10% on vehicles and heavy equipment, 13% on restaurant and estate lots, and 15% on electronics and storage units. It is stated on every lot page before you bid, and it is charged before sales tax.
What happens if I bid in the last thirty seconds?
The close extends. Any bid inside the final two minutes pushes the hammer out to two minutes from that bid, and it keeps doing so for as long as people keep bidding. A last-second bid does not win a lot here; it just buys everybody else two more minutes.
What does "reserve not met" mean?
The seller set a confidential minimum and the bidding has not reached it. If the lot closes below reserve it passes — nobody buys it — and it is usually relisted, often with the reserve lowered. Lots marked no-reserve have no minimum at all and sell to the high bid whatever that is.
How does a maximum bid work?
You enter the most you are willing to pay. The floor bids the minimum it needs on your behalf, one increment above the next-highest maximum, and stops there. You only ever pay your full maximum if somebody pushes you to it. If a standing maximum above yours already exists, your bid is answered instantly and you are outbid the moment you place it.
Can I return a lot?
No. Every lot sells as-is, where-is with no warranty of any kind. The inspection window before each close is the opportunity to check, and the photographs on the lot page are the record. This is the trade-off that makes liquidation prices what they are.
What happens if I do not collect in time?
Storage accrues at $18 per lot per day, or $45 per day for anything needing a bay or a yard space. After 21 days the lot is deemed abandoned and resold, and the original buyer remains liable for any shortfall against the original invoice.