Case Study No. 24 Robusto

Auto Bid

CigarAuctioneer.com is equipped with an "Auto-Bid" feature that will automatically update your bids and help increase your chances of winning an item. The "Auto-Bid" feature will submit a higher bid automatically, up to a maximum amount determined by you, each time you are outbid by another user.


You need not do anything to use this feature. Simply enter the maximum amount you are willing to pay for the lot. As each new bid is submitted, the system will verify that you still have a winning bid. If you do not, it will raise your bid to one bid increment above the current high bid, up to the maximum amount you submitted, to maintain your winning status.


Why is there a "gap" between my auto-bid and the previous high bid?
CigarAuctioneer participants who use the Auto-bid option may, at times, find that their actual bid is posted higher than the current high bid PLUS the bid increment, for a particular auction. The reason for this is as follows and important in understanding how auto-bids work:

When you place an auto-bid, you authorize CigarAuctioneer.com to place bids for you up to the auto-bid amount you entered. To see how an Auto-bid can "jump" over the bid increment, please read the following example:

Let's say a given auction has a starting bid of $40 and a bid increment of $3.00. BIDDER #1 has already placed an auto-bid for $61.00, so the system appropriately places an actual STARTING bid of $40.00. The following day, BIDDER #2 places an auto-bid of $65.00. Since an auto-bid of $61.00 already existed, BIDDER #2's ACTUAL bid will be entered as $64.00 NOT $43.00 as would be expected.

Why does this happen? In this example BIDDER #1 agreed to pay up to $61.00 for this item. Since he was the FIRST to place an auto-bid, he was guaranteed to be the high bidder until the actual bid reached the amount of his auto-bid ( $61.00). Therefore, the lowest bid BIDDER #2 could place, would be one bid increment above $61.00 - in this case $64.00, which would make BIDDER #2 the highest bidder.


Changing Your Bid
You may increase your bid price or quantity, at any time.


Reserve Price Auction
Some auctions have a reserve price, a hidden minimum price.

Here's how it works:

1. A reserve price is the minimum price we are willing to accept for the item.
2. You are not shown the reserve price, only whether or not the reserve has been met.
3. We are NOT obligated to sell the item, if the reserve price is not met.
4. The winning bidder must meet or exceed the reserve price and have the highest bid.

When you're bidding in a Reserve Price Auction, bid as usual, entering the amount you're willing to pay for the item. Watch the label next to the current price to see whether the reserve price has been met. Until you see that the reserve price has been met, there have been no successful bids in the auction. Once the reserve has been met, the item will sell to the highest bidder when the auction closes.