About automatic bidding

How automatic bidding works

	When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you're willing to pay for the item. The seller and other bidders don’t know your maximum bid.
	We’ll place bids on your behalf using the automatic bid increment amount, which is based on the current high bid. We'll bid only as much as necessary to make sure that you remain the high bidder, or to meet the reserve price, up to your maximum amount.
	If another bidder places the same maximum bid or higher, we’ll notify you so you can place another bid. Your maximum bid is kept confidential until it is exceeded by another bidder.

Example

The current bid for an item is £10.00. Neil is the high bidder, and has placed a maximum bid of £12.00 on the item. His maximum bid is kept confidential from other members.
Loraine views the item and places a maximum bid of £15.00. Loraine becomes the high bidder.
Neil’s bid is incremented to his maximum of £12.00. Loraine's bid is now £12.50.
We send Neil an email that he has been outbid. If he doesn’t raise his maximum bid, Loraine wins the item.

The small print

In reserve price auctions, if your maximum bid is at least the reserve price, we’ll automatically increase your bid to meet the reserve, and bidding will continue from there.

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