If you've ever lost an auction in the final second and thought "I would have paid £5 more", this post is for you.
The single biggest bidding mistake
Manually clicking "bid" every time you see a higher number on screen. That's not bidding, that's reflex, and it's how people end up overpaying or losing to whoever's quickest with the trackpad.
The system has a feature designed exactly for this: the max bid. Set the highest number you're willing to pay, and the platform bids on your behalf, one increment at a time, only as high as it has to. You don't pay your max unless someone else also bids your max.
That last bit is the part most people miss. Setting a £100 max doesn't commit you to paying £100, it commits you to paying up to £100, and only if the second-highest bidder also goes that high. In a typical auction the winning price is the runner-up's max plus one increment.
How max bids actually work
Say increments are £1 and three people bid:
- Alice sets max £40
- Bob sets max £55
- Charlie bids manually £30
Who wins, at what price?
Bob wins at £41. The system saw Alice's £40 and pushed Bob's bid to one increment above (£41). Bob's max of £55 is never used because nobody forced him there.
If Charlie had set max £50 instead of bidding manually £30, Bob would have won at £51. If Charlie had set max £60, Charlie would win at £56 (one above Bob's max). The system always uses the minimum required to be on top.
So setting your max generously is almost always correct. You only pay what you have to.
Anti-snipe, and why it's a feature, not a bug
In a traditional eBay-style snipe, a bidder waits until the last second, places their bid, and wins because nobody else has time to react. That's not really an auction, it's a reaction-time contest.
Biddurs (and most modern auction platforms) use anti-snipe: any bid in the last 60 seconds extends the lot's end time by another 60 seconds. Keeps extending until nobody bids in the final minute. The lot ends when the real bidding stops, not when the clock you saw at the start runs out.
Practical consequences:
- Don't trust the displayed end time if you're close to the wire. Check the live countdown.
- Don't camp in the final second thinking you'll steal it, you'll just extend the clock and tip your hand.
- Set a max early and walk away. Or set it close to the end if you're trying not to provoke other bidders. Either works.
When to bid early vs late
Bidding early (long before the close):
- Pro: signals interest, deters lazy bidders
- Con: lets serious bidders know exactly what they need to beat
Bidding late (final minutes):
- Pro: gives competitors less time to respond
- Con: with anti-snipe, doesn't actually let you steal the lot, just extends the clock
The honest answer: it doesn't matter much. Set your max once, let the proxy bidder handle it. If you're going to win, you'll win. If you're not, you weren't going to anyway.
The "round number" trap
Lots of bidders set maxes at round numbers, £50, £100, £200. So if you set £100, you'll lose to someone who set £101. Set odd amounts: £103, £207. It's a 1% cost for a measurable edge.
Same logic for proxy bidding strategies generally: be a tiny bit weirder than the other bidders.
How to spot a lot worth pushing on
Three signals:
- Few bids close to the end. Lots with no bids 30 minutes from close often go cheap because no one's watching.
- Strange title casing or typos. Lots that didn't surface in search end up undervalued. Yes, this is the eBay-cheaper-because-misspelled trick. It works on auctions too.
- Unphotographed condition issues. If the listing notes "small chip on the corner" but the photos hide it, fewer bidders will commit. You can decide whether the chip matters.
What not to do
- Don't retract bids. You can't on a UK auction, it's a binding contract. Ask a question on the lot's Q&A before you bid if you're unsure.
- Don't bid against yourself. If you're the high bidder, your next bid doesn't help. Wait until someone else outbids you.
- Don't bid on lots you can't afford or pay for. Repeat non-payment results in account suspension and we may pursue the debt under UK auction law. Set realistic maxes.
A simple bidding system
If you're new and want a system that works:
- Decide your absolute ceiling before you look at the current bid.
- Set a max bid at that ceiling (use an odd number).
- Close the tab.
- Check back after the auction ends.
Most of the time this beats "watching nervously and clicking", and it's a lot less stressful.