Bidding Overview

Your bid is the maximum you want to pay

When you bid on EUMM Auctions, you aren't really placing a single bid: you are instructing EUMM Auctions to automatically bid on your behalf up to the maximum you are prepared to bid. Your maximum bid is kept secret. No buyers can see your maximum bid while you are winning an auction. Your maximum bid is only revealed if you are outbid and no longer in the lead. Example: You are first to bid on one of our auctions with a GEL 5,- start price. You want to pay no more than GEL 30,-, so place a bid for GEL 30,-. You now lead the auction with a bid of GEL 5,- showing. Your bid will only increase if someone else places a bid. Unless you change your mind, you won't need to bid again.

Bidding Steps

Putting it simply, this is how by how much you have to beat the previous bid by to take the lead. The main bidding steps you are likely to encounter are GEL 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, depending on the estimated sales value of the asset. Example: A second bidder tries to outbid you. They can see your current bid of GEL 5,- but cannot see your GEL 30,- maximum. They bid GEL 20,-. You only need to outbid GEL 20,- by i.e. a bidding step of GEL 1,-. EUMM Auctions bids for you automatically. You are now winning the auction with a bid of GEL 21,-.

The highest bid wins - not the last one.

It doesn't matter when you bid. If your bid is the highest, you will win the auction. Even if your bid was placed first. Apologies if you were hoping to find a super-secret trick or tip! Bidding isn't rocket science: it really is as simple as the highest bid wins.

Sniping

Sniping means bidding in the last few seconds of an auction so that it ends before another bidder gets a chance to outbid you. The idea is that this will get you a lower price. It sounds good in theory, but there are a few catches. For one, you have to be at your computer when the auction ends, and hope that you don't have any internet problems. Example: You are still winning the auction with your GEL 21,- bid. (GEL 30 maximum) A sniper bids Gel 25,- in the last few seconds. You will still win the auction with an automatic bid of GEL 26.-. If instead the sniper bid GEL 40,-, they would win with a bid of GEL 31,- (i.e. one bidding step above your GEL 30,- maximum). At the end of the auction - you either win, paying your maximum or less. Or you lose if someone offers to pay MORE than your maximum. So you can see, sniping ONLY really works if no previous bidders have played their maximum bids. This doesn't mean sniping never works: after all, there are a lot of bidders who don't understand how bidding works. Another benefit of sniping is you are forced to bid your maximum at the last minute: you don't leave yourself time to be tempted to bid a little bit more than your maximum if outbid earlier.

Changing or retracting your bid

As a general rule, you can't retract or cancel a bid. Once you place a bid, you agree to pay for the item if you're the winning bidder. However, honest mistakes sometimes occur. There might be times when you’d like to change your bid and have a valid reason for doing so. If you want to change or retract a bid: • You accidentally entered the wrong bid amount due to a typo. For example, you bid GEL 99.50 instead of GEL 9.95. If this happens, you need to reenter the correct bid amount right away. Changing your mind does not qualify as accidentally entering a wrong bid amount. Enter a lower bid amount and bid. This will change your maximum bid amount to the lower amount. • If you feel you have a valid reason for canceling a bid, contact the auction administrator. If you won an item and you no longer want to buy it, you need to contact the auction administrator. Please note that this could result in having your account blocked from future bidding. A bid on EUMM Auctions is considered a contract, and you're obliged to purchase the item.

Tips and Tricks

Bid odd numbers. Instead of the GEL 30,- I've used in our examples, bid something like GEL 30.27 or GEL 31.33. Most people bid in round numbers. If both highest bidders bid exactly GEL 30,-, the first bidder wins. But if you bid GEL 30.01, you win, no matter when you bid. An early bid can deter competition, especially from bidders who don't understand how automatic bidding works and try to nibble away at your bid with a series of very low bids. Example: You are winning our GEL 5,- start price with your GEL 30,- maximum bid. A nibble bidder sees your GEL 5,-, bids GEL 6.00 and is automatically outbid by you with GEL 7,-: you still lead. They then bid GEL 8,- and are outbid again. Then GEL 10,-. And so on. They eventually give up - perhaps well below the maximum they would have otherwise bid if they knew better. Know your competition: If you get the feeling the other bidders aren't bidding their maximums, then this is the time when sniping is most likely to be beneficial. Nibble bidders might be planning to come back later, but often run out of time at the end!

The fine print

1. Bidding is meant to be fun, but remember that each bid you place enters you into a binding contract. All bids are active until the listing ends. If you win a listing, you’re obligated to purchase the item. 2. Don't bid on identical items in different listings if you only want one item. If you win both, you'll be obligated to buy both. 3. If you’re outbid on an item, wait until the auction has ended before placing a bid on an equivalent item. If the bidder who won the auction doesn’t complete the transaction for any reason, you could become the winning bidder. 4. If you’re blocked from bidding, you cannot bid using another user ID. 5. To protect your privacy, we limit how your bid history information is displayed by using anonymous names. Your complete user ID is shown only to the auction administrators. Bidders are assigned anonymous names, such as x***y, which are used consistently across all listings.