Highlights of this feaure:

• Allows the admin to set minimum amount to raise the bid of an auction above the current bid before the bid will be accepted
• Allows the admin to set the increments to set the amount to raise against the current bid of a standard or dutch auction. Force the bidder to raise larger amounts to raise the bid at higher current bids
• Alleviates situations where auction bid sniping allows an auction bidder to raise the current bid a small amount to win an auction…frustrating bidders

This feature is managed solely within the following admin tool tool for all auction types that allow bidding:

LISTING SETUP > BID INCREMENTS

You have the ability to edit the increments that a bid must be increased before the next bid is accepted. In other words, depending on the current winning (high) bid of the item, you may want to increase the bid increments a different rates. For instance, let's say you have an item whose current successful bid is $5. You might set your bid increment for a $5 item to something low like $1 or $2, so the next bid must be at least $6 or $7. However, as the item gets more and more bids and the current bid price is up to $100, you might want to change the bid increment to $5 or $10, so that the next bid must be at least $105 or $110 in order to be successful.

Create your bid increment windows with the value of the item in mind. Depending on your market, you could potentially have some listings with $10 items and others with $25,000 items, such as a car. You don’t want your bid increment for a $10 item to be $200, and you don’t want your bid increment for a $25,000 car to be $2.00. That is why we have set up this form…so that you can designate the bid increment based upon the value (current bid) of the item.

When you enter this admin tool you'll see the following:

Within that screenshot you'll see:

1. column for the lowest value in a bracket
2. column for the highest value in a bracket
3. column for the amount of the bid increment
4. checkbox to potentially remove brackets if needed
5. button to remove the checked brackets if needed
6. The lowest value within a bracket you wish to create
7. The bid increment value for the bracker you create
8. Once 6 and 7 are filled click this button to commit to the bracket setup

At the top of this page is the current bid increments within the system. The "Start of Bracket" column on the left contains the starting value for a specific bracket. The "End of Bracket" value contains the ending value for that specific bracket. The last column on the right contains the increment value added to the current bid to make the next minimum bid value when the current bid value falls between the "start" and "end" bracket values for that increment.

To create a bracket set of your own you only need to insert the starting/lowest value for the bracket and the amount of the bid increment then click to insert. The system will automatically insert your bracket into the bracket system you have so far. The bracket system in your site will start with 0 and always below your lowest bracket value. It will conclude with "and up" after the highest bracket value you insert. You setup all within that.

For example to create a bid increment system where there are 3 increments of below 100 with a minimum bid increment of $1, between 100 and 500 where the bid increment is $5 and above 500 where the bid increment is $10 you would first clear the bid increment table of all increments. You should start with only the 0 and up bracket.

First is to edit the lowest bracket bid increment to $1. Within the empty bracket bid increment table you would edit the value for 0 and up to $1 by doing so next to it within the right column. Next insert 100 within the "start of bracket" field and "5" within the "bid increment" field and click the "add increment. You will then see this:

Next you would insert "500" into the "start of bracket" and "10" withing the "bid increment" field. Then click "add increment". You will now see the completed example bracket system:

• You need to have at least one bid increment in the system of you will have errors when bidding on any auction in your site.
• There is no way to edit bid increments. You will need to start a new bid increment set to remove the current increment set.
• If you find a error when making a increment set you'll need to set "and up" to close out the current increment set then start a new increment set.