FS Market

Bidding tips

Winning strategies for bidders

Our auction process has a variety of features that protect the best interests of bidders. Proxy Bidding allows you to bid once and walk away. Overtime gives everyone a fair chance, so that people with faster internet speeds don't have an advantage. Watch list gives you an easy way to keep an eye on interesting auctions.

More info
Bid submission
Reserve Price
Hammer Price
Proxy bidding
Overtime feature
Watch list

Bid submission

Each auction listing will bidding area in the bottom half of the listing. You will need to have a registered UserName and Password combination to submit a bid. When you submit a bid, the system will show you a confirmation screen first, so that you can make sure you have entered your bid correctly.

Once your bid is submitted, one of two things may happen immediately:

1) You become the high bidder: the system will have entered your bid as low as possible to make you the high bidder, and it will email you a confirmation for your records. If you are outbid later, the system will email you.

2) You are Outbid immediately: this can happen if the previous bidder had his Proxy bid authorized for more than your bid. If you are Outbid immediately, you can bid again if you like, or come back later to see how the bids are doing.

Reserve Price

If the seller has set a Reserve Price, then the auction listing will indicate the existence of a reserve price and whether it has been met or not. The listing will not disclose the exact amount of the reserve, but only whether the current bid is below or above it. If an auction ends with "reserve not met" then neither the seller nor the high bidder are obligated to transact. If an auction ends with "reserve met" then a transaction will be initiated.

Reserve price auctions have two stages essentially. Until the reserve is met, bidders tend to test the amount with smaller increments in the bidding. Only after the reserve has been met, does the activity gain momentum.

When viewing a list of auctions on this site (such as all auctions in a category), you will see bold prices where the reserve has been met.

Hammer price

If the seller has set a Hammer price, then the auction listing will indicate the exact price. If a buyer is willing to match the Hammer price, then the auction will end immediately. Essentially, the Hammer price is much like an "asking price" which is the amount the seller would readily accept.

Sellers may use the combination of a Reserve price AND a Hammer price. For example, Joe might list an item with a $100 Open, $150 Reserve (hidden), and $200 Hammer prices. If the bids reach at least $150, the high bidder wins the item at the scheduled close of auction. If the bids reach $200, the auction ends immediately.

If you find a desireble item with a Hammer price that you think is reasonable, you should match it to lock it up right away. Otherwise, any other buyer matching that price wins. If the Hammer price is a little high for you, then you should bid what you are willing to pay, and see what happens.

Proxy Bidding

You can use our automated bidding system, which means you don't have to watch every minute of the auction. We call it a "Proxy" system, as in the computer can act as a Proxy bidder for you. Here's how it works:

When entering a bid, you can either submit the "minimum" required, or some amount more than the that. You should simply enter the maximum price you are willing to pay. The system will automatically engage a Proxy for you, which will start by bidding the minimum needed. It will then keep your maximum bid a secret, but fight off any other bidders automatically. It will never bid more than you entered, and it will always bid as little as possible to keep you at the top. If it runs into your limit, it will stop bidding and email you.

An example
Current high bid is:	$100.00
Bid Increment is:	$2.50
Next required Bid :	$102.50

You bid your max.:	$160.00
Your Proxy submits:	$102.50
Joe comes along with:	$105.00
Your Proxy bids:	$107.50
Joe bids again:	$125.00
Your Proxy bids:	$127.50
John Moneybags bids:	$175.00
Your Proxy does NOT bid:	It emails you.

Another example:
Current high bid is:	$100.00
Bid Increment is:	$2.50
Next required Bid :	$102.50

You bid your max.:	$160.00
Your Proxy bids:	$102.50
Joe comes along with:	$200.00
Your Proxy bids its max:	$160.00
Joe's Proxy bids:	$162.50
Your Proxy does NOT bid:	It emails you.

By bidding your maximum right away, you are sure not to pay too much at the end of an exciting auction. If the bidding goes higher than your maximum, no problem, you probably would not have paid that much anyway.

Overtime Feature

Overtime is designed to more closely resemble a live auction where the auctioneer continues accepting bids until there are no more bids. Similarly, our system continues to accept bids until there are no new bids for five (5) minutes in a row.

Auctions will run into overtime if there is a new high bid within the last five minutes. If you are outbid within the last five minutes of an auction, it will extend into overtime just long enough to give you have at least 5 minutes to respond. Likewise, if you outbid someone with 10 seconds left in the auction, it will email the previous bidder, and extend the auction by 4 min and 50 seconds, thereby giving the other bidder 5 minutes to respond.

This feature gives every bidder an equal chance to win. It takes away the advantage of a high speed internet connection, and saves you time by not having to be present at each auction close to watch out for last second bidders.

Watching Auctions

We offer a "Bookmark" feature with which you can keep any eye on certain auctions. Within any auction listing, look towards the upper right, for a *

The * is a link that will let you add that page to your "Bookmarks" in your MyPage. When you click on the *, you will be able to add that page to your bookmarks. You will also see all of your bookmarks. Thus, you can click on the * on any page to quickly access bookmarks you have already saved.

These bookmarks are maintained on our computers, so you can access them from any computer at anytime simply by logging in here. You can manage your bookmarks through MyPage, by editing or deleting them at anytime.