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Bid Now and Buy Now Explained

More and more motor trade professionals are now buying vehicles online. Here's how you can do this an Manheim.

Bid Now auctions are timed sales and we will tell you the start time and the end time of the sale.  You can place bids before the start time, or once the sale has started (providing it’s before the end of the vehicle sale).

The Bid Now function lets you place a maximum bid on a vehicle prior to the start of the sale in which the vehicle is entered. Manheim’s system will then automatically bid on a Bid Now vehicle up to the amount you have entered.

Here’s how it works;

  • Prior to the start of a vehicle sale, you can enter your maximum bid.
  • To do this, look out for a vehicle listing displaying this Bid Now icon.
  • Next, click the following Buy/Bid button.
  • You will then be invited to place your place your maximum bid, using the ‘Place Maximum Bid’ button.
  • You can add, amend or remove your maximum bid at any time before the vehicle sale starts.

  • Once the vehicle sale starts, you can only amend your existing maximum bid to an amount which is equal to or greater than the current bid.

This rule only affects the user with the highest bid; all other users will have a bid which is lower than the ‘next required bid’ value (i.e. ‘current bid’ plus the value of 1 bid increment).

For example;

User A has a maximum bid of £14,500 (placed first)

User B has a maximum bid of £14,200

Increment is £100

The current bid value is £14,300 and the highest bidder is User A. User B has been outbid and so cannot therefore lower his bid to an amount which is equal to or greater than the current bid. 

  • Once the vehicle sale has begun, you can add a new maximum bid which is at least one increment higher than the current highest bid. 

  • You can amend your maximum bid once a vehicle sale has started, but not to below the value of the current highest bid accepted.

  • Prior to the vehicle sale starting, you will not be informed of the status of your maximum bid.

  • Where there are multiple bidders, who have bid on a listing using the same value bid, the user who placed the bid first will be given highest bid priority. Please see the example below:

Starting price = £9800

Increment value = £100              

Bidder 1 placed a bid of £10,000 (placed yesterday)

Bidder 2 placed a bid of £10,000 (placed today)

Bid History

£10,000 – Bidder 1

£9,900 – Bidder 2

£9,800 – Bidder 1 

  • Where there are multiple bidders on a listing, and the bidder who bid first enters a lower maximum bid - but then at a later point increases his bid to match that of the second bidder - the bidder who made the very first bid will be regarded as the highest bidder.

This rule applies even though the second bidder placed a bid of the ‘winning amount’ at an earlier point in time than the first bidder who then revised their bid. Please see below example:

Starting price = £9,800

Increment value = £100

Bidder1 places £9,800 (placed yesterday)

Bidder2 places £10,000 (placed today)

Bid History

Bidder 1 wins the vehicle as this user placed their initial bid first.

£10,000 – Bidder1

(Then Bidder 1 increases his bid to £10,000 later)

£9,900 – Bidder 2

£9,800 – Bidder 1

  • You’ll find a useful ‘bid history’ functionality within the Bid Now sales channel. This shows a record of the accepted bids on the particular listing and is visible to all applicable buyers.

  • Generally, the bid history will be a list of accepted bids which increase on a per increment basis. This appears as a ‘toing and froing’ between bidders (just like in-lane bidding). 

Here’s an example;

Bidder 1 – £10,000

Bidder 2 - £9,900

Bidder 1 - £9,800

Bidder 2 - £9,700

Bidder 1 - £9,600

  • In light of the above rules, there are certain patterns within the bid history which at first glance might not seem correct. However, there is clear and intended logic behind each scenario, which is explained below:

  • Our overarching rule is that whoever bids first ‘wins’ the bid.
  • To best understand this, consider how things work when an auction ends and two bidders have bid the same maximum amount.
  • In this case, the winning bidder might not actually be the one who bid the highest amount first. Instead, the winning bidder will be the one who made the first initial bid.

Here’s an example:

£14,900 – Bidder 1

£14,900 – Bidder 2

£14,800 – Bidder 1

£14,700 – Bidder 2

£14,600 – Bidder 1

  • As you can see, although Bidder 2 might have placed the bid for £14,900 first, it is actually Bidder 1’s bid that is accepted. This is as a result of Bidder 1 placing the initial bid of £14,600.

  • Where a bid is accepted from a user who has a higher maximum bid than the current accepted bid AND there is another user with a maximum bid identical to the current bid, bidding has to jump up one more increment to decide the winner.

Where this is the case, the bid history will show the same user twice with consecutive bids – as per the below example:

 

Starting price = £14,800

Increment value = £100

Bidder1 places £15,100 (first)

Bidder2 places £15,000

            Bid History:

£15,100 – Bidder 1

£15,000 – Bidder 1

£14,900 – Bidder 2

£14,800 – Bidder 1