An auction is one of the three ways a drop can run. It is not a listing with a countdown: each bid pays the previous bidder back, plus a profit.
Before you start
- A wallet, unlocked.
- Enough BSV for the next step, which is a fixed percentage above the current bid — not for the current bid. The exact step and its split: Fees — auctions.
The button
The bid button carries the amount you would be bidding, already stepped up from the current bid, so there is no arithmetic to do. On the piece itself you will see Connecting… for a moment first: the button appears when your browser is listening to that auction live.
And the review it opens, where the step is spelled out — the percentage is the one in force:
Being outbid is not a loss
When somebody outbids you, your bid comes back with a share of the step that outbid you. That is the mechanic, not a courtesy: part of every step goes to Zoide, part to the creator, and the rest to whoever was outbid.
So there are two ways this ends well for you: you win the piece, or somebody wants it more than you and you are paid for stepping aside.
Nobody guarantees a next bid. Being the last bidder is what wins the piece — bid what you would be happy to pay, not what you expect to be outbid on.
«Someone is bidding» is not an error
Only one bid at a time can be in flight on a piece. If you get that message, somebody was a second faster and their transaction is being built. Wait a moment and bid again: the hold exists so two bids cannot be counted at the same price, and it clears on its own.
The clock is not a deadline
A bid placed near the end pushes the end back. You cannot win by bidding in the last second: that bid reopens the window for whoever you just outbid.
This is why an auction can run past the time it first showed, and why it is over only when a full extension window passes with nobody bidding.
The piece arrives after the auction, not when you bid
Winning bids are settled by a scheduled process once the auction is really finished. Your piece is inscribed then and appears in your wallet afterwards.
If the auction is over and the piece has not appeared yet, it is normally that process not having run yet, not a lost bid. I minted and I don't see the piece covers what to check.
If nobody bids at all
An auction that ends with zero bids turns into an airdrop, and its pieces become free to claim. So an auction never leaves the pieces stranded.
One consequence worth knowing: a drop you remember as an auction can show up in airdrop mode later. Pieces that were actually won at auction keep saying so — they are not relabelled, because their owner paid for them.
Related
- Fees — auctions — the step, and who gets what
- I was outbid and got nothing back
- Drop states, and what moves a drop between them