Your bid is the maximum amount you are willing to pay
The bid you put in for a coffee reflects the maximum price you are willing to pay for it. The V-Hub platform will automatically place bids for you, up to this amount. You can increase or decrease your maximum bid at any time, it just needs to be higher than the currently highest bid on the coffee. You may win the coffee for a price that is less than your maximum bid.
Your maximum bid is secret. Other buyers will never see it. The lowest possible bid is the start price for a coffee. Any higher bid must be the start price plus a multiple of the bid increment (described below).
The highest bid wins the coffee when the auction ends.
Bid increments
Bid increments are set by the auction host and can be different for each auction. The bid increments are shown on the auction page. Every bid needs to exceed a previous bid by at least the bid increment. An increase that's smaller than the bid increment is not possible.
Example: The coffee's start price is USD 4.00 and the bid increment is USD 0.10. Examples for valid bids: USD 4.00 USD 4.40 USD 5.00 |
Examples for invalid bids: USD 4.35 USD 4.99 USD 5.49 |
Bidding Example
Start price is USD 4.00 per lbs, bid increment is USD 0.10. Alexander and Zoe bid on the same coffee.
| Bidder | Maximum bid | Generated bid | Highest bid |
| Alexander | USD 4.00 | USD 4.00 | USD 4.00 by Alexander |
| Zoe | USD 4.70 | USD 4.10 | USD 4.10 by Zoe |
| Alexander | USD 4.30 | USD 4.30 | USD 4.40 by Zoe |
| Alexander | USD 5.00 | USD 4.80 | USD 4.80 by Alexander |
If no more bids follow, Alexander wins the coffee, paying USD 4.80 per lbs. If, by chance, two participants bid the exact same amount, the bid placed first wins.
Timer
When all coffees have received a bid, the auction timer will start. The timer is set to three minutes. Whenever a bidder places a new bid on any of the coffees, the timer is reset to three minutes. Once the timer runs out because no further bids are being placed, the auction ends.
Learn more about Helmsman auctions