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What Is A Unique Bid Auction ?

By Oliver Brand

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 10Mar2012 Word count: 807 Viewed: 24 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

The popularity of online auction sites has led to some interesting alternatives hitting the market. An excellent example of this is the unique bid auction. You may have heard of this already but you might be unfamiliar with how it works. If this is the case, make sure you carry on reading - you are about to discover how to take part in one.

Unique bid auctions are a specific type of pay per bid auction. Lowest unique bid auctions are the most common where the lowest unique bid is the winner, but it's also possible to find highest unique bid auctions where the highest unique bid is the winner.

A unique bid is a one of a kind bid. If you place a unique bid in an auction it means that no one else has placed a bid on the same amount as you. However it does not automatically mean you will win the auction, as you will see in the examples below. A non unique bid is a bid placed on any amount that has received more than one bid.

Typically speaking you will have to pay an entry fee of some kind to take part in the auction and place the bid in the first place. The fee will depend on which site you use and how much is applicable to that particular auction.

Quite often you will pay a higher fee to take part in an auction for a more expensive item. For example a unique bid auction for an iPhone may require a higher entry fee than one for a CD player. You will then choose your bid amount and enter it in the auction.

When you place your bid you will usually be told straightaway if your bid is unique. Sometimes, depending on the website, you may be told if it is the lowest unique bid. You can then keep an eye on the auction and if someone else bids lower than you, you can place another bid to try and get the lowest unique bid status back again.

After a certain number of bids or time have passed the auction will end. In a lowest unique bid auction the winner will be the person who has the lowest unique bid ( thats the lowest bid that is also unique ). It is normally required for the winner to pay the amount of the winning bid in order to claim the item. On lowest unique bid auctions the winning bids are usually very low, commonly around 1% of the items retail value.

Unique bid auctions are fun and exciting and the results can keep changing right up until the very end, so as long as you have bids that are unique then you still have a chance of winning the auction. Bid amounts are kept secret until after the auction finishes so you only know the position of your own bids. There is an element of strategy involved which some people love, and there are certain techniques that can be used in order to increase your chances of winning.

Example 1: Joe bids in an auction for a new laptop which has a retail price of £400 and the cost per bid is £0.60. He places 40 bids ( spending £24.00 ) and wins the auction having the lowest unique bid of £2.72. So Joe gets the £400 laptop for a total cost of £26.72 ( £24.00 + £2.72 )

Example 2: Ten people who each place a bid on a particular auction. Three people place a bid for £0.80, two people place a bid for £1.75 and another three people place a bid for £2.00. Of the remaining two people, one places a bid for £1 and the other places a bid for £1.20. In this situation we can see that two people have placed unique bids. However the £1 bid is the lowest unique bid of the two, so it will be this person who wins the auction. Even though the other person had a unique bid also, they didn't have the lowest one.

It shouldn't come as a big surprise to learn that these auctions are becoming more and more popular all the time. There are now several unique bid auction sites in the UK and more around the world too. A lot of people are attracted to unique bid auctions because of the fact that it's possible to grab some unbelievable bargains. Who wouldn't want to win a £1,000 TV for £10.

Hopefully this short article has helped to explain the general principles and workings of a unique bid auction, although the model may vary slightly from one operator to another, the basic idea will remain the same.

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