Increment Tables

This article describes how Bid Increment Tables can are created and updated on LiveAuctioneers.

This article contains the following sections:

• Creating an Increment Table
• Increment Table Carryover
• Cross-Listed Auctions

Creating an Increment Table

When setting up your auction, the Bid Increments tab is where you create your Bid Increment Table. This table determines the amount each bid is increased by as the bidding progresses. 

• Increments can only be modified up until 2 hours before the start of the sale. 

• For Live auctions, your Internet clerk has the ability to adjust the bid increments on the day of the sale through the LiveAuctioneers Clerking Console. 

1. On the Bid Increments tab, select the interval type:
   • Fixed Intervals: Standard in the US and the system default.
   • 2/5/8 Intervals: Generally used in the UK. See more below.
2. Enter your bid ranges and increments. The first value in the left column is the bottom of the bid range and the next value is the top of the bid range. The first value in the right column is the increment.
   • In the example below, when bidding is between $0-$1,000, bids will increase in $50 increments. When bidding is between $1,000-$2,000, bidding will increase in $100 increments. When bidding is between $2,000-$5,000, bidding will increase in $250 increments.                  
3. Continue entering increments until you have at least 10.
4. Once your increments are set, check the box at the bottom of the page to indicate that you have confirmed your bid increments are correct and then click the Next button to proceed to the next step of the auction setup (Policies tab).

What are 2/5/8 Intervals?

An Increment Table using 2/5/8 intervals follows a repeating pattern instead of increasing progressively by bid range, like the standard (Fixed) Increment Table.
Because of that pattern, the accepted bid amounts can go up and down, instead of scaling up in a straight progression.

• Anything beginning with a one (100, 1,000, 10,000 etc.) goes up in ‘1s’ (100 – 110 - 120 or 13,000 - 14,000 - 15,000 etc.)
• Anything beginning with a two (200, 2,000, 20,000) goes up in ‘2s’ (200 – 220 – 240 – 260 or 2,400 – 2,600 – 2,800)
• Anything beginning with three or a four (300, 400, 3,000, 4,000) goes up in ‘0 - 2 – 5 – 8’ (300 – 320 – 350 – 380 or 4,000 – 4,200 – 4,500 – 4,800)
• From then on, between five and nine the numbers go up in ‘5s’ (500 – 550 – 600 – 650 or 7,000 – 7,500 – 8,000 – 8,500)
• After that, it is back to one and the pattern repeats itself.

Increment Table Carryover

Increment Tables are automatically carried over from whatever Increment Table was used on the last saved auction setup form. The system captures the last saved Increment Table and uses it on the next new auction setup form.

This occurs regardless of whether the previous auction has been published or not.

Example:

Setup for Auction A started on July 1st. Auction A is published and uses increments:

• 0-30 → 2
• 30-100 → 50

Setup for Auction B started on July 3rd. Auction B is not published and uses increments:

• 0-20 → 1
• 20-500 → 20

Setup for Auction C is started on July 8th. Auction C will inherit Auction B's increments, because Auction B is the most recently saved setup form:

• 0-20 → 1
• 20-500 → 20

The system carries over the increments at the moment the next auction setup form is created, but it does not update in real time. So if, for example, you edit Auction B's increments later, those changes will not automatically update any auction setup forms that have already been created.

Because of this carryover, best practice is to always confirm your Increment Table is correct before publishing your auction.

Cross-Listed Auctions

For auctions being cross-listed from LiveAuctioneers to The Saleroom and/or Lot-tissimo, the value on one step cannot be smaller than the value on the preceding step and increments must be a factor of the lower bound increment range (i.e. if the lower increment range were to be divided by the increment, it would produce a whole number). Click here to learn more.

Increment Tables using 2/5/8 intervals cannot be used on auctions being cross-listed from LiveAuctioneers to EstateSales.NET, The Saleroom, or Lot-tissimo.