The bid increment is the amount by which a bid will be raised each time the current bid is outdone. It is predetermined based on the current high bid.

Here is how increments are determined:

Note: A bidder may be outbid by less than a full increment. This would happen if the winning bidder's maximum bid beats the second highest maximum by an amount less than the full increment.

A bid increment will go higher than the standard increment in two situations:

• To meet the reserve amount

• To beat a competing bidder's high bid

If you were bidding against another bidder's maximum bid, your bid had to meet the other bidder's maximum bid plus one cent to become the current high bidder on the item.

Sometimes the auction page for an item will show that there are 2 bids, yet there is only one bidder. This happens when a member places more then one bid to increase their maximum bid amount. For example, if you are the first bidder on an item and you place a second bid to increase your maximum bid amount, the item page would show the current high bid at the opening bid amount, but would show that two bids have been placed on this item.

Learn more about bidding:

Read the basics of how to bid.