Auctions and bidding

Open the lot, type the most you are willing to pay into the bid box and confirm. The site then bids for you, one step at a time, only as far as needed to keep you in the lead.

Yes. Register with your name, email address and a password, confirm your email from the message we send, and save a card before your first bid.

Because a lot you win is charged to your saved default card as soon as it closes. The card has to be on file before you bid; adding it does not charge anything.

No. Your card is charged only for a lot you win: the winning bid plus the lot's buyer's premium, sales tax and any delivery you chose.

Yes. Every bid is a binding offer to buy the lot at that price, plus its buyer's premium, sales tax and any delivery you choose. Bid only what you are ready to pay.

No, a bid cannot be withdrawn once placed. If you bid in clear error, contact us straight away: we may cancel a bid placed by obvious mistake, but we do not have to.

It is the lot's own warning that winning commits you to pay. Read the pickup, fees and condition details on the page before you bid.

It is your last check: it repeats your amount, the lot's buyer's premium and where the lot is collected, and asks you to review the photos, contents, condition notes and terms before confirming.

The short list beside the bid button of everything that commits your money on that lot: the card requirement, the automatic charge, how late bids extend the close, and whether there is a reserve or seller approval.

Open Full terms: fees, pickup & shipping inside the Before You Bid box. It lists the buyer's premium, the tax rate, any handling fee, whether the lot ships or is pickup only, and its pickup windows.

Yes, from anywhere in the United States. We sell and ship to US addresses only, and you either collect in Brentwood, Maryland or choose shipping on lots that allow it.

At least 18, and able to make a binding contract.

Yes, through an account opened by a person with authority to bind the business. Buying for resale tax-free needs a valid resale certificate given to us before you pay.

No. Each person may have one account, and bidding through a second account or another person to push a price up is not allowed.

No. Bots, scrapers and automated tools may not be used to bid, buy or copy the site.

Online-only auctions: you bid on the website, each lot closes at a set time, and you collect or receive it afterwards. Each auction's page names its type.

An auction is the event, with its own page and closing time. A lot is one item, or a group of items sold together, inside that auction.

On the live auctions page, which lists each auction open now with the time it ends.

Usually. Most auctions open for preview first, so you can study the photos, the condition description and any known defects before bidding starts.

The most you are willing to pay for a lot. You enter it once and the site bids on your behalf, one increment at a time, only when someone bids against you, and never above your maximum.

No. You pay only enough to beat the next-highest bidder by one bid step, or the opening bid if nobody else bids. Your full maximum is used only if a rival pushes the price that far.

No. Your maximum stays private; other bidders see only the current bid.

The amount each new bid must rise by. It is set per lot and grows with the lot's price: a few cents on a very cheap lot, up to $100 on a lot above $5,000.

Before anyone bids, the opening bid (or one bid step, if that is higher). After that, the current bid plus one step. The bid box always shows the minimum.

It was under the lot's minimum: the current bid plus one bid step. The message names the smallest amount that will be accepted.

Another bidder had already set a higher maximum. The site bid for them automatically the moment your bid arrived, so the price rose straight past yours.

Yes. Place a new, higher bid on the lot; it becomes your new maximum. My Bids shows your bid and, when it is higher, your maximum.

Our system's record of each bid and the moment it arrived decides, so the bid that reached us first leads.

No. Each lot has an opening bid but no maximum, so bid as high as the lot is worth to you.

Yes. The lot page lists its bids with each bidder's name shortened to a first name and initial, like "Ada L." Maximum bids are never shown.

At the end time shown on the lot's page. The time can move later if bids arrive in the closing minutes.

Eastern Time, for every auction and lot on the site.

Someone bid in the closing minutes, which pushes the close back so everyone has a fair chance to answer that bid.

The close moves to a short time after the late bid, not a fixed amount on top. Each lot page states its auction's rule, and extensions never stack beyond the auction's overall cap.

No. Each bid buys the same short breathing space, and the total extra time an auction can run is capped.

No. A bid that does not reach us because of your device or connection does not count, and a late bid only extends the close anyway. Set your maximum early.

The lot closes within the next hour.

Bidding is open on that lot right now.

The auction is in preview: you can look at its lots, but bidding has not opened.

That lot takes bids before its auction opens. Your pre-bid is a binding bid, checked against the same minimum as a live one.

If an outage affects the end of an auction, we may extend it, run it again or cancel it.

A private lowest price we will accept for a lot. If bidding ends below it, the lot does not sell.

The Before You Bid box says so: "This lot has a hidden reserve price." Lots without that line have no reserve.

No. The reserve stays secret; bidders are only shown whether it has been met.

The lot does not sell, its page reads "Bidding closed — reserve not met", and nobody is charged.

On that lot the top bid becomes a sale only after the seller approves it, so winning the bidding is not final until then.

No. Neither we nor anyone acting for us bids on our lots to raise the price. Shill bidding is banned in our Terms.

No. Agreeing with other bidders to hold prices down is against our Terms, as is bidding through someone else to raise a price.

Yes, until it closes — for example if the item is lost, damaged or misdescribed, or a bid looks fraudulent. A withdrawn lot charges nobody.

Yes. Until a lot closes we may correct its description, and the lot page shows the corrected version.

If a lot closes on a plain error, such as a wrong price shown or a bid recorded wrongly, we may cancel that result and refund anything charged.

The lot holds several units and the one winning bidder gets every one of them, at their single winning bid. You are not bidding on one unit of many.

No. Your bid is the price for the whole lot, all its units together.

The list of what a lot is expected to contain, taken from our source's records. We check what we can, so treat it as a careful guide rather than a count we have verified item by item.

Small differences in count or model can happen. If what you receive is materially different from the manifest and photos, report it from your orders page with photos within 7 days of collecting or receiving it.

Not unless the listing says so. The condition grade and notes describe what is known; a lot sold as untested or for parts is not promised to work.

On some lots, yes. If the lot page shows a Buy Now price, you can buy it straight away at that price instead of waiting for the auction to end.

Only on lots that show an offer box. An offer the seller accepts is binding, like a bid.

Bidding passed the lot's Buy Now price. Once the auction is doing better than the Buy Now price, the lot can only be won by bidding.

Bidding has already passed the seller's minimum, so an offer can no longer beat the auction. Place a bid instead.

It closes as "Returned to stock": nothing sold, and its units went back into our stock, where they may be offered again later.

We pulled the lot from sale before it closed. Bids, offers and Buy Now are all closed on it, and nobody is charged.

Bidding is over and the winning bidder is being invoiced. Nothing more can be bid, offered or bought on that lot.

Bidding has ended and the lot is going to its buyer.

Some sellers choose not to publish what a lot sold for, so the page leaves the price off.

A percentage some lots add on top of the winning bid. It is shown on the lot before you bid and is part of what you pay.

No. Many lots have none; a lot that has one shows its percentage in the lot's full terms before you bid.

Winning bid, plus the lot's buyer's premium, plus any handling fee, plus sales tax if it applies, plus delivery if you choose shipping. The bid box shows an estimated total before you bid.

Some do. A lot with a handling fee lists it in its full terms beside the buyer's premium; the rest have none.

No. The 2.5% service fee applies to Buy Now orders. An auction lot may add a buyer's premium instead.

When the law requires it, which today means Maryland: tax is charged on lots collected at our Brentwood warehouse and on lots shipped to a Maryland address. Lots shipped to other states show no tax.

No. A lot's buyer's premium, tax rate and handling fee are frozen the moment the first bid is placed, so the total you were shown stays true.

No. Using DealsDMV costs nothing; you pay only for what you buy.

You get a win confirmation email and the lot appears in your orders.

As soon as the lot closes, automatically, to the card saved as your default.

The winning bid plus the lot's buyer's premium, sales tax and any delivery you chose. By bidding, you authorize that charge.

You get 24 hours to pay from your orders page. After that, the next-highest bidder may be offered the lot instead of you.

No. Your card is fine; your bank wants you to confirm the payment. Open your orders page and approve it within 24 hours to keep the win.

Nothing can be charged, so you are asked to pay from your orders page within 24 hours; after that the lot may go to the next bidder.

We may cancel the sale, offer the lot to someone else, and limit or suspend your account.

Yes. If the winner does not pay in time, the next-highest bidder can be given the lot and charged; if they do not pay either, the lot goes unsold.

The original winner did not pay in time, so the lot passed to you as the next-highest bidder. The message tells you what to do and by when.

If the automatic charge fails, yes: pay from your orders page with another card or a digital wallet.

Not as of right: a winning bid is a binding promise to pay. If something is wrong with the lot itself, our problem-report rules still apply once you have it.

No. Those lots are left out of the automatic charge at the close; the sale, and the charge, go ahead only once the seller approves the winning bid.

On My Bids: one row for each lot, showing whether you are winning, outbid or the lot has closed, with your bid and your maximum.

My Bids shows where you stand on each lot, not every bid. Your earlier bids on the same lot are history behind that one row.

Yes, by email and in your notifications, so you can decide whether to bid again before the lot closes.

Yes. Outbid, ending-soon and order emails can each be turned off from your account.

Yes. Add the lot to your watchlist and we email you when it is about to close.

Sign up for auction alerts with your email at the foot of any page. We send them only after you confirm, and every alert has a link to stop them.

Use the stop link in any alert email, or the Unsubscribe link under the alerts sign-up at the foot of the site.

On the home page and the auctions page, which show the lots closing soonest first.

The auction's name, its status, when it ends with a countdown, the lots in it, and any terms special to that auction.

Extra rules that apply to one auction only. When an auction has them, its page shows them under "Auction-specific terms" with an Accept Terms button.

When an auction has terms of its own, its page asks you to accept them; they add to our main Terms for that auction.

No. Lots in one auction close a short interval apart, in order, so you can follow and bid on each as it ends.

Bidding has finished on that auction. Its lots now show whether each sold, went unsold or returned to stock.

The auction was called off. Its lots take no bids, and nobody is charged for them.

The auction is scheduled and will open for bidding shortly.

An auction that has not opened is labelled "Not open yet"; you can browse its lots until bidding starts.

The lots closing tonight, followed by the auctions ending next — the quickest way to catch a lot before it ends.

No. Each lot sits in one auction and closes on that auction's schedule.

Bids are tied to an account, so you must be signed in. Register or sign in, then place the bid again.

A suspended account cannot bid. If you think it is a mistake, contact DealsDMV support; only our team can lift a suspension.

The account is not currently allowed to bid or buy. Contact us to find out why and what to do.

No. Our staff cannot bid on, or make offers for, the store's own lots — that would be shill bidding — and the site refuses them.

Our team can place a hold on an account's bidding. Contact us to find out why and how to lift it.

While a dispute with your bank is open, we may pause bidding on the account until it is settled.

You were the top bidder but below the reserve, so the lot did not sell and you will not be invoiced.

Winners are charged when the lot closes, so your saved card must still be valid then. Add a card that will be, and bid again.

Yes. Each bid is binding on its own lot, so add up what you would owe if you won them all before bidding.

No. It keeps bidding for you until the lot closes or someone bids past it.

No. Only the winner of a lot is charged.

Yes, by email and in your notifications, and the lot appears in your orders.

Your bid plus the lot's buyer's premium, any handling fee, sales tax where it applies, and postage if you chose shipping.

On lots that offer both, pick shipping or pickup on the lot page. Your choice is saved and used if you win.

It is set for collection, the default when no choice was made. Contact us if you wanted it shipped.

The lot is collected somewhere other than the area you prefer in your account. Check you can get there before you confirm.

A one-time confirmation that you understand a maximum bid bids for you automatically, one step at a time, up to your private limit.