Online auctions explained

Each lot has an opening bid and a closing time. Bidders raise the price in steps until the clock runs out, and the highest valid bid at the close wins and pays.

Each auction runs to its own published closing time, and late bids can extend it a little. The auction's page shows exactly when it ends.

An auction run entirely on the website: no auctioneer, no saleroom — bids are placed online and each lot closes at a set time. Each DealsDMV auction's page names its type.

A live auction streamed over the internet, where online bidders compete with the room as the auctioneer sells each lot.

One where you leave your bid in advance instead of bidding live, and it is placed for you when the lot comes up.

Each bidder submits one private bid without seeing the others, and the highest wins.

Another name for a maximum bid: the site places bids for you, one step at a time, up to the limit you set.

The reference number of a lot within its auction, shown on the lot page and on My Bids, so a lot can be named without ambiguity.

Until a lot closes, the seller may withdraw it or correct it. Every DealsDMV auction is held with reserve in that legal sense; a withdrawn lot charges nobody.

A lot that sells to the highest bidder whatever the price reaches. A DealsDMV lot that does not say it has a hidden reserve has none.

A rule that pushes the closing time back when a bid arrives in the final minutes, so last-second bids cannot win unanswered. DealsDMV auctions use it.

Bidding in the final seconds hoping nobody can answer. On DealsDMV a late bid extends the close, so sniping rarely works; a maximum bid set early is the better tactic.

Bots and automated bidding tools are not allowed, and late bids extend the close anyway.

Bidding on a lot by, or for, the seller to push its price up. It is banned on DealsDMV — for us and for bidders.

Not always. A lot can be one item or several sold together; a multi-unit lot goes whole to its one winner.

An auction lot that can also be bought outright or offered on, so you can bid, use Buy Now, or make an offer while each is open.

Many are. A trustworthy one names its fees before you bid, shows bid history, bans shill bidding, and takes payment by protected card. DealsDMV does all four.

They are safest when you pay by card through the site's checkout, never by gift card or wire transfer, and the seller publishes its rules and contact details.

It can be, by shill bids or hidden changes. On DealsDMV shill bidding is banned, a lot's fees freeze at its first bid, and our record of each bid's arrival decides the winner.

Every lot shows its bid history: each real bid with the bidder's name shortened for privacy. Nobody's maximum is shown.

No. You decide the most you will pay, and you pay only if you win, for a described item at that price — there is no stake you can lose.

No — the opposite. Payment is online by card or digital wallet only; we never take cash.

Often, when few people bid. An auction's price is set by its bidders, so a popular lot can end above what you would pay at a fixed price.

They need not be. On DealsDMV a buyer's premium, where a lot has one, is shown as a percentage before you bid, and many lots have none.

A buyer's premium on some lots, sometimes a handling fee, sales tax where the law requires, and postage if shipped. DealsDMV shows each in the lot's full terms.

On DealsDMV the winning total is charged automatically to your saved card at the close. If that fails you have 24 hours to pay by hand.

Decide your true limit, fees included, enter it as your maximum early, and let the site bid for you. Do not chase past your limit.

Read the manifest and photos, count the buyer's premium, plan how you will collect or ship, bid your maximum once, and check the lot the day you get it.

Buy Now gives a certain price today; bidding may win cheaper but can be outbid. If you need the item, buy it; if you can wait, bid your limit.

It depends on demand. Fixed prices are known up front; auctions can finish lower on quiet lots and higher on popular ones. Compare the full totals.

Sort auction listings by "Ended auctions" to see closed lots and their results, where the seller has published them.