Q. How
does the auction work?
The most important part of any
auction is the bidding.
In a traditional auction, the lots are auctioned one lot at a
time. Bids are placed, the bidding price increases until eventually
the highest bid is placed, and no more bids are placed. The bidder
with the highest bid wins the lot.
Specialty coffee auctions are different; they work as a
‘Helmsman’ style auction also known as ‘
multi-unit. It works like this
1
Each Auction is published
on our Auctions page 3-6 weeks ahead of the event. During this time
you can check the lots in the auction and prepare your bids.
2
We will open Pre-bidding
one week before the auction starts. Placing a bid during the
pre-bidding stage can give you an advantage over other bidders.
Your pre-bid could be the winning bid if no other bidder submits a
higher bid during the final auction. The pre-bids that you place
will be used when the final auction starts.
3
Participants will have
until the auction starts to place a pre-bid and then the auction
will start as usual.If you wish you can also place an auto-bid with
the maximum amount you are willing to pay for that coffee, the auto
bid will bid on your behalf during the pre-bidding phase. This is a
bid the platform places on your behalf, up to your maximum, to keep
you winning the auction.
4
Open bidding starts and
continues on all lots simultaneously until each and every lot has
received an initial bid. As soon as every lot has received at least
one bid on, or 1 hour after the final auction starts, the clock
will start ticking down from 3 minutes for all lots in the
auction.
5
Each time a new bid is
placed on any of the lots, the clock resets to 3 minutes for all
the lots. The auction continues until the clock hits zero when no
further bids have been placed.
6
If you are the highest
bidder for a Sensible Coffee auction lot and your bid is higher
than the reserve price, you are the winner for that coffee.
Q. How
do I place a bid and what is an auto-bid?
Bids can be made in one of three
ways:
Bid by the next suggested increment: You can
bid at the next increment by pressing the “Bid” button
and then pressing “Confirm” to confirm you wish to
place a bid at the corresponding amount.
In this example the next minimum increment is
$0.10 so the user is placing a bid for
$3.20/lb.
Bid at a higher amount than the current
increment: You can bid by enter your own bid amount.
Remeber! your bid has to be greater than or equal to the current
bid plus the minimum increment.
In this example the user is placing a bid for $4.00/lb
which is is higher than the current bid plus the minimum
increment ($3.10 + $0.10))
Use the Auto Bidding also know as Proxy bid:
The autobid will set the maximum amount you wish to
spend. Autobids are placed by the platform in your behalf
up to the maximum bid amount that you set when you placed the
autobid. The Autobid need to be higher than the current
highest bid.
For example, if you set your auto-bid to a maximum of
$10/lb, the platform will bid on your behalf against other bidders
up to a maximum of $10/lb.
If the bidding in the auction exceeds your
autobid (in this case $10.00/lb) your autobid will stop
placing bids on your behalf. This will mean that you bid was
exceeded and you will need to place another autobid for the
platform to continue to bid on your behalf.
Q. What
is pre-bidding?
Pre-bidding is a phase where
participants can place bids on the lots at any time prior to the
start of the live auction.
Placing a bid during the pre-bidding stage can give you an
advantage over other bidders. Your pre-bid could be the winning bid
if no other bidder submits a higher bid during the live auction.
Participants will have until the live auction starts to place a
pre-bid and then the auction will start as usual.
You can also place autobids during this phase. Autobids will bid
on your behalf throughout the auction up to the maximum bid set
when you placed it.
Remember!The pre-bids that
you place when the auction is open for pre-bidding will be used
when the live auction starts.