When you have located an item you are interested in, click on the item's title link to see its listing page. On the item listing page, click on the "Bid Now" button to place your bid. If you do not see a Bid button on the listing page, then the listing is either not yet open for bidding or the item has already closed and you will see a message to reflect this.

To place a bid, you must login, or register if you haven't done so already. An opening bid should be either your Smart Bid (the maximum amount you would be willing to pay for the item), or the "Highest Bid" amount plus the bid increment (the "Next Bid" amount) as shown on the item page. If you want to bid higher than the the minimum amount right away and don't want to use the Smart Bid feature, check the box on the bid form that says Bypass Smart Bid.

Once you have the top bid, you will be notified by email if your maximum bid is surpassed by another bidder.

No. Browsing and bidding on items on Nonprofit Bidding is free.

We process auction payments automatically through the site, so you will need to provide a valid credit card prior to bidding. If you are the winning bidder on an item, we will charge the card on file when the auction closes.

If you need to update your credit card information, you can do so anytime from the "My Account" section on Nonprofit Bidding.

Yes. If you require additional information about the item you may contact the organization before placing a bid from the listing page by clicking on the "Ask A Question" link.

Smart Bid is a proxy bidding system on Nonprofit Bidding. Each time you place a bid by entering your maximum bid amount (which is the most you are willing to pay for an item), you will be using our Smart Bid bidding system. Smart Bid will then bid automatically on your behalf and at the lowest possible bid increments, until your maximum bid amount is reached.

The goal with Smart Bid is to win an item at the lowest successful price. However, since Nonprofit Bidding is a fundraising tool for nonprofit organizations, we provide the opportunity for each bidder to Bypass Smart Bid if they choose. When you click the Bypass Smart Bid checkbox the current bid will immediately bump up to the value of the amount entered.

To win, you must be the bidder who placed the highest maximum bid at auction close. You will be notified by e-mail if your maximum bid has been surpassed by another bidder. The winner is determined by the highest bid placed at the earliest time.

In an Open Auction, there is only one quantity of the item that multiple people may bid on. There is only one winner in an Open auction and that is the person who has the highest bid.

A Dutch Auction occurs on Nonprofit Bidding if there are multiple, identical items offered for sale that are not listed separately. The item appears as one listing but shows that there are multiple identical items within this one listing. Bidders can bid at or above the minimum price for the quantity of items they wish to purchase. At the close of the auction, all winning bidders purchase the items at the same price, which is the lowest successful bid. All Dutch Auction items are identified as such on the item listing page with a pop up explanation.

Bypassing Smart Bid is not an option with Dutch auction items.

Your Maximum Bid amount is the highest price you are willing to pay for an item.

You should determine beforehand the most you are really willing to pay for an item and then enter a single bid at that amount in the Bid Amount field. An early bid supported by a high maximum bid amount can make you a winner!

Yes. If your maximum bid amount has been outbid, you can place another maximum amount and choose to use Smart Bid or bypass it.

Note: you can only increase, not decrease, your maximum bid amount. Also, bidders are not allowed to reduce the quantity of items bid on without also changing their maximum bid.

There are 3 steps to placing a bid on an auction. You must complete all 3 steps in order for our system to record and display your bid in a listing's Bid History.

1. Click on the Bid button on the listing page of the item you are viewing. You will be asked to Login, if you haven't done so already. In the “Maximum Bid Amount” field enter your Smart Bid (maximum bid amount per unit). If you want to Bypass Smart Bid and bump the current bid immediately to the value that you entered, check the Bypass Smart Bid box.
2. Click on the "Bid Now" button.
3. A pop-up message will ask you one final time to confirm.

Once submitted, you will see a confirmation page with information about your bid indicating the bid amount placed, and if your bid is currently the winning bid.

When reviewing an item's Bid History after having placed a bid, you should reload, or refresh, your browser so that it displays the most current information.

When this happens, it means that an earlier bidder has placed a maximum bid amount, which is higher than the amount of your maximum bid.

When you placed your bid, the Smart Bid system immediately placed another bid on the earlier bidder's behalf, for an amount just high enough (i.e. plus the bid increment) to outbid your maximum bid amount, insuring their position as high bidder.

If the maximum bid that you place is high enough to outbid any other bidders, then Smart Bid will do the same for you and maintain your position as the current winning bidder.

There are 2 reasons why a confirmed bid can be considered invalid:

1. You have entered an invalid value in the "Bid Amount" field. Make sure that your bid amount contains only numbers and decimal points (i.e. 45.00). Do not enter any dollar signs ($) or commas (,) into the bid amount field.
2. Your bid amount is less than the next valid bid amount. Make sure that your bid is equal to or greater than the "Current Bid" plus the "Increment" value shown on the listing page.

Yes - but your confirmed bid can only be retracted under special circumstances should you choose to submit a formal bid retraction request.

A confirmed bid can only be retracted under the following circumstances:

• You made a typographical error when placing a bid amount.
• New item information was added that changed your understanding of the item for which your bid was placed.

You cannot retract a bid if:

• You have placed bids on a similar item.
• You have placed a bid on a Dutch Auction.
• You have changed your mind.
• You state that you cannot pay for the item.
• You submit a bid retraction request less than 24 hours before auction close.

To retract a confirmed bid, you must contact Customer Service at auctions@nonprofitbidding.org with your request. Include the item listing number and the reason for the retraction. All bid retraction requests received by Nonprofit Bidding less than 24 hours before auction close will not be processed regardless of the explanation. All bid retraction requests received by Nonprofit Bidding without a valid explanation will not be processed. Bidders who retract their bids may not place new bids on that item.

You can monitor all your bidding activity from within your "My Account" page, by clicking on the "Your watchlist and bid history" link.

If a bid is placed during the last 5 minute(s) of an auction, the auction will be automatically extended for an additional 5 minute(s) from the time of the latest bid. We call this feature Auto Extend. The item will close automatically once all bidding activity has stopped for a period of 5 minute(s).

NOTE: Current Bid Amount and Countdown Timer are not "live." Click Refresh to update them or to see if the auction has been automatically extended by a last minute bid.

You can locate an auction you have bid on from within your "My Account" area, or by entering the listing number from the Search box at the top of the page.

If you are the winning bidder when an auction closes, Nonprofit Bidding will send you an e-mail notification telling you that you have won the item. The notification will also confirm whether payment has been charged or if you still need to arrange payment with the organization hosting the auction.

A PDF certificate will then be available in your "My Account" area with applicable pick-up and contact information once payment has been processed.

If you do not receive notice and believe you are the successful bidder, you must verify the auction status from within your "My Account" area.