Also called minimum bid increment
Bid increment, explained
Each platform publishes its own table. On GoDaddy Auctions, for example, the minimum step is five dollars while the price is under five hundred dollars, then rises through tiers to one thousand dollars once bidding passes fifty thousand dollars. Proxy bidding sits on top of the table: you enter a maximum, and the system outbids rivals by the smallest allowed increment until your ceiling is reached. Many platforms, GoDaddy among them, may also extend an auction when a bid arrives in its final moments.
Increments shape strategy. Your proxy maximum, not the visible price, is the real commitment, and on GoDaddy a proxy bid is binding and cannot be cancelled. Because round numbers are common ceilings, many bidders set a maximum slightly above one, enough to clear a rival's round figure by a step. The common mistake is bidding in small steps during the final minutes and paying more than any written maximum would have allowed. Set your number from comparable sales and your realistic exit price before the auction ends.
Example. With the high bid in the mid four figures on a platform that uses one-hundred-dollar steps at that level, the next valid bid must be at least one hundred dollars higher.
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