Auction strategy
How to price an auction: starting bids and reserves
Start low when you have an audience and the item is desirable, because low starts attract more bidders and the final price is set by competition; start at your floor when you have few bidders or the item is expensive, because the starting bid is the minimum you'll sell for.
By the Auction Now team · Updated September 19, 2026 · 6 min read
Pricing an auction is a different problem from pricing a product. You're not choosing the sale price — the bidders do that. You're choosing the starting point and the floor, and those two decisions shape how many people bid and how the auction ends.
The starting bid is your floor
Auction Now doesn't currently support a hidden reserve price, so the starting bid is the lowest price the item can sell for. That's a deliberate simplification: reserves frustrate bidders ("reserve not met" is the most-hated phrase in online auctions) and hidden reserves suppress bidding. Set the start at a number you'd genuinely accept.
When to start low
- You have an engaged audience (email list, social following, repeat customers) who will find the auction.
- The item has an established market value that bidders roughly agree on — graded cards, popular prints, known artists.
- You're running several auctions and want activity to spill from one to the next.
Low starts work because early bids create social proof: an item with 12 bids looks more desirable than an identical item with 0. Bidders anchor on the competition, not the starting number.
When to start at your floor
- You're new to auctions and don't yet have a bidder base. A $1 start with two bidders sells for $2.
- The item is expensive or unique and you can't afford to sell it cheap.
- The item's value is uncertain or niche and you don't want to signal that it's worth little.
A simple rule
Start at 50–70% of what you'd list it for at fixed price if you expect five or more bidders. Start at your walk-away price if you expect fewer. Adjust after your first ten auctions — the app's earnings page shows you what actually sold.
Watch the increments too
The increment table affects the closing price as much as the start. If your items typically close around $150, the $5 increment at that level means bidders can nudge cheaply — good for activity. If you sell $2,000+ items, the $50 increment keeps the bidding meaningful. See Bid increments.
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