Proxy bidding (max bids) explained for Shopify sellers

Most bidders can't sit on a product page for five days. Proxy bidding (Auction Now calls it a max bid) solves that: a bidder enters the most they're willing to pay, and the system bids for them, one increment at a time, only as far as needed to stay on top.

A worked example

1. The current bid is $40. Alice sets a max bid of $100. The displayed bid becomes $42 (the $2 increment at that price level), with Alice leading.
2. Bob bids $45. The system immediately bids $47 for Alice. Bob is outbid and gets an email.
3. Bob sets a max bid of $80. The system runs both max bids against each other: Alice's proxy wins at $83 ($80 plus the $3 increment at that level) and Bob is outbid again.
4. Nobody bids over $100 before the close, so Alice wins at $83 — not $100. She never pays more than one increment over the next-highest bidder.

Why it's good for sellers too

• More bidders stay in the running, because they don't have to babysit the auction.
• The closing price reflects the second-highest true valuation, which is usually higher than what casual bidders would have entered manually.
• Combined with soft close, it removes the incentive to snipe entirely.

Bid increments

Increments scale with the current price so bidding stays quick at low prices and meaningful at high ones. Auction Now's defaults are $1 under $30, $2 from $30–49, $3 from $50–99, $5 from $100–299, $10 from $300–999, $20 from $1,000–1,999 and $50 above $2,000. You can customise the table in settings. See Bid increments.