Auction Settings and Bid Increments

Set the bidding rules your auctions inherit, from sale format and reserves to proxy bidding, anti-sniping and increment ladders.

Settings → Auction Settings is where you decide how bidding works on your marketplace by default: which sale format new auctions use, how reserves and Buy Now prices are set, whether proxy bidding and anti-sniping are on, what bidders and sellers must complete before they take part, and which bid increment ladder applies. The same page lists your bid increment rules, which you create and edit from there.

These are defaults. They are copied onto an auction at the moment it is created, so changing a setting affects auctions created afterwards, not auctions already running. Values set on an individual listing (for example its own reserve, Buy Now price or bid increment) take precedence over the defaults on this page.

Before you start

You need the permission to manage auction settings. In the standard roles, Admin and Finance Manager have it. If Auction Settings does not appear under Settings in your sidebar, ask an Admin to check your role (see Team members and roles).
The page is available on every plan.
Amounts are entered in your marketplace's default currency, in normal units (for example 25.00, not pence or cents). Your default currency is set under Business profile and localisation.

The page has four sections and a Save button at the bottom. Nothing changes until you press Save. If a value is out of range you will see a Failed to save auction settings message explaining which value to fix; otherwise you will see Auction settings saved.

Bidding & Reserve

Default Bid Increment Rule

The increment ladder an auction uses when its listing does not set its own bid increment. The list includes your own active rules and the platform's shared rules. See the bid increment rules section below for how rules work and how an auction picks one.

Default Sale Format

The format a new auction uses when the listing does not choose one. The options are:

Timed auction (English): bids go up, the highest bid at the close wins. This is the default.
Timed auction (Dutch): the price starts high and drops at intervals until a bidder accepts it. The drop amount, interval and floor price are set on each listing.
Timed auction (Sealed bid): bidders submit private bids that are revealed at the close. Choosing this format shows the Sealed Bid Defaults section described below.

Minimum Reserve Price

The reserve is the lowest price the seller will accept; if bidding does not reach it, the lot does not sell. When a listing has no reserve of its own, Babylon applies this amount as the auction's reserve. It is only applied to listings that have a category assigned. Leave it empty if you do not want a marketplace-wide minimum.

Auto-Reserve by Category

A list of category and amount pairs, entered in major currency units (for example a category named Watches with 500.00). Staff see these values as guidance on the listing form. At present they are not applied to auctions automatically, so set the reserve on each listing where it matters.

Proxy Bidding & Buy-Now

Enable Proxy Bidding

On by default. Proxy bidding lets a buyer set a maximum bid; Babylon then bids on their behalf, one increment at a time, only when they are outbid and only up to their maximum. Turn it off if you want every bid to be placed manually.

Max Proxy Amount appears when proxy bidding is on. It records the largest maximum bid you intend to accept, and must be greater than zero if you fill it in. Babylon does not currently use this value to cap proxy bids, so leave it empty unless Hammerd support has asked you to set it.

Enable Buy-Now Policy

On by default. Buy Now lets a buyer purchase a lot outright at a fixed price, ending the auction. The option is only offered until the first bid is placed.

When the policy is on and you choose a Markup Type, Babylon works out a Buy Now price for any listing that does not set its own:

Percentage: Buy Now price is the starting bid plus the percentage you enter in Markup Value. Enter 20 for 20%. Whole numbers only.
Fixed Amount: Buy Now price is the starting bid plus the amount you enter in Markup Value, for example 50.00.

If you leave Markup Type empty, no Buy Now price is calculated and only listings with their own Buy Now Price offer Buy Now. The listing form does not offer a Buy Now Price for sealed bid or fixed price listings.

Anti-Sniping & Bidder Eligibility

Enable Anti-Sniping

On by default. Anti-sniping stops a lot being won by a bid placed in the final seconds, by extending the auction so other bidders can respond.

Anti-Sniping Threshold (seconds): a bid placed within this many seconds of the end time triggers an extension. The on-screen recommendation is 30 to 60 seconds.
Anti-Sniping Extension (seconds): after a late bid, the auction's end time moves to this many seconds after that bid. The on-screen recommendation is 60 to 120 seconds.

Both values must be between 1 and 600 seconds. New marketplaces start with 120 seconds for both. Keep both filled in while anti-sniping is on: if either is empty, late bids do not extend the auction. Each new late bid can extend the auction again, so a contested lot keeps running until bidding stops for a full extension period.

Bidder Eligibility

What a buyer must complete before they can bid. Email verification is always required.

Email Verified Only: the default. Any registered buyer with a verified email address can bid.
Email Verified + Payment Method Added: buyers must also have a saved payment method.
Full KYC Completed: buyers must pass identity verification first. See Identity verification.

Stricter settings reduce the risk of non-paying winners but add friction for new bidders. Changing this setting applies to the next bid a buyer tries to place.

Seller Eligibility

Whether a seller must complete identity verification before any of their listings can go live.

Not required: the default.
Identity verification required: listings from unverified sellers cannot go live.

A marketplace tier can also require seller verification. Whichever of the two is stricter applies. See Marketplace tiers and authentication schemes.

Sealed Bid Defaults

This section only appears when Default Sale Format is set to Timed auction (Sealed bid). It sets the defaults for sealed bid auctions.

Clearing

Sealed Bid Variant: First-Price (highest pays own bid) is the default. Second-Price / Vickrey means the winner pays the second-highest bid. Multi-Unit / Uniform Allocation allocates a quantity across the top bidders.
Clearing Model: only shown for the multi-unit variant. Uniform Price (all winners pay same amount) charges every winner the lowest winning bid (the default). Pay as Bid (each pays submitted amount) charges each winner what they bid.
Tie Break Rule: Server Timestamp Priority (the default) gives the win to the earliest bid when bids match. Random Draw picks one of the tied bids at random.

Bidder Controls

Allow Bid Replacements: on by default. A bidder can resubmit during the sealed window and their latest bid replaces the earlier one.
Allow Bid Withdrawals: off by default. When on, bidders can withdraw a sealed bid before the reveal. The on-screen advice is to leave this off for fairness.
Show Reserve Before Reveal: off by default. When on, bidders can see the reserve while they are submitting.

For reviewing sealed bids on a running auction, see Auctions, offers and deal rooms.

Bid increment rules

A bid increment rule sets the smallest step by which the next bid must beat the current one. A good ladder keeps steps small on low-value lots and larger on expensive ones.

Bid increment rules are not in the sidebar. You reach them from Settings → Auction Settings, where the Bid Increment Rules table at the bottom of the page lists every rule you can use. Click a row to open that rule, or use New increment rule to create one. Opening a rule and following the breadcrumb takes you to the full list, where you can filter, edit and manage rules in bulk. The same permission as Auction Settings is required.

Your rules and global rules

The list shows two kinds of rule:

Your rules belong to your marketplace. You can edit, delete, activate, deactivate and make them your default.
Global rules are shared platform templates, including the platform's default ladder. You can view them and select one as your Default Bid Increment Rule, but you cannot edit, delete or mark them as default. If you try to edit one you will see Cannot Edit Global Rule. To adapt a global rule, create your own rule with the bands you want.

New marketplaces start with a Default Increments ladder copied from the platform's. If your list is empty, that ladder was removed; create a rule and select it on Auction Settings.

Create a rule

Go to Settings → Auction Settings and click New increment rule.
Enter a Rule Name that describes the ladder, for example Standard ladder.
Choose a Rule Type: Fixed Increment for one step size at every price, or Tiered Increment for a ladder of price bands.
For a fixed rule, enter the Fixed Increment Amount.
For a tiered rule, add one row per band under Tiers, with a Minimum Price, an optional Maximum Price (leave empty for no upper limit) and the Increment for that band. At least one band is required.
Optionally set Sort Order. Lower numbers appear first in lists and in the default rule picker.
Under Status, leave Active on so the rule can be used. Turn on Set as Default Rule if this should be your marketplace's default rule (see below).
Click Create.

How bands are matched

For a tiered rule, Babylon takes the current highest bid (or the starting bid if there are no bids yet) and checks your bands in the order they appear on the rule. The first band where the amount is at or above the Minimum Price and at or below the Maximum Price supplies the increment. A band with no maximum matches everything from its minimum upwards.

That means:

Bands should cover every price without gaps. If no band matches, Babylon falls back to a different rule for that bid (your default rule, then the platform's), which is rarely what you want.
Both ends of a band are inclusive. If one band ends at 100.00 and the next starts at 100.00, a current bid of exactly 100.00 uses the earlier band.
Make the last band open-ended by leaving its Maximum Price empty.

An example ladder that covers every price:

0.00      to  99.99      increment 5.00
100.00    to  499.99     increment 10.00
500.00    to  999.99     increment 25.00
1,000.00  to  4,999.99   increment 50.00
5,000.00  and above      increment 100.00

With this ladder, if the current bid is 480.00 the next bid must be at least 490.00; once the bid reaches 500.00 the next must be at least 525.00.

Open any active rule to see Example Calculations, which show the next minimum bid at four sample prices. Use it to check a new ladder before you rely on it.

Which rule an auction uses

When an auction is created, Babylon decides its increment in this order:

A Bid Increment set on the listing itself.
The Default Bid Increment Rule selected on Settings → Auction Settings, if it is active.
Your rule marked as the default rule (Set as Default Rule or Make Default).
The platform's default ladder.

The chosen rule stays attached to the auction. If you later edit that rule's bands, the change applies to live auctions using it, which is why Babylon warns you when you open the default rule for editing. If the attached rule is deactivated, bidding falls back to your default rule and then the platform's.

There are two separate "default" controls: the Default Bid Increment Rule picker on Auction Settings, and the Default flag on a rule. The picker wins when both are set. To avoid confusion, point both at the same rule.

Manage rules

From the rule list:

Make Default (in the row's More actions menu) marks one of your rules as the default and clears the flag from the others. It asks you to confirm.
Delete removes one of your rules. You cannot delete your default rule; make another rule the default first.
Activate Selected and Deactivate Selected change several rules at once. Deactivating skips your default rule. Inactive rules cannot be used for new auctions.
Filters let you narrow the list by type, default status and whether a rule is active.

Common questions

I changed a setting but a running auction did not change

Expected. Auction settings are copied onto an auction when it is created. Running auctions keep the values they started with. The exception is editing the bands of an increment rule, which changes increments for every auction using that rule.

Why is there no Buy Now option on a lot?

Buy Now is only offered before the first bid. Check that Enable Buy-Now Policy is on and a Markup Type and Markup Value are set, or that the listing has its own Buy Now Price.

Save fails with a message about anti-sniping or markup

Anti-sniping values must be between 1 and 600 seconds, Markup Value must be greater than zero when a markup type is chosen, and Max Proxy Amount must be greater than zero if filled in. Correct the value and save again.

The rule list shows amounts with a pound sign but my currency is different

The rule list and the rule detail page currently format amounts with a pound sign. The stored amounts are in your default currency, the same values you entered on the form.

I can see Auction Settings but my colleague cannot

Access depends on role permissions. Ask an Admin to review roles under Team members and roles.