Bidding for articles

Before being able to place a bid, you will have to register and get your user data verified. This process is completely free of charge. For further information on a new user account please read Register, logging on and off and Approval for auctions.

Bidding at a classical auction

When placing a bid, please follow these steps:
1. Carefully read the Auction details and the Article description.
2. Enter your maximum bid into the field Bid (net).
3. Now click onto the button Bid.
4. Make sure you have read and understood the General terms and conditions, as well as the General and Special auction terms and confirm that.
5. Check and confirm your bid by clicking Confirm bid.

You will be informed automatically via email about your bids, overbidding by other users and won auctions. Please note that any bid is legally binding.

Maximum bid

The maximum bid is the highest price that you are willing to pay for the article. It shouldn't exceed your personal limit.

Your bid will be compared to the other users' bids. After that, the minimum amount is set that makes you the highest bidder - as far as your maximum bid is not exceeded.
The maximum bid is neither visible for the vendor, nor for the other bidders. You will be informed via email, if your maximum bid has been exceeded.

Starting price

Any article has a starting price. Bids below that price are not allowed.

Reserve price

Some articles have a reserve price. If the current bid was lower than this price, the sale will only be made with reservations. This means that the vendor is allowed to disagree to the purchase at this price. Below the current bid of an article you can see whether the reached is reached or not.

Minimum bid raise

A new highest bid always needs to be greater than the old one by at least that amount. Otherwise, your bid will not be accepted.

Outbid

You are outbid if another user makes a higher maximum bid than you did.
When being outbid, you will get a notification directly after you made your bid, or you receive an automatically generated email. You will then have the chance to make a new highest bid.

Bidding assistant

WOOD TEC AUCTION uses an automatic bidding assistant to simplify the bidding process. This function will automatically run as soon as you have entered and confirmed a new highest bid.

This is how the bidding assistant works: Enter the highest amount that you are willing to pay for the article. As long as there is no higher maximum bid by another user, the bidding assistant always bets the lowest amount with which you remain the highest bidder. Any further bid by another user will lead to a corresponding raise of your current bid by the bidding assistant. You will receive an email if your maximum bid has been exceeded.

End of an auction

In any article, the end of the auction and the remaining time are specified. You purchase the article when you are the highest bidder by the end of the auction and nobody outbids you in the last 3 minutes (see 3-minute-rule).

3-minute-rule

If you are outbid within the last 3 minutes before the indicated end time of the auction, it will be extended by a further 3 minutes. This process will be repeated, once there is a new highest bid within this extension. The auction comes to an end when there are no more overbids within those last 3 minutes.

Any displayed dates and times refer to the server time.

Bidding on a price level auction

In a price level auction, the price of an article will be reduced step-by-step. The resulting price levels are displayed in an easy-to-visualize chart and can be clicked individually to see the associated details. The current date is marked with a vertical red line.

Reserving a price level

You can bid on an article by chosing your desired price level and confirming your choice. Observed price levels are marked in grey. When the first of these price levels is reached, the auction automatically comes to an end. The corresponding bidder then purchases the article at the price he reserved.

Direct purchase

By reserving the current price level you can directly purchase the article at the currently valid price. The current level is always shown in the field Auction details.

Restricted price levels

There may be price levels below the reserve price of the article. They are marked in light blue and can be reserved as usual. However, should the auction be finished by reaching a restricted price level, the sale will only be made under reserve. That means the vendor is allowed to disagree to a purchase at this price. You will be informed about the progress of the sale in any case.