Item Economics
How to set silent auction bid increments
The increment decides how fast bidding climbs and, in practice, where it stops. Here is how to size yours — and the mid-auction adjustment most organizers miss.
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In 30 seconds the short answer
- Set increments at roughly 5% of fair market value, rounded to $5, $10, $25 or $50.
- Too small and bidding feels tedious so people quit early. Too large and bidding stops dead the moment the next bid crosses fair market value.
- Lower the increment as the price approaches value — that is where the most recoverable money in an auction is sitting.
The 5-minute version the whole method, condensed
- Take 5% of fair market value and round to a number people think in.
- Understand why 5%: opening at 40% and finishing near 65% means climbing 25 points of value, which 5% covers in about five bids.
- Scale it per item. One flat increment is punitive on a $50 item and glacial on a $2,000 one.
- Watch for the near-value stall. A $100 item at $92 with a $10 increment needs a $102 bid — above value, and most people won't.
- In the last day or two, sort items by how close they sit to value. Anything within about 15% with an increment that would push past it is a candidate.
- Halve those increments and, where it's worth a mention, say so — a lowered increment is a legitimate reason to message people.
- On printed bid sheets, use larger increments and pre-print the lines, since you can't adjust mid-event.
The bid increment is the minimum amount by which each new bid must exceed the last. It is the least discussed setting in a silent auction and one of the two that determine the final price of every item you have.
Starting bids decide whether an item gets bid on. Increments decide how high the bidding goes once it does. Get the increment wrong and you can watch a popular item collect fourteen bids and still finish below what it was worth.
This page sits under how to run a silent auction. Read it alongside starting bids — the two settings only make sense together.
What a bid increment is
If an item stands at $60 with a $10 increment, the next valid bid is $70. Nothing between is accepted. The increment is the step size of the ladder.
Two things follow from that. First, the increment controls how many bids an item needs to reach a given price — and every bid is a separate act of willingness you have to earn. Second, it controls how big a commitment each of those acts represents. Both matter, and they pull in opposite directions.
The number: 5% of value
Set the increment at roughly 5% of the item's fair market value, rounded to a number people think in.
A $100 item gets a $5 increment. A $500 item gets $25. A $1,000 item gets $50.
Where that figure comes from
It is derived from the two ratios that govern the rest of your pricing, not picked by feel.
Auctions hosted on 32auctions tend to realize about 65% of combined item fair market value. The standard opening is 40% of value. So a typical item has to climb 25 percentage points of its own worth between its first bid and a result in line with the benchmark.
65% target − 40% opening = 25 points of value to climb.
At a 5% increment, that is five bids after the opening bid.
Five bids per item over a week of bidding is realistic. It is enough competition to feel like competition, and few enough that a modestly popular item can get there. At a 2% increment the same climb needs twelve or thirteen bids, which almost nothing sustains. At a 10% increment it needs two or three — achievable, but each one is a large jump and bidders tend to stop early.
Increments by item value
| Fair market value | Starting bid (40%) | Increment | Bids to reach 65% |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25 | $10 | $2 | 4 |
| $50 | $20 | $3 | 4 |
| $100 | $40 | $5 | 5 |
| $250 | $100 | $10 | 6 |
| $500 | $200 | $25 | 5 |
| $1,000 | $400 | $50 | 5 |
| $2,500 | $1,000 | $100 | 6 |
Round to $2, $5, $10, $25, $50, $100. An arithmetically exact $12.50 increment is worse than a rounded $10 one, because bidders are doing this on a phone between other things and friction costs you bids.
Too small: the nickel-and-dime problem
A tiny increment looks generous. It is not.
Two bidders competing in $2 steps on a $400 item are not having a bidding war — they are having an argument. Each bid moves the price so little that the process feels tedious, and tedium is what makes people quit. The bidder who drops out at $180 would happily have paid $260; they just did not want to press the button eleven more times.
Small increments also consume your bidding window. An item that needs twelve bids to reach a fair price will not get there in a five-day auction where most bidders check in twice.
Too large: the value ceiling
The opposite failure is more expensive and much less obvious, because the item looks like it is performing right up until it stops.
Bidders at a charity auction are doing two things at once: supporting a cause and getting something they want. The second part has a limit, and the limit is roughly fair market value. Beyond it, most bidders feel they are simply overpaying.
So when the next required bid crosses that line, bidding ends. A $100 item at $92 with a $10 increment requires a $102 bid — above value, and most people will not make it. The item finishes at $92 and everyone concludes it "did fine."
The move most organizers miss
Lower the increment as the price approaches fair market value.
Take that same $100 item at $92. Drop the increment from $10 to $5 and the next bid is $97 — still below value, still a deal, and now available. Someone takes it. You have earned another $5 from an item that had stopped, and the bidder is pleased rather than resentful.
Scaled across a catalogue, that is real money. Twenty items each stalled $5–$40 short of value is several hundred dollars sitting on the table, recoverable with a settings change.
In practice: in the last day or two of bidding, sort your items by how close the current price sits to fair market value. Anything within about 15% of value with an increment that would push the next bid past it is a candidate. Halve the increment and, where it is worth a mention, say so — a lowered increment is a legitimate reason to send a message.
Increments on paper bid sheets
Printed sheets change the calculus, because the increment has to be printed and cannot be adjusted mid-event without reprinting.
- Pre-print the bid lines at fixed intervals rather than leaving blanks. Blank lines produce $1 raises and disputes about legibility.
- Use slightly larger increments than you would online, because an in-person silent auction runs for a couple of hours rather than a week and has far fewer bidding cycles to work with.
- Print enough lines that a popular item does not run out of room.
See silent auction bid sheets. If you run hybrid, mobile bidding lets you keep the flexibility to adjust increments while still serving guests in the room.
Increment mistakes
- One flat increment across the whole auction. $10 is punishing on a $50 item and glacial on a $2,000 one.
- Setting increments and never revisiting them. The near-value stall is the most recoverable loss in an auction and it needs one adjustment.
- Confusing generous with effective. Small increments feel accessible and produce lower final prices.
- Unrounded increments. $17.50 is precise and unfriendly.
- Ignoring how long your auction runs. A short window needs larger steps because there are fewer chances to take them.
Key takeaways
- Set increments at roughly 5% of fair market value and round to $5, $10, $25 or $50.
- That figure is derived: opening at 40% and finishing near 65% means 25 points to climb, which 5% covers in about five bids.
- Increments that are too small make bidding tedious and bidders quit well below what they would have paid.
- Increments that are too large stall items just below fair market value, where most bidders stop.
- Lower the increment as the price approaches value — the most recoverable money in an auction is sitting there.
- On printed bid sheets use larger increments and pre-print the lines, since you cannot adjust mid-event.
Increments calculated from the value you enter
32auctions calculates a minimum increment from each item's fair market value, so the number you research is the only one you have to think about.
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Frequently asked questions
What should a silent auction bid increment be?
Roughly 5% of the item's fair market value, rounded to a friendly number — $5 on a $100 item, $25 on a $500 item, $50 on a $1,000 item. That size takes about five bids to climb from a 40% opening to the 65% of value a typical auction realizes.
Are small bid increments better for raising money?
No. Small increments feel generous but produce lower final prices, because bidding in tiny steps is tedious and bidders drop out well below what they would have been willing to pay. They also consume your bidding window, since the item needs far more bids to reach a fair price.
Why does bidding stop just below an item's value?
Bidders at a charity auction want to support the cause and get something worth having, and the second part has a limit around fair market value. When the next required bid would push the price above that line, most bidders stop. Lowering the increment keeps the next bid below value and often unsticks the item.
Can you change a bid increment during an auction?
In an online auction, yes, and it is one of the most useful adjustments available. Reducing the increment on items that have stalled just below fair market value regularly produces additional bids. On printed bid sheets the increment is fixed once printed, so choose more carefully up front.
Should bid increments be the same for every item?
No. A flat increment across the whole auction is punishing on low-value items and far too slow on high-value ones. Scale the increment to each item's value so the number of bids needed stays roughly consistent across your catalogue.