Zorblak wrote: Can you clarify, is that the person who bids the highest single item bid, the person who bids the highest total bids, the person who bids the highest total difference between their bids and the previous leading bid, etc? For today it seems straightforward, but if this is going to happen again, it should be made clear before then.
To get into specifics with an example, if the current bids for a Patron Pin are $200, $250, and $300, the price showing would be $251 (second highest bid + bid increment). If a new person enters a bid of $275, does that count as $275, $25, $24, or $0 towards this total? If they enter a bid of $325, is that $325, $50, or $25? What if they were the one who previously bid $200?
I'm sorry if I'm overthinking this, but I think it would be good to know this ahead of time, and I suspect other people would as well.
Good question and thanks for asking! This is my plan unless I'm completely wrong:
I calculate the cumulative amount of the max bid on each item a person places between 12am and 11:59pm the actual day I post the bonus special. If they were to bid multiple times on the same item on that one day I would recalculate the cumulative total off of the highest bid they placed in their over all total.
Example:
Bidder A places a max bid for a Paton at $250, Wish ring at $175, and 10x PS at $5 each. They may or may not be winning on the items depending on other bids, but their max bid total would = $250+$175+$50 or $475.
Bidder B places a max bid for a Patron at $255, Wish ring at $165, and 20x PS at $4 each. They may or may not be winning on the items depending on other bids, but their max bid total would = $255+$165+$80 or $500.
Bidder B would be winning the bonus item for the day. The current winning bid of the auction items is irrelevant.
If, bidder A came back later that same day (before the 11:59pm cutoff) and upped their bid on a Patron to $300 then their max total for the day would move to $525 so they would take the lead on the bonus item.
I do not intend to publish the total high bids so as not to tip off anything in the auction and to maybe push a little bit on the concept that the more you might steer away from playing the bid war in the auction on a given day, the more you have a chance to win the bonus item. Also keep in mind, the total is only calculated on that very day. It's not retro inclusive of previous high bids.
I understand it's complicated but I have a system in place to verify and ensure accuracy.
I also understand that not everyone will agree on the method but I'm sticking to it unless there is a MAJOR error in it. I never want to double down on a clear mistake. I want to be 100% transparent in all we do with these auctions.
Also note, these bonus free items will not happen each day of the auction period. It's a surprise mystery on the days they will show up to encourage checking back.
And a final announcement is that there could be a few days show up when a VERY nice extra bonus item will be auctioned off on that 24 hour period only. The amount generated from that item will be 100% given to the charity. So keep an eye out for those days as well.
