How It Works

Bid Buy Local is an online auction which only features new products and premium services from local shops and businesses. You'll find all the items on www.bidbuylocal.com.au. If you want you can look at the items in store at the participating vendor before placing your bid. You bid on the items from the participating vendor in the auction. Here you can bid on what you want, at the price you want to pay. If you are lucky, it is you who places the winning bid.

You have won the auction if you have a leading bid that is equal to or greater than the reserve price when the auction closes. As the winning bidder, you are legally bound to your bid. If your bid wins, you pay online at www.bidbuylocal.com.au (or in exceptional circumstances, directly to each participating vendor).

Your item must be paid within 72 hours after the auction ends. Once you have paid, the proof of purchase and receipt will appear on the auction site under the heading "My page". Bring the proof of purchase to the vendor who participated in the auction with the item. Give them the proof of purchase and the item is yours.

Bidding is handled by a Proxy Bidding, the software that accepts and places bids on your behalf and oversees the whole bidding process to ensure fairness. Predetermined set of guidelines that are explained in the Marketplace rules governs the entire process on behalf of bidders.

You bid on items in the auction by placing a maximum bid. That is, the maximum amount you're willing to pay for the item. Your maximum bid is secret to everyone else. The Proxy Bidding on Bid Buy Local bids automatically for you whenever you are outbid, up to your maximum bid. In that way you can get the item at a lower price than your maximum bid, if no one outbid you. The benefit of this type of bidding is that you do not have to constantly submit one bid after another when you are outbid. And consequently, you do not have to follow the bidding minute by minute as it unfolds.

When the auction closes, the person who submitted the highest bid will buy the item at no more than a single bid increment over the second-highest bid. This applies to all items. Please refer to the bidding increment ladder as shown below.

Why you should join Bid Buy Local?

Bid Buy Local is a fantastic opportunity to purchase items that are presented in the auction catalogue and on www.bidbuylocal.com.au at very good prices, and hopefully at the same time you also think bidding is both exciting and fun.

How do I participate?

Bidding is easy...

1. Determine the maximum amount you are willing to pay for the item you are bidding on. That will be your secret maximum bid. Your secret maximum bid may not necessarily be the price you pay if you are the successful bidder (you may pay less, but never more). However, choose a maximum carefully as you won't be able to reduce or cancel it later and you'll be legally bound to pay up to that price if it is the winning bid.
2. Register yourself as a Bidder. You must provide your name, address, phone number and email address. After registration an e-mail message will be sent to the email address you provided. You log on using your email address and password you chose during registration. All registered bidders are also given a unique username (alias). This is the name that appears when you bid on www.bidbuylocal.com.au
3. Once bidding has commenced, search or browse for the item you wish to place a bid on and enter your secret maximum bid per item and the desired quantity of the item. NOTE! If you have bid on multiple copies of an item you can not then reduce the quantity. Similarly, the secret maximum bid can't be lowered.
4. When the auction closes, you will be contacted by email if you hold a Winning Bid for any item.

How do I keep track of my bids?

www.bidbuylocal.com.au always shows the current status of each item. Under the heading "My page" is a list of all items that you have bid on, and the status of these bids. There is also a separate list of the items you have chosen to add to your watch list. If someone has outbid you on an item, you will receive a notice via email. You can then raise your secret maximum bid and still have a chance of winning the auction.

How do I pay for and receive items?

You will pay for most items at www.bidbuylocal.com.au, or by telephone with your credit card. Your payment is to the Geelong Advertiser, which is collecting the selling price on behalf of the business sponsoring the item. Your item must be paid within 72 hours after the auction ends. Once you have paid, the proof of purchase and receipt will appear on the auction site under the heading "My page". Print out the proof of purchase and bring it to the participating shop / company when you redeem your item. For some items such as cars and real estate, you will pay the participating shop / company directly. Please follow the payment instructions in the email you receive when you become the winning bidder of the item.

Why a Secret Maximum Bid?

Because the auction runs for several days (as opposed to a regular auction), you cannot react instantly to someone bidding against you on the same item. For this reason, we use a system called Proxy Bidding or bidding through a representative. You choose how much you're willing to pay for an item. This is your secret maximum bid that only you and the Proxy Bidding software knows. The Proxy Bidding then places a bid on your behalf at the lowest level possible to make you the Leading Bidder according to the bidding ladder. If another bidder places a bid on the same item and their secret maximum bid is less than yours but greater than your leading bid, the Proxy Bidding automatically raises your bid in the range that the bidding ladder indicates (see below) until you are again the leading bidder or your secret maximum bid is reached.

Your bid will never exceed your secret maximum bid unless you submit a new, higher secret maximum bid. A higher secret maximum bid does not affect the bid submitted on your behalf unless your previous bid is in between two steps in the available bidding ladder.

By using a secret maximum bid, you save yourself the trouble of having to enter a new bid every time another bidder bids on the item, and you reduce the chances of being outbid at the last minute before the auction closes.

What is the Reserve Status?

Each item has a reserve price. This is the minimum amount that bidding must reach for the item to be sold. The reserve price is usually about 50 percent of the item's retail price. During the course of bidding, each item will display one of two reserve statuses:

Reserve not met. The amount of the highest bid is less than the reserve price and the item has not yet sold.

Reserve met. The amount of the highest bid is at least as much as the reserve price and the item will be sold to the highest bidder.

If your secret maximum bid is the first to meet or exceed the reserve price, the Proxy Bidding will automatically place your bid at the reserve price and declare reserve met for that item.

The Bidding Ladder

The bidding ladder that is used by the Proxy Bidding software at www.bidbuylocal.com.au is as follows:

The Proxy Bidding means you do not have to oversee how the bidding unfolds during the auction. As long as the bids are less than your secret maximum bid, you will always be the one with highest bid. If the bidding exceeds your secret maximum bid, you can always add a new secret maximum bid.

Example of the Bidding Process

1. Bidder A determines that he is willing to pay up to $1,200 for an item with a Value of $1,500, and therefore submits a secret maximum bid of $1,200 for the item.
2. Since Bidder A's $1,200 bid was greater than the reserve price, the Proxy Bidding places a bid of $750 (the hidden reserve price) on behalf of Bidder A, making Bidder A the Leading Bidder, and declares Reserve Met.
3. Bidder B determines that she is willing to pay up to $1,000 for the same item, and therefore submits a secret maximum bid of $1,000 for that item.
4. Since Bidder A has a higher secret maximum bid than Bidder B, the Proxy Bidding places a second bid on behalf of Bidder A in the amount of $1,025, which is the minimum amount needed for Bidder A to remain the Leading Bidder ($25 over the next highest secret bid - $1,000 from Bidder B).
5. Bidder C determines that he is willing to pay up to $1,300 for the same item and submits a secret maximum bid of $1,300. Since Bidder C's secret maximum bid is now the highest, the Proxy Bidding submits a bid of $1,225 on behalf of Bidder C ($25 over the next highest secret bid) and Bidder C becomes the new Leading Bidder.
6. Bidding ends and Bidder C is declared the winner. Bidder C purchases the item for $1,225. At any point while bidding is in progress, Bidders A and B could enter higher secret maximum bids, to attempt to outbid Bidder C, or additional bidders could enter the bidding on this item, making for a competitive and exciting auction-style online marketplace.

More Information

Please read the FAQ and the Marketplace Rules for more information about the auction's website.