You place a bid on the item, you enter the max amount you are willing to pay for the item. If the item is $1.00 but you know it is worth $15 to you. You can put a bid of $15 on the item. The seller and other bidders do not know your maximum bid amount. Then our system places bids on your behalf starting with the next bid increment for the auction. The bid increment is the amount by which a bid will be raised each time the current bid is outdone. It is predetermined based on the current highest bid. See the increment table below.