Stages of an auction
Every auction on Mobius moves through four stages, shown on the Auction Timeline at the top of each listing, on the Place Bids page and on the Bid Details page:
Auction Launched: The auction goes live and is visible to buyers.
Accepting Bids: Buyers can place and update bids until bidding closes. You can revise your bid as many times as you'd like while this stage is active.
Seller Reviews Bids: New bidding has closed. The seller reviews the bids received, can place counter offers and decides which to accept.
Bids Expire & Auction Ends: If the seller hasn't accepted a bid by this date, outstanding bids expire and the auction closes without a sale.
Rough timing
Timing varies by auction, but here's a typical example:
Date | Stage |
Day 1 | Auction Launched |
Day 1 | Accepting Bids opens |
Day 14 | Seller Review Period begins |
Day 21 | Bids Expire & Auction Ends |
The Auction Timeline on each listing shows the actual dates for that auction, along with a countdown (e.g., "4 Days Left") for however much time remains in the current stage.
Extended auctions
Auctions can be extended when bids come in late
When is an auction autoextended?
If a buyer places a new bid or submits a counter to an existing bid
and it lands within the final 24 hours before the auction's scheduled end, the auction is extended
Each qualifying late bid pushes the end time out by 24 hours from wherever it currently stands, up to a maximum of 3 additional days beyond the original scheduled end.
This gives other buyers a fair chance to respond to a late bid instead of being shut out by the clock.
Sellers can extend the evaluation period
Once bidding closes and an auction moves into Review Bids, sellers can extend that evaluation period by up to one week if they need more time to review the bids received before deciding.