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High Bid vs. Max Bid

Learn the difference between High Bid and Max Bid totals and how they’re calculated.

Updated over 3 weeks ago

What Is the High Bid?

The High Bid is the current winning bid on each lot in your auction.
It reflects the actual bid amount shown as the highest active bid for each item.

  • Total High Bid = sum of all current winning bids

  • This is the number most closely tied to expected revenue at the time of reporting


What Is the Max Bid?

The Max Bid is the total of all maximum proxy bids placed by bidders across all lots.

  • Includes bids that may not currently be winning

  • Reflects the maximum amounts bidders were willing to pay, not what they're currently winning with


Why They Might Not Match

There are several reasons High Bid and Max Bid totals may differ:

  • Proxy bidding: Bidders often place max bids that are higher than the current price

  • Outbid scenarios: Some max bids are no longer active if a higher bid was placed

  • Cross-portal bidding: A bidder may register on your white label site but place bids via HiBid.com or another integrated portal. This can skew metric alignment


Example

Lot

Max Bid Placed

Current High Bid

101

$100

$60

102

$250

$200

103

$75

$75

  • High Bid Total = $60 + $200 + $75 = $335

  • Max Bid Total = $100 + $250 + $75 = $425


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