Bid Increment Chart
Standard bid increments for every auction price band — including a real-estate column.
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Bid Increment Chart
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A bid increment chart is the lookup table an auctioneer or auction platform uses to decide how much the next bid must rise above the current high bid. Operators want a defensible default — one that is fast at low values, slow enough at high values to keep bidders engaged, and consistent across live, online, and timed sales. The chart below is the most common pattern used across art, jewellery, watches, collectibles, and general-line auctions, with a separate column for real-estate auctions where increments scale very differently.
What's inside
- A standard chart in USD with corresponding £ / € / ¥ / HK$ / S$ approximations.
- A real-estate increment column for residential and commercial property auctions.
- Notes on when to override defaults — high-demand lots, two-bidder duels, end-of-sale dynamics.
- A short discussion of dynamic vs static increments.
- Limitations and edge cases.
Standard bid increment chart
| Current high bid (USD) | Standard increment (USD) | Approx. £ | Approx. € | Approx. ¥ (×100) | Approx. HK$ | Approx. S$ | Real-estate increment (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0 – $49 | $5 | £5 | €5 | ¥500 | HK$50 | S$10 | n/a |
| $50 – $99 | $10 | £10 | €10 | ¥1,000 | HK$100 | S$10 | n/a |
| $100 – $499 | $25 | £20 | €25 | ¥2,500 | HK$200 | S$25 | n/a |
| $500 – $999 | $50 | £50 | €50 | ¥5,000 | HK$500 | S$50 | $1,000 |
| $1,000 – $1,999 | $100 | £100 | €100 | ¥10,000 | HK$1,000 | S$100 | $1,000 |
| $2,000 – $4,999 | $250 | £200 | €250 | ¥25,000 | HK$2,000 | S$250 | $2,500 |
| $5,000 – $9,999 | $500 | £500 | €500 | ¥50,000 | HK$5,000 | S$500 | $5,000 |
| $10,000 – $19,999 | $1,000 | £1,000 | €1,000 | ¥100,000 | HK$10,000 | S$1,000 | $5,000 |
| $20,000 – $49,999 | $2,500 | £2,000 | €2,500 | ¥250,000 | HK$20,000 | S$2,500 | $10,000 |
| $50,000 – $99,999 | $5,000 | £5,000 | €5,000 | ¥500,000 | HK$50,000 | S$5,000 | $25,000 |
| $100,000 – $199,999 | $10,000 | £10,000 | €10,000 | ¥1,000,000 | HK$100,000 | S$10,000 | $25,000 |
| $200,000 – $499,999 | $20,000 | £20,000 | €20,000 | ¥2,000,000 | HK$200,000 | S$20,000 | $50,000 |
| $500,000 – $999,999 | $50,000 | £50,000 | €50,000 | ¥5,000,000 | HK$500,000 | S$50,000 | $50,000 |
| $1,000,000 – $1,999,999 | $100,000 | £100,000 | €100,000 | ¥10,000,000 | HK$1,000,000 | S$100,000 |
Currency conversions are illustrative round numbers, not live FX. Adjust to your house's local convention.
How to use this chart
Set as the default in your auction software. Most online auction platforms accept a tiered increment table; load the columns above as your house default. Static increments — the same lookup applied to every lot — are simpler operationally and easier for bidders to predict. Dynamic increments (where the chart accelerates after rapid bidding) are more sophisticated but introduce inconsistency that creates dispute risk; we recommend dynamic only for houses with strong specialist clerking discipline.
Override deliberately, not by accident. A skilled live auctioneer routinely cuts increments in two places: when a lot stalls just under the reserve (cutting from $1,000 to $500 to coax one more bid) and when two specific bidders are duelling at the top of the chart and the auctioneer wants to give them a narrower step to keep the duel alive. Both moves are legitimate and well-understood by experienced bidders; both should be backed by a clerking note so the move is auditable.
Match increment to category norms. Watches and jewellery tend to follow the standard chart almost exactly. Fine art at the upper end ($1M+) tends to use the auctioneer's discretion column. Wine often uses smaller increments (5–10% of current bid) because of multi-bottle lots and tight comp pricing. Collectibles vary widely by sub-category. Real estate increments are coarser because the bid pool is smaller and a single property hammers in a few minutes.
Disclose the chart to bidders. Publish your increment table in the conditions of sale and on every lot page. Disputes about whether a bid was a half-step or a full-step almost always resolve faster when the chart is visible up-front.
Limitations
- The chart assumes a competitive sale with multiple bidders. Sparse-bidder lots — common at the high end — often hammer on a single bid and the chart is irrelevant.
- Real-estate auctions in different jurisdictions (UK property auctions, US foreclosure auctions, Australian on-site auctions) follow regional conventions; the column above is a starting point, not a global standard.
- Charity / silent auctions usually use much smaller, item-specific increments (often $5 or $10) and require a separate chart entirely — see our silent-auction bid-sheet template.
- Currency conversions in the table are round-number approximations for visual reference and are not FX-accurate.
- The "auctioneer's discretion" floor at the top of the chart is by design — at eight figures, no static rule replaces an experienced rostrum auctioneer reading the room.