Bidding
Bid in a mallow auction: the minimum bid, where your bid is held, how you are refunded when outbid, and how the winner claims the artwork.
A mallow auction is an English auction: each bid must beat the last, and the highest bid when the timer runs out wins. The seller's side of the same settings is on Auction.
Placing a bid
Open the auction
Before the first bid, the page shows the Reserve price. After it, the page shows the Highest bid, the highest bidder, the time left under Auction ends, and View all bids for the bid history.
Click Place bid
If you aren't signed in, the button reads Sign in to place bid. The Place a bid window shows the smallest bid you can make next to Min. Click that amount to fill it in.
Before an On bid auction has its first bid, the window also shows the Auction duration and the Minimum bid increment. If the seller set an end phase, it shows Auction end phase.
Enter your bid and approve
Type an amount under Enter your bid, click Place bid, and approve the transaction in your wallet. The window confirms with You are the highest bidder!
- You bid in the token the auction is priced in. There's no swap at this step, so your wallet must hold that token
- The full bid leaves your wallet when you bid, so you need the whole amount, plus a little SOL for the network fee. In an auction priced in a token other than SOL, a bid can also include a small Solana rent deposit for a token account
- While yours is the top bid, the button reads You're the highest bidder. You can't raise your own bid
- A seller can't bid on their own auction
- If the button reads Not allowlisted, bidding on that auction is limited to a list of wallets, and yours isn't on it
The minimum bid
| Bid | Minimum |
|---|---|
| First bid | The reserve price |
| Every later bid | The current highest bid plus the Minimum bid increment |
The increment is either a percentage of the current highest bid or a fixed amount, and the Min amount in the bid window already includes it. With a 10% increment and a highest bid of 2 SOL, the next bid must be at least 2.2 SOL. With a fixed increment of 0.5 SOL, it must be at least 2.5 SOL.
When the auction starts
| Auction starts shows | What it means |
|---|---|
| On bid | There's no timer yet. The first bid at or above the reserve starts the auction, and it then runs for the Auction duration |
| A countdown | The seller scheduled the start. Bids open when the countdown ends, and the end time is already fixed: the start time plus the duration |
Once a scheduled auction has started, the page shows Auction ends in even before anyone bids.
Where your bid is held
| Moment | Where the money is |
|---|---|
| You place the top bid | Your full bid moves from your wallet to the auction's escrow account, which only the mallow auction program controls |
| Someone outbids you | Your full bid is sent back to your wallet in the same transaction as their bid. There's nothing to claim |
| The auction ends and you won | Your bid stays in escrow until the auction is settled, then goes to the seller |
You can't cancel or lower a bid. The only way to get it back is to be outbid.
The artwork is locked for the same period. Once an auction has a bid, the seller can't cancel it or move the artwork.
The end phase
An end phase stops last-second bids from winning unanswered. If the seller set one, the bid window shows Auction end phase with its length, for example Last 5 mins.
A bid placed inside that window moves the end of the auction to the time of the bid plus the length of the end phase. A bid with 2 minutes left on a 5-minute end phase resets the timer to 5 minutes. Each later bid in the window does the same, so the auction ends only when a full end phase passes with no new bid.
While the end phase is running, the bid window shows End phase active and Time extension per bid. If the seller chose no end phase, the auction ends exactly on time.
When the auction ends
The page shows the Winning bid and the winner. Nothing moves yet: the auction has to be settled, and settling is one transaction that sends the artwork to the winner and the bid to the seller.
| Who | Button | Result |
|---|---|---|
| The winner | Claim NFT | Settles the auction |
| The seller | Claim proceeds | Settles the auction |
Either one settles for both. If the seller clicks first, the artwork arrives in the winner's wallet without the winner doing anything. If you won and the seller does nothing, click Claim NFT yourself. You never depend on the seller to receive your artwork.
- No deadline. A won auction can be settled at any time. Until then your bid stays in escrow and the artwork stays locked
- Cost. Whoever settles pays the network fee. For some artwork types, Solana also charges a small rent deposit for the account that holds the artwork in the winner's wallet
- Fees. mallow's sale fee and the creator's royalties are taken out of the winning bid before the seller is paid. Nothing is added to your bid. See Fees
If nobody bids
A scheduled auction that reaches its end with no bid at or above the reserve ends with no winner, and the seller takes the artwork back. An On bid auction stays open until someone bids or the seller cancels it. No collector's money is held in either case.
Physical artwork and the unlock price
If the page says This listing includes a physical, open it for the details. A seller can set an unlock price, shown as Unlocks at followed by the amount. The physical piece is only included when the winning bid reaches that amount, and the line changes to Unlocked at once the highest bid gets there. A winning bid below it wins the digital artwork alone.
If the seller asks for a shipping address, the form opens when the winner clicks Claim NFT. See Physicals.
Following an auction
mallow sends these notifications in the app, and by email if your account has an email address with email notifications turned on:
| Notification | Sent to |
|---|---|
| You were outbid | The bidder who was just outbid |
| The auction ends in less than 30 minutes | Everyone who has bid, and subscribers |
| You won | The highest bidder, when the auction ends |
| A new bid, and the auction ended | Subscribers |
To follow an auction without bidding, sign in, open the options menu (the three dots) on the artwork page and choose Subscribe. Choose Unsubscribe to stop. The subscription ends with the auction.
Auctions you have bid on are listed under Bidding On on your profile.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What happened |
|---|---|
| Minimum bid is … | Your bid is below the minimum shown |
| Insufficient funds, need … | Your wallet holds less than your bid, in the auction's token |
| Failed to place bid | The transaction was rejected. The usual cause is that someone bid first, so the minimum went up, or the auction just ended. Your bid isn't taken. Reopen the bid window for the new minimum |
| Transaction expired | The network didn't confirm in time. Raise your priority fee and try again |
mallow can pause an auction. Bids are rejected while it's paused, and the paused time is added back when it resumes. mallow can also cancel an auction, and the top bid is then refunded in full.