TL;DR: Bidding in a Merit Messenger auction takes five steps: register early and add WhatsApp or WeChat, read the lot page (current bid, increment, closing time), bid with one tap or several increments at once, watch the 5-minute anti-sniping extension at the end, and if you win, add your address and pay the Thai baht invoice within 48 hours. This walkthrough follows the real screens step by step.
The rules themselves (increments, the shipping table, new-account limits) are summarised in our auction guide. This article doesn't repeat that list. Instead it walks through one complete auction from start to finish: which buttons you'll see, which emails you'll get, and where buyers usually slip up. For how auction prices form and how to judge whether any platform is trustworthy, see this analysis.
1. Before the auction: get your account ready
Short version: register at least a day before the lot closes.
- Sign-up: email registration or Google sign-in both work.
- Contact details: your first bid opens a short form asking for a nickname plus WhatsApp or WeChat (at least one). We use it to arrange payment and delivery if you win. Your nickname appears masked in the public bid history.
- Two limits on new accounts: accounts created within 10 minutes of closing cannot bid, and accounts with no completed order are capped at 20,000 baht per lot. The cap lifts once you pay your first invoice.
The most common disappointment is spotting a lot minutes before it closes, registering, and hitting the first limit. Register early and add your contact details early, so that when it matters all you have to do is bid.
2. Reading a lot page
Open the live auctions and click into any lot. The bid panel shows:
- Current bid / Starting price: before anyone bids you see the starting price (many lots start at 0). After that, the current bid.
- Increment: the smallest step you can raise by. 100 baht by default, higher on valuable lots. Always check the page.
- Next bid: the lowest valid bid, already calculated for you as the current bid plus one increment.
- Closes in: the countdown. Closing times are set to the minute and shown in Bangkok time (UTC+7), so convert if you're in another time zone.
- Reserve: the page only says whether a reserve exists, never the amount. If bidding stays below the reserve, the lot passes in unsold.
- Certificate: certified lots show the card number, which you can check on our certificate lookup before bidding. Uncertified lots say so plainly.
- Live bid history: every bid's amount and time is public, with nicknames masked.
Look through the front, back, certificate and detail photos before you bid. If anything is unclear, ask us while the lot is still open. Auction sales are final, with no returns or exchanges, so settle your questions before you bid.
3. Bidding: one tap or several increments
The panel offers two ways to bid. Either way, the amount must be the current bid plus a whole number of increments:
- Bid button: shows the amount directly, for example "Bid ฿2,500", which is the current bid plus one increment.
- Bid multiple increments: jump several steps at once, useful when you want to open a gap and skip a few rounds of back-and-forth.
Example: a lot has a 500-baht increment and stands at 2,000 baht. One tap bids 2,500; three increments bids 3,500. An amount like 2,300, which isn't a whole number of increments, is rejected.
Either way, a confirmation sheet shows the amount again. Once you press "Confirm bid", the bid is final and appears in the public history immediately. Check the figure before you confirm, especially when bidding several increments.
After submitting, you'll see one of these:
- "You are leading": your bid is the highest. The system won't let you raise your own bid, so a stray tap can't push up the price you'll pay.
- Bid rejected: usually someone placed the same or a higher bid a moment earlier. Refresh and bid the new "next bid".
- "You have been outbid": someone bid higher. We also send you an "Outbid" email.
4. The final five minutes: anti-sniping
Last-second sniping doesn't work here. Any valid bid in the final 5 minutes pushes the closing time back by 5 minutes, and this can repeat. The panel shows how many times the extension has triggered.
Example: a lot is due to close at 22:00. Someone bids at 21:57, so the close moves to 22:05. You bid at 22:03 and it moves to 22:10. The auction keeps running until 5 minutes pass with no new bid.
Practical advice:
- Decide your ceiling in advance. The extension phase is bid-for-bid and easy to get carried away in. Know your number and stop there.
- There is no proxy bidding (no automatic bidding up to a maximum), so you need to be there to win. One hour before closing, we email everyone who has bid on that lot.
- Trust the on-page countdown. It syncs with the server regularly, so a fast or slow clock on your device doesn't affect it.
5. After you win: invoice, address, payment
When the lot closes, the winner is determined automatically, an invoice is created, and you get a winning email. Everything from there happens in My Auctions, under your invoices:
- Add your shipping address: recipient, phone, country/region, street address, city, postal code. It's saved to your account for next time.
- Shipping is calculated: Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Chinese Mainland and Cambodia are a flat 260 baht, and the invoice shows hammer price plus shipping as one total. Everywhere else (including Thailand, Taiwan, Europe, the US and Australia) the invoice shows "awaiting shipping quote". We add the actual cost and email you when it's ready.
- Press Pay: you're taken to secure checkout. Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay are accepted, and everything is settled in Thai baht. If your card is in another currency, your bank converts at its daily rate.
- 48 hours to pay, counted from the close. If you're waiting on a shipping quote, the deadline resets to a full 48 hours from when we post the quote. It can only be extended, never shortened, so a slow quote from us never eats into your time.
Once payment goes through, you get a confirmation email. If the lot has a certificate, its status on the invoice changes from "reserved for you" to "yours", and entering the card number on the certificate lookup will show the verification result. When the amulet ships, a shipping email arrives with the tracking number, which you can also open from the invoice page.
One thing to watch: sign in with the same account you won with. If you open the invoice while signed in to a different account, the page will tell you the invoice belongs to someone else.
6. What if a winner doesn't pay?
An invoice unpaid after 48 hours is marked as defaulted, and that account is blacklisted from bidding. The lot may then go to the runner-up, who gets an offer email and can pay following its instructions. So if you came second, don't delete our emails too quickly.
7. After the close: prices stay public
Every closed lot gets a permanent result page with the hammer price, bid count and full bid timeline. Before your next auction, check past results to see what similar amulets have sold for. It's more reliable than any price list.
FAQ
Q: Can I set a maximum and let the system bid for me?
A: Not at the moment. There is no proxy bidding, so every bid is placed and confirmed by you. The one-hour reminder and the outbid emails help you keep track.
Q: I didn't get the winning email. What now?
A: Check your spam folder, then sign in and open My Auctions. Your invoice is listed there whether or not the email arrived.
Q: I'm in Thailand, Taiwan, Europe or the US. Can I take part?
A: Yes, buyers anywhere in the world can bid. Your region isn't in the flat-rate table, so the invoice waits for a shipping quote first. Once we add it you can pay, and the 48-hour deadline restarts from that moment.
Q: Can I return a lot I won?
A: No. Auction sales are final, with no returns or exchanges. That's why we publish all detail photos and certificate numbers, and why you should ask any questions before bidding.
Q: Why can't I raise my bid while I'm leading?
A: Bids can't be retracted, so outbidding yourself only increases what you'll pay. The system blocks it to prevent accidental taps.
Q: If a lot passes in unsold, will it come back?
A: It may be relisted at auction or return to the shop. Check the auction page regularly to catch it.
Last updated: October 2026 | By the Merit Messenger team (based in Bangkok)
Ready? See the live auctions. For the quick rules, read the auction guide, and if you have any questions, contact us.