CigarBid.com runs four auction engines. Most buyers interact with the big two — English (regular bidding) and Dutch (the Saturday multi-winner events) — but each one sets prices in a different way. When we calculate whether a current bid is a good deal, we compare it only against past sales of the same type. Otherwise a single Dutch sale can inflate an English average, or a seller-set Buyout price can make bidding look more competitive than it really was.
The workhorse format on CigarBid. A lot opens at a minimum offer price. Bidders place a maximum they're willing to pay, and the system automatically raises the visible bid in small increments, just enough to top the second-highest bidder. You don't always pay your max — you pay one increment above the second place bidder. The lot has a fixed close time displayed on the page.
If no one outbids the current leader before close, that person wins at the current bid amount. Simple, well-understood, identical to eBay in structure.
CigarBid runs Dutch events on Saturdays — a single lot has several identical units for sale (say, 10 boxes), and the price starts high, then ticks down over time. The first buyer who clicks Buy locks in their unit at whatever the price is at that moment. The clock keeps descending, and the next impatient buyer clicks, and so on, until all units sell or the clock reaches the floor.
Dutch auctions deliberately reward patience. If you wait, you pay less — but if everyone waits, the best units sell out before you click. This "impatience tax" means the first few winners in a Dutch lot consistently pay more than the last ones, and the overall average Dutch winning price runs systematically higher than the same cigar's English-auction price.
A Buyout lot has a single price tag set by CigarBid. Anyone can click Buy to purchase at that price. There's no auction, no counter-bids, and no competitive dynamic — either someone accepts the asking price or the lot sits until it expires.
Because the price is seller-set, a Buyout sale tells you only that one person found the price acceptable at that moment. It doesn't tell you what the market would have paid in a real auction, and it doesn't tell you whether the price was generous or stingy. A lot of Buyouts sit unsold and eventually expire.
A hybrid format. The lot runs like a normal English auction — competitive bidding with a close time — but a Buyout price is also displayed. At any point before close, anyone can click the Buyout price to win immediately and end the auction on the spot.
Two ways a single lot can close: (a) the timer reaches zero and the highest English bidder wins at whatever the leading bid is, or (b) someone hits the Buy button and wins instantly at the fixed price. Different winners on the same lot can pay in different ways, too — a lot with multiple units might sell some via Buy Now and the rest via English bidding.
| Type | Price comes from | Best comparison |
|---|---|---|
| English | Competitive bidding | Other English sales |
| Dutch | Descending clock · impatience tax | Other Dutch sales |
| Buyout | Seller-set asking price | Other Buyout sales |
| English-Buyout | Whichever path won — bidding or Buy Now | Split: English wins vs Buyout wins |