chart # 1
13.15	highest unique
13.13	unique (yours)
13.10	unique
13.05	unique (yours)
13.01	unique (yours)
12.96	unique
12.86	unique
12.80	unique (yours)
12.77	unique (yours)
12.75	unique

As you can see, the $13.15 bid is the highest unique (HUB) at the moment and you have entered 5 unique bids. Maybe you have entered a total of 10 bids, but only 5 of them emerged as 'unique', since nobody else has entered those amounts (yet).

Now suppose that somebody at this stage enters a bid of $13.20 that appears to be unique. This takes away the HUB status of the $13.15 bid because that amount has now been surpassed by another (higher) unique bid. The $13.15 status goes from HUB back to 'unique'.

The highest unique bid in this situation has gone UP, so the following chart applies:

chart # 2
13.20	highest unique
13.15	(back to) unique
13.13	unique (yours)
13.10	unique
13.05	unique (yours)
13.01	unique (yours)
12.96	unique
12.86	unique
12.80	unique (yours)
12.77	unique (yours)
12.75	unique

If someone now enters a bid that is higher than $13.20 (because one can bid up to $20), the above would repeat itself and the highest unique bid goes up again.

But there comes a time, normally when the reserve has been reached, that the auction will run out of unique bids at the top of the scale, so what happens then is the following:

Lets assume that $13.20 is the highest unique bid (as in chart # 2) and that somebody now also enters a $13.20 bid into the auction. This bid now knocks off the 'highest unique' status of the $13.20 bid, it degrades it to 'not unique anymore' and the computer starts searching for the nearest highest unique bid which happens to be $13.15 again! This takes less than a split second and we now see that $13.15 has got its HUB status back. WOW! That member will be happy! She thought she lost her HUB status but now's got it back! Look at the situation

chart # 3
13.20	not unique (knocked off)
13.15	highest unique (again)
13.13	unique (yours)
13.10	unique
13.05	unique (yours)
13.01	unique (yours)
12.96	unique
12.86	unique
12.80	unique (yours)
12.77	unique (yours)
12.75	unique

Now, someone enters a bid of $13.15 and BINGO! $13.15 lost HUB status and since your $13.13 bid is the highest of all unique bids now, it gets HUB status!
Fantastic! You've got it!

The HUB is now coming down and let's hope that no-one will bid $13,13 before the auction closes because that would knock your HUB status off.
So fingers crossed!

Here's the chart for this moment:

chart # 4
13.20	not unique (knocked off)
13.15	not unique (knocked off)
13.13	highest unique (yours)
13.10	unique
13.05	unique (yours)
13.01	unique (yours)
12.96	unique
12.86	unique
12.80	unique (yours)
12.77	unique (yours)
12.75	unique

But as you wake up in the morning... guess what? Some nasty person has entered a $13.13 bid which knocked off your HUB status, at the same time degrading it to 'not unique' anymore. OUCH!

But hey... you are still fully in the swing of the auction and your opportunities have not ran out yet. Look at this: $13.10 is now HUB.

chart # 5
13.20	not unique (knocked off)
13.15	not unique (knocked off)
13.13	not unique (yours) (knocked off)
13.10	highest unique
13.05	unique (yours)
13.01	unique (yours)
12.96	unique
12.86	unique
12.80	unique (yours)
12.77	unique (yours)
12.75	unique

As you are at work you cannot help yourself so you take a sneak peep in the auction and HURRAY! $13.10 has been knocked off and you have the HUB back, since you earlier entered a unique bid of $13.05 which now has been recorded as the HUB.

Here's the scenario we are now in:

chart # 6
13.20	not unique (knocked off)
13.15	not unique (knocked off)
13.13	not unique (yours) (knocked off)
13.10	not unique (knocked off)
13.05	highest unique (yours)
13.01	unique (yours)
12.96	unique
12.86	unique
12.80	unique (yours)
12.77	unique (yours)
12.75	unique

As you can see in chart # 6  you can afford to be knocked off now again because the HUB would drop onto your $13.01 automatically (which is again your bid) and further down another 2 times. ($12.80 & $12.77)

But it would be smart to try and see if you can secure your HUB status even more by entering: 13.00-12.99-12.98 & 12.97. If these bids would come out as unique, you would have given yourself another 4 protection entries for your HUB.

So in summary, it is essential to enter your bids in the early stages of the auction in order to have a greater opportunity to become successful bidder.
The opportunity to secure the HUB is much greater in the early stages of the auction since there is normally low competition of other bidders yet.

Try to get a highest unique bid status on a level that you feel comfortable with as soon as the auction starts and then keep on bidding downwards, increment by increment, so you'll protect your highest unique bid for a long time when it becomes knocked off. When your HUB is knocked off, it will jump one bid lower which is again YOUR unique bid and so on.

In normal auctions, participants tend to wait till the last moment to enter their bids. This is not a strategy you should use in HUB auctions. If you enter as many bids (within your budget) early and they are all attached to each other,
(eg. 10.01-10.02-10.03-10.04-10.05 etc.) your opportunity to become the successful bidder increases enormously.

We hope this has cleared the air so you will be entering your bids with the confidence that they are not wasted. Should you still have questions, do not hesitate to email us . We love to help.