Bid on it tonight.
Take it home Thursday.
LSBid is built for the things that don't ship well — too heavy, too awkward. Most lots you collect yourself, a short drive away. Some sellers will ship. The lot tells you which, before you bid.
Craftsman 9-drawer rolling tool chest
Go ahead — try to snipe it. Any bid in the last minutes pushes the clock back out. The lot doesn't close until the bidding actually stops.
Find it. Bid it. Pick it up.
No shipping labels, no packing peanuts, no negotiating with a stranger in a parking lot. Real auctions run by real local businesses.
Filter by distance first
Set your radius before anything else. If you won't drive 40 miles for a lathe, you'll never see the lathe. Browse without an account — you only sign up when you're ready to bid.
Set a max and walk away
Tell us the most you'd pay. We bid for you in increments, only as high as we have to. Your maximum is private — the seller can't see it, other bidders can't see it, and it doesn't appear in any dashboard, including ours.
Collect the lot
Most lots are local pickup: an address on a map, a window, and a photo ID that matches your account. Some sellers offer shipping and arrange it themselves. Which one applies is on the lot, long before you bid.
Estates, shop closures, surplus.
The stuff that's too heavy, too cheap, or too awkward to ship — which is exactly why it's worth bidding on locally.
Every seller writes their own rules.
LSBid doesn't set the premium, the payment terms, or how you get it home. The seller does — they're running the auction, not us. What we do is put all of it on the lot before you tap bid, instead of on the invoice afterward.
What changes from seller to seller
Always printed on the lotThe parts most sites bury.
Auctions have real rules, and pretending otherwise is how people get burned. Here's ours, in plain English.
Everything is sold as-is. Go look at it.
We don't publish condition grades, because a one-word grade invented by someone who wants to sell you the thing isn't information. Instead, every event advertises an inspection window with a time and an address.
Sellers post photo minimums and can add a short condition video. Bidding means you accept the item as it stands.
You're buying from the seller, not from us
Each seller is the merchant of record for their own sales — their name is on your statement, and they resolve disputes. If something is materially not as described, open a dispute and we hand both sides the evidence: your photos, the listing photos, the pickup record, the signature.
What we don't do is fund refunds out of our own pocket and call it a guarantee. We'd rather tell you that up front than in the fine print.
It costs nothing to look. It costs a verified phone number to bid.
Sign up with an email, verify your phone before your first bid, and add a card when you place it. That's our whole gate — individual sellers may ask for a card or a refundable hold up front on their own events, and they'll say so on the lot. Then set a max on something heavy and see what happens Thursday.
Straight answers.
Does anyone see my maximum bid?
No. Not the seller, not their staff, not other bidders, and not LSBid support. Proxy maximums are private everywhere in the product — it's a hard requirement, not a setting. Bid history shows hammer prices and two-letter bidder marks, nothing else.
What's a buyer's premium, and why isn't it the same everywhere?
It's a percentage the seller adds to the winning bid — how auction houses have made money for a couple of centuries. On LSBid each seller sets their own, and we don't take a cut of it or cap it. That's deliberate: it's shown on every lot at bid time, so you can price it in, and sellers who get greedy watch their bidding go soft.
Can I get it shipped?
Sometimes — it's the seller's call, not ours. LSBid is local-pickup-first on purpose: it's the whole reason a $30 box of clamps is worth bidding on here instead of paying $40 to ship it. But plenty of lots are small enough to post, and sellers who want to offer shipping can. They arrange the carrier and set the terms; we publish those terms on the lot. If a lot doesn't say it ships, assume you're driving.
Why did that auction ask for my card before I could bid?
Because that seller decided to. LSBid's own floor is lighter — verified phone, then a card at your first bid — but sellers can require a card on file to bid on their event, and on high-value events like vehicles they can require a refundable pre-authorization hold to register. It's not a charge, and it's released at close if you don't win. Any event that does this says so before you're in it.
When does my card actually get charged?
On the seller's schedule. Most set the card on file to charge shortly after the auction closes; some add a delay; some don't charge a card at all and take cash, check, or wire when you collect. Each lot states its settlement type at bid time, so you're never guessing.
What if I win and can't pick it up?
Contact the seller as early as you can — most will work with you on the window. Uncollected items are handled at the seller's discretion and can lead to fees, forfeiture of the item, and restrictions on your account. Winning a bid is a binding offer, so bid like you mean it.
Do you extend the clock forever?
Effectively, until bidding stops. Each event sets a soft-close window between one and five minutes; a bid inside that window pushes the close out again. Sellers can override it per lot. It ends when nobody wants it more than the last person.
Is there an app?
Not yet, and not for now. The site is built mobile-first — you can bid, watch, and check out from a phone without installing anything. We'll build native apps when there's a real reason to, not to have an icon on your home screen.
Your premium is yours. Our fee has a ceiling.
LSBid charges a percentage of hammer price — never your buyer's premium, never sales tax — and it stops at a monthly cap. Past the cap, the rest of the month is free. That's the whole pricing model. You can check our math on a napkin.
One fee base
A percentage of what your lots sell for. Not your premium, not tax, not a second processing line underneath it.
The premium is yours
Set it at any number you like. We don't cap it and we don't take a cent of it. Buyers see it at bid time, so the market prices it in.
The bill stops
Every plan has a monthly ceiling on percentage fees. Blow past it in week two and the rest of your month costs you nothing.
Held by us
You're the merchant of record. Money moves buyer → you. No reserves, no payout holds, no waiting on us to release your own cash.
Drag it until it stops.
Set the hammer you'd do in a month and the premium you charge. The bar fills, hits the cap, and quits. Everything after that is free volume.
Percentage fees are capped; the plan subscription is on top of the cap. Worst case per month is $1,500 on Free, $1,150 on Pro, $950 on Scale — the ceiling drops every time you move up, so no plan is ever a trap. Doing $40k+ a month consistently? Ask us about Custom.
Three plans. Same toolkit.
Paying more buys a lower rate and a lower ceiling — never a feature you were missing. AI cataloging, bulk import, pickup operations and marketing are on every plan, including the free one.
| FreeStart here | ProMost sellers | ScaleHigh volume | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 | $150 | $350 |
| Rate on hammer | 8% | 5% | 3% |
| Monthly fee cap | $1,500 | $1,000 | $600 |
| Worst case, ever | $1,500 | $1,150 | $950 |
| Worth upgrading at | — | $5,000 / mo hammer | $10,000 / mo hammer |
| Buyer's premium | Yours, 100% | Yours, 100% | Yours, 100% |
One ACH debit a month covers your plan plus the capped rate on the month's hammer — computed from the bid record, whether the buyer paid you by card or handed you cash at the dock. Refunded lots drop out of the month's total. There is nothing else to reconcile.
It's your sale. Set your own terms.
We're software, not your business partner. You set the terms of every auction you run; our job is to make sure a bidder can't say they didn't know them.
Your buyer's premium
Any number you like. We don't cap it, don't share it, and never compute our fee on it. The one rule is that buyers see it at bid time — which is a market check, not a platform rule.
Your payment terms
Card on file charged at close, with your own auto-charge delay — or cash, check, and wire at the dock. Choose per lot. Cash is a first-class path here, not a workaround: we bill off the hammer record either way.
Your gate to bid
Want a card on file before anyone bids on your event? Require it. Running vehicles or heavy equipment? Require a refundable pre-authorization hold to register, released at close for everyone who didn't win.
Pickup, shipping, or both
Local pickup is the default and the reason your cheap lots bid at all. If you want to ship, offer it — you pick the carrier and write the terms, we put them on the lot. We don't operate it and we don't take a cut of it.
Your terms document
A full auction terms doc at your account level, overridable per event. It shows on the event page, inside the bidder acknowledgement, and on every invoice. Version history kept, so you can prove what was live.
Your inspection window
Its own time, its own address, separate from pickup. On an as-is marketplace this is what protects you: a bidder who was invited to look and didn't has a much harder story to tell.
A 200-lot estate is a half-day.
Not because we say so — because the capture flow, the drafting, and the pickup dock were built by watching how the work actually goes.
Lot-by-lot capture
Walk the room with your phone. Shoot lot 1, tap next, shoot lot 2. No bulk photo dump to untangle later, no review-and-accept after every frame. Offline? Photos queue and flush when you're back on signal.
AI writes the first draft
Titles and descriptions drafted from your captures, then you approve or reject each one. It never publishes on its own, and it's never locked behind a plan.
Bulk import & templates
CSV import with field mapping and a dry run before anything goes live. Copy an entire event from the last one — terms, increments, windows and all.
Soft close you control
Anti-snipe from one to five minutes, per event, with per-lot overrides. Staggered closes so a 500-lot sale doesn't end in one stampede.
The pickup dock
Search a buyer by name, check payment status, verify ID, tick off lots, capture a signature. Partial pickups handled. Nothing leaves the building unpaid.
Your buyers, your list
Templated event emails, audience segments, and automated flows off your own events. Your customer relationships stay yours.
Don't switch. Run one sale side by side.
Run one auction on LSBid alongside wherever you sell today. Same kind of goods, same week. Then compare the two numbers that matter: what the lots hammered at, and what you kept. If ours doesn't win, you've lost an afternoon and learned something. We open metros one at a time and take a handful of design partners in each — free tier, no contract, and the 8% is negotiable if you're one of them.
Straight answers.
When do I get paid?
On your own payout schedule, from your own account. Card charges are created directly on your connected account — your descriptor is on the buyer's statement, and the funds land in your balance. We don't sit in the middle of the money, so there's no reserve, no hold, and nothing for us to release. Cash and check at the dock never touch us at all.
Then how do you actually get paid?
One ACH debit a month: your plan fee plus your tier's rate on the month's hammer, capped. It's computed off the on-platform bid record no matter how the buyer settled with you — which is also why cash lots are first-class here instead of a workaround.
What's the catch with the cap?
There isn't one, and the numbers are the proof: the worst possible month drops as you move up ($1,500 → $1,150 → $950), so no plan can ever cost you more than the one below it. The cap covers percentage fees; the subscription sits on top. Refunded lots restore your headroom.
Can I really set any buyer's premium I want?
Yes. It's your revenue lever and we don't cap it, share in it, or compute our fee on it. The one rule is that buyers see it clearly at bid time. Run a 10% premium against a 5% rate and your fee bill is more than covered — but push it too far and the bidding tells you, which is a healthier check than a platform rule.
Can I offer shipping instead of pickup?
Yes. Local pickup is the default because it's what makes the long tail of cheap, heavy, awkward goods economic at all — but nothing stops you from shipping. You choose the carrier, you write the terms, we publish them on the lot and keep them in your event terms. We don't operate the shipping, we don't insure it, and we don't take a cut. The fee math is identical either way: a percentage of hammer, capped.
Can I require a card before someone bids on my event?
Yes. The platform floor is a verified phone and a card at first bid, which is deliberately light — friction at the gate costs you bidders, and bidders are what make your hammer. But it's your event: require a card on file to bid, or on vehicles and heavy equipment, a refundable pre-authorization hold to register. Holds release at close for everyone who didn't win.
Who handles sales tax?
You do. You're the merchant of record, so tax is collected on your invoices and remitted by you. We never compute our fee on it, and we don't pretend to be your tax service.
What happens when a buyer disputes something?
It's your sale, so it's your call — and a chargeback hits your account, not ours, which also means your dispute rate can't be dragged down by anyone else's. What we bring is evidence: listing photos, the bidder's acknowledgement, inspection windows, the pickup signature, and the flag workflow. Holds are scoped to the disputed line item, never your whole payout.
What can't you do yet?
National shipping fulfillment — we're local-pickup-first on purpose. Live simulcast gavel auctions; v1 is timed online only. Custom domains and third-party integrations. Consumer-to-consumer listings: sellers here are vetted businesses, sole proprietors, and estate professionals.