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Reverse Auction Decrement Calculator

A reverse auction gives you minutes and a minimum decrement. This lays out every valid bid between the standing lowest and the floor you set beforehand, so the decision during the auction is which rung to stop at, not what the arithmetic is.
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From the auction terms in the notice.

Work this out before the auction opens, not during it.

Valid bids between here and your floor24
Next valid bid
₹91,04,250
Last bid you can make
₹81,12,880
Your floor
₹81,00,000
Room below the current bid
11.48%

The ladder assumes each decrement applies to the standing lowest bid, which is how most NIC and GeM auctions compute it. Read the auction terms: some apply the decrement to your own last bid instead, and a few extend the closing time when a bid lands in the final minutes.

StepBidAgainst start
1₹91,04,250-0.50%
2₹90,58,729-1.00%
3₹90,13,435-1.49%
4₹89,68,368-1.99%
5₹89,23,526-2.48%
6₹88,78,908-2.96%
7₹88,34,514-3.45%
8₹87,90,341-3.93%
9₹87,46,390-4.41%
10₹87,02,658-4.89%
11₹86,59,144-5.36%
12₹86,15,849-5.84%

Everything here is computed in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server, stored, or logged. Figures shown as defaults are starting points, not fixed rates: read the actual percentages from your notice or contract.

How this is worked out

The decrement is stated in the auction terms, either as a fixed rupee amount or as a percentage. Where it is a percentage, most GeM and NIC auctions apply it to the standing lowest bid, so each step is slightly smaller than the last. A few apply it to your own previous bid instead, which produces a different ladder, so read the terms.

The floor comes from your costing and is set before the auction opens. That is the whole discipline: an auction supplies pressure and removes time, and a number decided under both is not a decision.

Watch the closing rule as well as the decrement. Many auctions extend the window when a bid lands in the final minutes, which means the last few seconds are rarely the last few seconds and holding your best price back does not work the way it does in a fixed close.

The count of available steps is worth reading on its own. If there are two rungs between the standing bid and your floor, you know before you start that this auction is nearly over for you.

Frequently asked questions

How does the minimum decrement work in a reverse auction?

The notice sets a minimum amount or percentage by which each new bid must beat the standing lowest. A bid that does not clear it is rejected by the portal. On GeM the decrement is usually a percentage of the current lowest, which makes each step slightly smaller in rupee terms as the price falls.

Can I bid below my own last bid without anyone beating it?

On most platforms you cannot improve on yourself while you are already lowest, and where you can it achieves nothing except a lower contract value. Wait to be beaten. Bidding against yourself is the most common avoidable loss in a reverse auction.

What happens if the auction time extends?

Many Indian reverse auctions use an auto-extension: a bid within the last few minutes pushes the close out by a set interval, and this repeats until a period passes with no bid. It removes the value of a last-second bid and turns the auction into a test of who reaches their floor first, which is why having a floor written down beforehand matters more than reflexes.

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