What does “Soft Close” mean?

A soft close is an auction format in which the end time extends when a bid arrives in the final minutes. If someone bids just before the auction would have ended, the clock is pushed back by a set amount, and this repeats until a quiet period passes with no new bids.

The point is to prevent sniping, where a bidder waits until the last second so no one else can respond. With a soft close, every bidder gets a chance to reply, so the final price better reflects what the most interested buyer is willing to pay. For sellers that usually means a fairer result; for bidders it means there is little advantage in waiting until the end, and it is better to decide your maximum in advance. Always check the extension rules before bidding, because the length of the extension and the window that triggers it vary between auctions.

Example: 'Soft close: any bid in the last two minutes extends the auction by two minutes.'