Bid History

How do I read the bid history?

Before bidding on a listing, you should look at the bid history to understand how many lenders are bidding on a loan, and how much money each one has offered to put up for the loan.

The bid history shows three types of lenders:

			Winning: If the full amount of a lender's bid is being used to fund the loan (as of now), it will be considered "winning". If another lender offers a better rate, however, the winning bid could become outbid.
			Partially winning: If only a partial amount of a lender's bid is being used to fund the loan, it will be considered "partially winning", and the outbid portion of the bid will be returned to the lender's account immediately. If a lender is partially winning, it is also an indication that he or she is the next lender who will be outbid as new bids come in.
			Outbid: If none of a lender's bid is being used to fund the loan, it will be considered "outbid", and the full amount of the bid will be returned to the lender's account immediately.

The bid history shows the following additional information:

Lender screen name: The screen name of lenders who have placed bids.
Rate:If a lender is outbid, this shows the lender's minimum bid. If winning (or partially winning), this shows the lender's current bid.
Amount bid: This shows the amount the lender bid.
Amount winning: The amount of the lender's bid that is currently winning.
Bid date: The date and time of the lender's bid. If two lenders enter the same interest rate, the lender who bid first will get preference to participate in the loan.

To learn more about Prosper's bidding system, view a tutorial on how bidding works.

How are winning bids determined?

Once there are enough bids to fund a loan, the interest rate is determined by the number of lenders bidding and the rates they've bid.

In the example below, you can see there were four bids at the end of the auction:

Listing details

Requested: $4,000

Lender rate: 8.00%

Bid History

Lender Rate (not shown)
Bid rate Amout bid Winning Status

Lender #4 8.00% 6.00% $1,000 $1,000

Lender #3 8.00% 7.00% $2,000 $2,000

Lender #2 8.00% 8.00% $2,500 $1,000

Lender #1 9.00% 9.00% $3,000 $0

Starting rate: 9.00%

Note: Bids shown are larger than average for illustration purposes only. Prosper encourages lenders to make much smaller bids per loan.

Bids are sorted by the rate offered (favoring lower rates) and the time the bid was placed (favoring early bidders) until enough funds are available to fully fund the loan. Bids with the lowest minimum rate are given priority in the bidding hierarchy, even though the lender's minimum rate is not shown on the listing. Any bids with non-zero participation are considered "winners" (in other words, when you look in the "winning" column, there is a dollar amount listed that is greater than zero).

In the example above, the rate is then set at the rate of the highest losing bid of 8%, depending on what bids are available. The bid increment on Prosper is 0.05%. Since lender #2 is the highest losing bidder (any bidder with some losing dollars can also be considered a losing bidder) at 8%, the current rate is set to 8%. Since lenders #2, #3, and #4 offered rates at or below 8%, they will receive the loan at 8.00%. Even if their bid rates are different (as in the example), all winning lenders will receive the same interest rate.

To go back to the example, Lender #2 only won $1,000 of the $2,500 bid because his minimum rate was highest of the three lenders. Remember, this is a market where the lowest rate wins. Lender #1 was completely outbid since she set her minimum rate at 9%, and could not participate in funding this loan anymore once the rate dropped to 8.00%. You can also see how the remaining lenders (#3 and #4) received a higher rate for this loan than the minimum rates they specified.

You can view the bidding tutorial to get a step-by-step understanding of how bids affect a listing.

Why am I always outbid by others who bid the same rate?

If you were outbid, it means that other lenders bid at a lower minimum interest rate than yours. Other lenders' interest rates are not displayed, so even though it might look like they are bidding at the same rate you bid, that is not necessarily the case. This hidden bid auction style guarantees the best rates for everyone involved.

If you notice that the interest rate on the listing has dropped since you placed your bid, you may still participate by placing a new bid on the listing with a lower minimum rate.

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