Click here to watch a demo of bidding at the top level and subcategory level!

If you have opted to bid via the web interface, the “Place Bids” link at the header of any page will take you to the “Bidding Dashboard” screen where you can bid on top-level categories. Click here to learn how to choose to bid via the web interface

Bidding in this screen allows you to work with all the subcategories in which you have inventory for a given top-level category. Here you can set bids at higher-level subcategories or at the lowest (most granular) level subcategories. When you set a bid for a higher-level category, that bid is applied to your products in every subcategory under it. When you set a bid for a lowest –level subcategory, your bid affects the products in that subcategory alone. All higher-level categories will have “(and all subcategories)” attached to their names.

This screen has the following columns:

• Category

This is the list of all subcategories for a selected top-level category where you have inventory. You can have your inventory in one or more subcategories for each displayed higher-level category.

• My # of products

This is the count of all products as categorized into one or more subcategories under each parent category. Here, you’ll see the number of products in each higher-level (parent) category, as well as the number of products submitted in each subcategory beneath it.

For example, you may have a parent category called “Athletic Shoes” whose child categories are “Hiking Shoes” with 20 products, “Running Shoes” with 15 products and “Walking Shoes” with 10 products. Together, these child categories would contain 45 products, your total # of products in the “Athletic Shoes” category.

• My Min Bid

This is your minimum required bid for any parent category or subcategory in order for your products to go live (appear in Yahoo! Shopping). The minimum bid can be a range, depending on the minimum bids for subcategories within a parent category.

For example, under the parent category “Shoes,” you may have products in three subcategories, “Dress Shoes” (minimum bid of $0.50), “Hiking Shoes” (minimum bid of $0.60), and “Running Shoes” (minimum bid of $0.75). In this case, your minimum bid range is $0.50-$0.75, because your lowest minimum bid for all subcategories under “Shoes” is $.50 and your highest minimum bid is $0.75.

Click here to learn more about Minimum bids

When you bid at a higher/parent level category, that bid percolates down and affects all its subcategories and those subcategories’ child categories. By bidding at both the parent level categories as well as the subcategory levels, you retain greater control of your bids and your product placements on Yahoo! Shopping.

• My Current Bid

This is your most current saved bid for each category and its subcategories, regardless of whether it was submitted manually, by feed, or automatically. Your current can be a range, depending on your current bids for the subcategories within a parent category.

For example, under the category “Shoes,” you may have three subcategories,” Dress Shoes” (minimum bid of $0.50 & current bid of $0.50), “Hiking Shoes” (minimum bid of $0.50 and current bid of $0.60), and “Running Shoes” (minimum bid of $0.70 and current bid of $0.75). In this case, your current bid range is $0.50-$0.75, because your lowest current bid for all subcategories under “Shoes” is $.50 and your highest current bid is $0.75.

• My Cost

This is your actual cost for each bid. You’ll be charged one cent above the next highest competitive bid, up to your bid amount for all subcategories under each higher-level category.

For example, under the category “Shoes”, you may have three subcategories, “Dress Shoes” (minimum bid of $0.50, current bid of $0.50 and cost of $0.50), “Hiking Shoes” (minimum bid of $0.50, current bid of $0.60 and cost of $0.57), and “Running Shoes” minimum bid of $0.70, current bid of $0.75 and cost of $0.75). In this case, the range of your cost will be between $0.50 and $0.75 because the lowest amount you’ll be charged for all subcategories under “Shoes” is $.50 and the highest is $0.75.

Click here to learn more about how you’ll be charged

• New Bid

This is the field where you enter your bid. Once your bid amount is entered (no dollar sign needed! Just a decimal point, e.g., $0.75 or $1.25), click either of the two “Update Bids” buttons. When you change the bid for any parent category, it will affect the bids for all subcategories beneath it. Please ensure your bid is higher than your current minimum required for each category in order for your product(s) to go live in Yahoo! Shopping. When you bid at the lowest subcategory level, it affects that category alone.

Please Note: Make sure there is no conflict between the parent category level and subsequent child levels. Whenever you enter a bid at a parent category level, the New Bid fields for all its subcategories will be grayed out to help you identify all the categories that will be affected by your bid. Click here to learn more about Minimum bids

• All Bids

This link will open a popup Bid Landscape report that graphically displays the competitive bid landscape for a category and all its subcategories if the selected category is a parent. If you’re at the lowest possible child level, however, the report will display the competitive bid landscape for just that selected category.

For example, the report for the parent category “Shoes” with the two “lowest level” child categories “Hiking Shoes” and “Running Shoes” will show the cumulative bid landscape for all the merchants with bids in the “Hiking Shoes” and “Running Shoes” subcategories, while the report for the child category “Hiking Shoes” will show the bid landscape for only the merchants with bids in the “Hiking Shoes” category.

The Bid Landscape Report is a useful tool in optimizing your bidding strategy. Click here to learn more about the Bid Landscape Report and Minimum bids

• Current Top Bids

This feature shows you the top five bids on a per-category and per-subcategory basis, as well as the child categories of each subcategory. If you’re in the top five bids, you’ll see your bid highlighted in orange. This is useful when deciding how much to bid compared to your competitors in any given category or subcategory. Click here to learn more about the top five bids, minimum bids and the Bid Landscape Report

Click either of the two “Update Bids” buttons to submit your bid. The system will perform a series of checks and accept your bids. The system will display error messages if any errors are encountered. Once your bids are accepted, the screen will be refreshed with the latest bids you entered. However, All bid changes can take up to 24 hours to be reflected on the Yahoo! Shopping Consumer Site.

Please Note: While your bid is only one factor in determining your product placement, a higher bid increases your chance of appearing near the top of the search results in Yahoo! Shopping. Also, Competitive bid information provided in the Bid Landscape Report covers bids over the default minimum. It does not include merchants included in Yahoo! Shopping via free web crawl or other business relationships. Click here to learn more about Minimum bids