When you have located an item you are interested in, click on the item's title link to see its listing page. On the item listing page, click on the "Bid Now" button to place your bid. If you do not see a Bid button on the listing page, then the listing is either not yet open for bidding or the item has already closed and you will see a message to reflect this. To place a bid, you must login, or register if you haven't done so already. An opening bid should be either your Smart Bid (the maximum amount you would be willing to pay for the item), or the "Highest Bid" amount plus the bid increment (the "Next Bid" amount) as shown on the item page. If you want to bid higher than the the minimum amount right away and don't want to use the Smart Bid feature, check the box on the bid form that says Bypass Smart Bid. Once you have the top bid, you will be notified by email if your maximum bid is surpassed by another bidder.