How the banner ad auction works

This is a live banner ad auction, not a media-kit PDF. The current paid state is rendered below so you do not have to guess.

1. Create the ad. Enter a name, a short pitch, a destination URL, and a bid. An image is optional. If you skip it, we render a standardized text ad.
2. Preview it. The form shows the same 4:1 ad that will render sitewide. PayPal stays closed until name, pitch, and destination are filled.
3. Choose a valid bid. Vacant opening is $25.00. After a paid owner, the next minimum is the greater of five dollars more or 10% more, rounded up to a whole dollar. You may bid above the minimum.
4. Pay through PayPal. Checkout stores your banner payload. Abandoned PayPal windows do not raise the public price. Other people may also start checkout.
5. Capture checks the paid owner. Immediately before charging, the server locks the auction, reloads the current visible owner, and captures only if your approved bid is still sufficient. If you were outbid while checking out, you are not charged.
6. The banner becomes sitewide. It appears on the homepage and on the public content pages. Outbound clicks go through a tracked redirect. Internal rendering is not a click.
7. Someone else may outbid you. A later valid capture dethrones you. Your row stays in history with bid, reign, clicks, and destination. The first paid owner keeps a FIRST OWNER badge.

Outbid for $30.00