I go to auctions (almost) every weekend. The first bid is usually the lender. In many auctions, the next bid is $10-20k higher. After that, people tend to bid in either $1,000 or $10,000 increments. I don’t think this is a good strategy and it might just cost you money.
Your goal is to pay $1 more than the next highest bid. There is absolutely no reason to pay more.
Bidding in large increments might shave a couple of minutes, at most, from the auction process. Don’t worry about wasting the Committee’s time. They are getting paid to be there. They aren’t there to help you or hand out free advice, so catering to their timeline should be the last of your concerns. Let them be grumpy, it will be over soon enough.
Bidding in large increments might cost you thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of dollars.
I definitely don’t think a large bidding increment scares other buyers away, nor does it intimidate anyone with the fear of your deep pockets. Virtually everyone who took the time to get a cashier’s check, go to the auction, and sign up for a bidding number knows in advance what their maximum is. Throwing out a bid with a large increase certainly isn’t going to make them want to bid less. If anything, it makes them want to bid more.
If no one wants to start, then bid $1 over the lender’s initial bid. Then wait. Let the others do the bidding. When it gets to the end and you hear “going once, going twice….”, then bid if you want, by bidding $1 more. Keep doing this until you win, or you are out. When it is all done, if you won, you will have overpaid by $1. Not $100. Not $1000.