Yes. The bid list is on screen while an item is running, and Hide higher bids tidies it if the scrolling distracts you.
What each line shows
The amount, and a display name against it. When an item closes, the room sees who won it — or A bidder where there is no name to show.
So the history is public in the sense a live auction needs: everyone can see the item was genuinely contested, which is most of why live prices beat shelf prices.
What is deliberately hidden
Maximum bids. If a buyer has set a ceiling and Metzee is bidding on their behalf, the ceiling is invisible — to other bidders and to the seller. You see the bids it places, never the number it is working up to.
This is the one piece of information whose secrecy the whole mechanism depends on. A visible ceiling is a ceiling people bid exactly up to. What a maximum bid is
Pre-bid amounts, before an item opens. A buyer sees how many pre-bids exist and whether theirs is on top — never an amount. Nor does the seller, until it opens. What a pre-bid is
Who anybody is. A display name is not an identity: no phone number, no address, no purchase history. Can I see who I am bidding against?
Reading it usefully
The history tells you things the current price does not:
- How fast bids arrived. Instant, repeated bids mean a ceiling is answering rather than a person deciding.
- How many distinct names. Two names trading twenty bids is two people, not a crowd.
- Whether jumps happened. A leap from ₹1,100 to ₹3,400 is somebody jumping deliberately, or two ceilings settling it between them. Why is the price jumping in big steps?
That last one is the most useful signal available to a bidder, and it is free.
After the show
The closing price and the winner stay visible, and See what sold lists what has gone — useful if you joined halfway.
What does not persist is the seller's spoken description of the item, because shows are not recorded. If something said on camera matters to you, ask for it in the chat, which does persist for an hour after the show. Is the show recorded?
For your own bids
Your bids are in your own activity, under Bidding, whether or not you won. That is the record to check if you are unsure whether a bid registered. Did my bid count?
More: how bidding works, how auctions find a price, how to place a bid.