Rules.
One rule underneath all of these: your rank is what you paid. Nothing else moves it.
What a bid costs
- Whole US dollars, in $1 steps. No cents.
- Minimum $5, maximum $999,999 in total.
- A single payment is capped at $2,000. This doesn't cap your rank — raising only ever charges the difference, so you climb past it in steps.
- Taking #1 costs at least $5 more than the current top total. Pay less and you simply land wherever that amount ranks.
- Equal totals: whoever got there first keeps the higher rank. Time breaks every tie.
- The price can move while you're paying. This is an auction, and checkout takes a few seconds. If someone else's payment lands first, yours is placed at whatever rank it genuinely supports rather than the one you were quoted — and we tell you so on the spot. Your money still counts in full toward your all-time total, and topping up to #1 from there only costs the difference.
Raising your own listing
- Raising costs only the difference above your current total — minimum $1. Climbing is cheap on purpose.
- Nobody else can take your rank by paying that difference. To pass you they have to beat your full total.
- Raising is tied to the browser that first paid for the listing. Clear your cookies and you lose the discount, not the listing.
The Today board
- Every payment counts toward Today for 24 hours from the moment it is made, then drops off.
- Payments that age out of Today still count toward your all-time total. Nothing is ever taken away from all-time.
- So Today's #1 is the most anyone has spent in a single rolling 24-hour window — a separate, faster race.
What counts as one listing
- A listing is keyed by its destination.
example.com,www.example.comandhttps://example.com/?ref=xare all the same listing. - Query strings are stripped, so affiliate and tracking parameters can't be used to split or disguise a listing.
- Store and repo links are keyed by path, so two apps in the same store — or two repos from the same owner — never share a bid.
- Link shorteners are resolved to their real destination. If we can't resolve one, it's refused.
- An
@handleand itsx.comprofile URL are the same listing.
Clicks
- Outbound links carry
?utm_source=topbidaiso you can see the traffic in your own analytics. - Repeat clicks from the same visitor inside 30 minutes count once. We store a salted hash of the IP to do this, never the address itself.
- Whoever paid for a listing sees its full click breakdown on its page — daily counts, referrers and countries.
What we will remove
- Adult content, gambling, malware, scams, chat or invite links, and anything illegal where we operate.
- Listings whose destination doesn't show valid company or operator details.
- Anything impersonating another business.
Removal is at our discretion and does not come with a refund. See terms for the full list.
Money
- Payments are handled by our merchant of record. We never see your card.
- All payments are final. Your rank goes live the moment payment confirms — there is nothing held back and nothing to return.
- If a payment confirms and the listing somehow doesn't appear, email us with the receipt and we'll place it by hand. You'll never pay twice for the same bid.
- No account, no subscription, no renewal. You pay once, per bid.
Common questions
How much does it cost to rank #1 on TopBid?
#1 currently costs $8 — always $5 more than the current leader's total. The price rises every time someone takes the top spot, so it is different tomorrow.
What is the cheapest way to get on TopBid?
$5. That is the minimum bid and it places you wherever that amount ranks on the board. There is no subscription and no account to create.
How is the ranking decided?
By money alone. Your rank is the total you have paid — no algorithm, no votes, no reviews, no editorial judgement. If two listings have paid the same, the one that got there first ranks higher.
Does paying more guarantee traffic?
No, and nobody honestly can. What TopBid does instead is show you what you actually got: whoever paid for a listing sees its real click data — daily counts, referrers and countries — on the listing page. Most directories sell placement and tell you nothing.
What happens when someone outbids me?
They rank above you and we email you the moment it happens, with the exact amount needed to take the spot back. Raising your own listing only charges the difference above your current total, never the full amount.
Can someone take my rank by paying the difference?
No. Paying the difference is a discount only the listing's own owner gets. Anyone else has to beat your full total to rank above you.
What is the Today board?
A second ranking that counts only the last 24 hours of payments. Every payment counts toward Today for 24 hours and then drops off, while still counting toward your all-time total forever. Today's #1 currently costs $5 in a single payment.
Are listings on TopBid endorsements?
No. Every listing is a paid advertisement and position reflects money paid, nothing else. TopBid does not test, review or endorse anything on the board.
Do you offer refunds?
No. A rank is delivered the moment payment confirms — the listing goes live and the amount appears on the public board — so all payments are final. Being outranked later is the board working as designed, not a fault.