What is a soft close (auction extension) on government auctions?

A soft close means the auction extends when a bid lands near the end, and it keeps extending until a set period passes with no bids. It stops last-second sniping.

The rules differ by platform. GovDeals extends 3 minutes for any bid in the final 3 minutes. Public Surplus extends 5 minutes for any bid in the final 5, including a proxy bid that gets triggered. PropertyRoom extends 1 minute for any bid in the final minute. GSA Auctions uses a per-lot inactivity period shown on each item's Bidding Details tab; if it reads "N/A", that lot closes hard at its stated time.

On a soft-close auction, the listed end time is the earliest it can end, not when it will end. Expect a back-and-forth at the close and stick to your maximum.