What a sticker zone costs

The four tiers

A lid's tier comes from the work email its owner proved, not from anything they typed. Prices are floors in USD, per zone, per month.

A lid can accept work aimed at its own tier or any tier below it, paid at that lower tier's rate. A frontier-lab owner can fill an idle zone with a startup's sticker at the startup price. Nobody earns above what the brand is buying, and nobody is locked out of work they are willing to take.

Why the price moves

Those numbers are floors, not fixed prices. Supply in a tier is finite: every verified lid adds exactly 8 zones to it, and nothing more.

• Open tier

  While a tier still has unsold zones, the floor is the price to win one, and a campaign with nobody bidding against it pays exactly the number in the table.

• Sold out

  Once every zone in a tier is taken, winning one means displacing an incumbent: the price becomes the cheapest live placement's rate plus a 20% margin, and never falls below the floor.

• Already booked

  Repricing only affects new placements. Yours stays at the rate you booked for its whole term.

What you bid, what you pay

Two different numbers. A campaign carries one bid: the most it will pay for one zone, for one month. A bid under a tier's floor cannot win in that tier, and a campaign that never sets one competes at the floor. The bid is a ceiling, not a charge, and it buys no lid by itself: bids rank the offers in a matching owner's feed, and that owner approves or refuses every placement.

The winner settles second price: one increment ($1) above the best competing bid it outranked, never above its own bid, never below the floor. A campaign with nobody to beat pays the floor. So bidding your true maximum is safe, because a higher bid wins position, not a bigger bill.

Same zone with no rival bid, and that campaign pays the $15 floor instead. The owner is quoted their net either way: $20.70 a month on the settled rate above, 90% of whatever the zone clears at, never a charge. Once a tier has no open zones, the price to win climbs to the displacement price above, and a campaign bidding under it wins nothing in that tier until the price comes back down. A bid that wins nothing costs nothing.

The 90/10 split

Stated plainly, because it is the part people get wrong: the displayed price is the brand's all-in cost. bidmylid keeps 10% of it, which pays for employment verification, receiving and shipping the vinyl, billing, and payouts. The lid owner keeps 90%. Lid owners are never charged, for anything, and the figure in an owner's dashboard is what they are paid, unrounded.

Worked examples

A brand with $1,000 a month

At the floor, a monthly budget buys this many zones. A campaign takes at most one zone per lid, so that is one sticker each on that many different laptops. A contested zone settles above the floor, up to your bid, so these are the most a budget buys rather than a promise.

• S · Frontier$1,000 ÷ $100 = 10 zones
• A · Big tech$1,000 ÷ $50 = 20 zones
• B · Startup$1,000 ÷ $15 = 66 zones
• C · Explorer$1,000 ÷ $5 = 200 zones

An owner who fills all 8 zones

Every zone let at that tier's floor, 90% of each rate, for one month. Rates climb above this when a tier sells out, and a lid rarely fills every zone at once, so read these as the ceiling of the floor rather than a promise.

• S · Frontier8 × $100 × 90% = $720/mo
• A · Big tech8 × $50 × 90% = $360/mo
• B · Startup8 × $15 × 90% = $108/mo
• C · Explorer8 × $5 × 90% = $36/mo

What the price does not cover yet

• Printing. Brands supply their own die-cut vinyl today, by mail or by pickup in San Francisco. We receive it, check it, store it, and ship each owner their sticker. In-house printing is future work.
• Anything outside the US. Shipping is US only for now, so campaigns reach US lids only.
• Guaranteed fill. bidmylid is in early access. A budget buys zones as owners accept, every owner can refuse, and no bid changes that.
• A guaranteed price. Your bid caps what a zone can cost you, and second price decides the rest, so what you actually pay depends on who else is bidding for the same lids.

Pricing questions

Is the tier price a fixed price or a starting price?

A starting price. While a tier still has open zones, the floor is the price to win one, and an uncontested campaign pays exactly that. Once every zone in a tier is taken, the price to win becomes the cheapest current placement's rate plus a 20% displacement margin, and it never drops below the floor.

What do I bid, and what do I actually pay?

You bid the most you will pay for one zone for one month, and you pay second price: one increment ($1) above the best competing bid you outranked, never above your own bid and never below the tier floor. With nobody to beat you pay the floor. A bid below a tier's floor cannot win in that tier, and a campaign that sets no bid competes at the floor.

Does the highest bid win the zone outright?

No. A bid ranks the offers in a matching owner's feed and prices the winner, and that is all it does. The lid owner approves or refuses every placement, so the top bid is the one seen first, not one that is guaranteed a lid. Nothing is charged for an offer nobody accepted.

What happens if I am outbid?

Nothing is placed and nothing is charged. While a tier still has open zones, a campaign bidding the floor can win one. Once a tier has no open zones, a campaign bidding under the displacement price wins nothing in that tier until the price comes back down.

Does the rate I book at ever change mid-campaign?

No. The rate shown at booking is the rate you pay for that placement for its full term, even if the tier reprices afterwards. Your monthly spend never exceeds the budget you set.

Is the platform fee added on top of the price?

No. The price you see is your all-in cost. bidmylid keeps 10% of it and the lid owner keeps 90%. Lid owners are never charged anything.

Can a high-tier lid take a cheaper campaign?

Yes. A lid can accept work aimed at its own tier or any tier below it, paid at that lower tier's rate. A frontier-lab owner can fill an empty zone with a startup's sticker at the startup price. Nobody is paid above what the brand is buying, and nobody is locked out of work they are willing to take.

What happens to the money if a sticker comes off early?

Billing is monthly. If a placement ends mid-month the brand is refunded the remainder, the owner's payout is prorated to the day, and the zone reopens for new offers.