Why a Rejected Lead Can't Just Go to the Next Highest Bidder In A Ping Post Exchange

In a Ping Post Exchange, when the Highest Bidder rejects a lead on the POST, the lead does not roll over to the next highest bidder. This isn't a limitation of the system, it's a direct result of how the price is set during the PING step, and selling to a lower bidder would mean selling the lead at a loss.

The Bid Price You Return on the PING Is a Purchase Commitment

When a Supplier sends in a PING, the Exchange returns a bid price to them. That price isn't just informational, it's what you, as the Exchange Owner, agree to pay the Supplier for the lead if they send the POST and it sells. Once the Supplier agrees to that price and sends the POST, the lead's cost to you is locked in.

Example

Say three Buyers return the following PING bids:

• Buyer 1: $15.00
• Buyer 2: $10.00
• Buyer 3: $7.50

The Exchange applies its 15% margin to the Highest Bidder's $15.00, and returns a bid price of $12.75 to the Supplier. The Supplier agrees to sell us that lead for $12.75, which is now what it costs to acquire it.

If Buyer 1 rejects the lead on the POST, and the Exchange tried selling it to Buyer 2 instead, the lead would sell for $10.00, Buyer 2's PING bid. But the lead already cost $12.75 to acquire from the Supplier, so that sale would lose $2.75. Selling to Buyer 3 at $7.50 would lose $5.25.

Why This Matters

Bids on a PING are ranked highest to lowest, and the Highest Bidder's bid (minus your margin) is what sets the price returned to the Supplier. That means every other bid from the same PING round is, by definition, lower than the price you already committed to pay the Supplier. Selling the lead to any of those lower bidders after a POST reject would mean selling it below what it cost you to acquire, a guaranteed loss. This is why the Exchange stops attempting to sell the lead once the Highest Bidder rejects it on the POST.

The One Exception

A second sale is only possible without a loss if another Buyer's PING bid was already higher than the price returned to the Supplier, not lower. This case is handled by a feature called Bid Until Breakeven Point, which allows the Exchange to attempt a sale to that Buyer, since it would still be profitable, just at a smaller margin. It only applies when another Buyer's bid exceeds the price already committed to the Supplier.