Cents Per Point: How to Tell If an Auction Is Actually a Good Deal

The single most important question before you bid on any points auction: is this actually a good use of my points?

It's easy to get caught up in the experience itself — VIP access, exclusive events, stuff you can't buy normally. But your points have value whether you spend them on an auction or a standard redemption, and it's worth knowing what you're giving up.

The basic formula

Cents per point (cpp) = (cash value of the experience / points spent) x 100

Say you win a concert VIP package worth roughly $500 for 25,000 points. That's ($500 / 25,000) x 100 = 2.0 cpp.

The tricky part is figuring out the "cash value" — for unique experiences that aren't sold anywhere else, you have to estimate based on similar events, ticket prices, and included perks (hotel, meals, etc.).

What counts as "good" cpp?

This varies by program, but here are rough baselines for standard redemptions:

United MileagePlus — ~1.2-1.5 cpp on economy flights, higher on business/first

Delta SkyMiles — ~1.0-1.4 cpp on flights

Hilton Honors — ~0.5-0.6 cpp on hotel nights

Marriott Bonvoy — ~0.7-0.9 cpp on hotel nights

Wyndham Rewards — ~0.8-1.2 cpp on hotel nights

Alaska Mileage Plan — ~1.5-2.0 cpp on partner flights

If an auction gets you above your program's baseline, you're coming out ahead. If it's below, you'd get more value booking a flight or hotel stay.

When the math gets interesting

The best auction deals typically land in the 1.5-4+ cpp range. These tend to be:

• Mid-tier experiences that don't attract heavy bidding — think a cooking class or minor league VIP package, not the Super Bowl

• Experiences with high retail value relative to the bidding interest — resort packages where the cash equivalent is clear and high

• Buy It Now listings priced at a fixed rate that happens to be favorable

The worst value auctions are usually the high-profile ones. A Super Bowl package that goes for 500,000 United miles might work out to 0.4 cpp when you compare it to what you could book with those same miles in business class flights.

Don't forget opportunity cost

This is the part most people skip. Those 50,000 points you're about to bid? You could also use them for:

• A round-trip domestic flight worth $700 (1.4 cpp)

• Two hotel nights worth $400 (0.8 cpp)

• Transfer to a partner program for a premium cabin redemption

If the auction experience is worth 1.0 cpp and you could get 1.5 cpp on flights, you're effectively paying a 50% premium for the experience. That might be totally fine if it's something you genuinely want to do — but you should know you're making that trade.

The practical approach

1. Find the listing on BidMiles and note the current bid or Buy It Now price

2. Estimate the cash value — search for comparable tickets, packages, or events

3. Do the division — cash value / points = your cpp

4. Compare to your baseline — is this above or below what you'd normally get from this program?

5. Factor in the intangible — some experiences are worth a cpp "premium" because they're genuinely unique or meaningful to you

There's no universal right answer. A diehard fan bidding on meet-and-greet tickets with their favorite artist might happily take 0.8 cpp because the experience is priceless to them. Someone casually browsing should probably hold out for 1.5+ cpp.

The point of doing the math isn't to be rigid — it's to make sure you're making an informed decision instead of getting swept up in auction excitement.