Bounties: get paid to find items for other shoppers

A bounty is a public request: someone posts the item they're looking for and the most they'll pay, and organizers who come across it can claim the bounty and list the item for that shopper directly. If you're hunting for something specific — a particular piece of china, a vintage sewing machine, a set of mid-century chairs — posting a bounty puts every organizer on FindA.Sale on the lookout for you.

---

What a bounty is

You describe the item you want. You set a price ceiling — the most you'd pay if condition is good. You pick an expiry date.

That bounty is now visible to organizers when they're logging items. If an organizer finds something that matches while sorting through a sale, they can claim your bounty and attach their listing to it. You get a notification, you review the listing, and if it matches what you asked for, you confirm — the item goes into a hold for you at the listed price.

You don't pay to post a bounty. You only pay the listed price if you accept a claim.

The bounty doesn't guarantee you'll find the item. It means organizers are watching for it. The more specific your description, the better the matches you'll get.

---

When to post a bounty

Bounties work best for items that are specific enough that you'd recognize them immediately but rare enough that you wouldn't expect to see one every weekend:

• A particular pottery maker's mark — Roseville, McCoy, Hull.
• A specific china pattern — Lenox Butercup, Noritake Progression, Spode Blue Italian.
• A model of tool, machine, or instrument — a Singer Featherweight 221, a Stanley No. 45 plane, a Fender Musicmaster.
• A furniture style you're furnishing around — teak dining chairs, a Heywood-Wakefield dresser, a specific sofa silhouette.

Bounties are less useful for generic categories. "Old dishes" or "vintage clothing" will produce too many poor-fit claims. The tighter your description, the better.

---

How to post a bounty

1. Go to [/shopper/bounties](/shopper/bounties).
2. Tap **New Bounty**.
3. Fill in the item description. Be specific: maker, model, pattern, era, condition requirements. Add dimensions if size matters.
4. Set your **price ceiling** — the maximum you'd pay for a match in good condition. Organizers see this number. It signals seriousness and sets expectations.
5. Set an **expiry date**. Most bounties run 30–90 days. After that date, the bounty closes automatically.
6. Tap **Post Bounty**.

Your bounty is now live. It won't appear on the public community feed — it's only visible to organizers when they're in item-entry mode and FindA.Sale detects a potential match, and it appears on the active bounties list at [/shopper/bounties](/shopper/bounties).

---

How to review a claim

When an organizer claims your bounty, you get a notification. From the notification, or from your bounties list:

1. Tap the bounty with a pending claim.
2. Review the organizer's listing — photos, condition description, asking price (at or below your ceiling), and the sale it's coming from.
3. If the item matches what you asked for, tap **Accept Claim**. The item goes into a hold attached to that sale.
4. If it doesn't match, tap **Decline**. The bounty stays open for other organizers to claim.

You can accept only one claim per bounty. Once you accept, the bounty closes. Other pending claims are declined automatically.

If you accept a claim and then don't complete the purchase, the hold expires on the sale's normal hold timeline. The bounty stays closed.

---

What bounties cost

Posting a bounty is free. There are no listing fees, no credits required, and no subscription tier required to post.

You pay the listed price — set by the organizer — only if you accept a claim and complete the purchase. If no organizer claims your bounty before the expiry date, you pay nothing and the bounty closes.

Organizers set their own prices. They can list the item at any price at or below your ceiling. Most will price to sell — the ceiling you set signals what the market will bear for a match in your eyes.

---

How to close a bounty you no longer need

If you found the item another way, or changed your mind, close the bounty so organizers stop looking.

1. Go to [/shopper/bounties](/shopper/bounties).
2. Tap the bounty you want to close.
3. Tap **Close Bounty**.
4. Confirm.

The bounty disappears from the active list immediately. Any pending claims are automatically declined.

---

Common questions

**Can I post more than one bounty at a time?** Yes. There's no limit on active bounties. Each one is independent.

**Will I get a notification for every claim, or just the first?** You get a notification for every claim. You review and accept or decline each one. Only one claim can be accepted per bounty.

**Can I negotiate price with an organizer who claims my bounty?** Not through the bounty system. The organizer sets the price; you accept or decline. If you want to discuss it, you can message the organizer directly through their sale page — but bounty claims aren't a negotiation tool.

**What if an organizer claims my bounty but the item has damage I didn't agree to?** Decline the claim. The description and photos are provided by the organizer and you review them before accepting. If you accept and then the item doesn't match what was shown, that's a dispute between you and the organizer — contact support through the sale page.

**Do bounties earn XP?** Posting a bounty does not earn XP directly. Completing a purchase from an accepted bounty claim earns the normal purchase XP. Check [/shopper/guild-primer](/shopper/guild-primer) for current amounts.

**Is there a way to see which organizers claimed my bounties in the past?** Yes. From [/shopper/bounties](/shopper/bounties), tap **Closed** to see your expired and closed bounties. Each claim that came in — accepted or declined — is listed in the bounty history.

---

Related guides

• [Post a haul](post-a-haul) — once your bounty claim comes through and you pick up the item, document the find.
• [Walk a Treasure Trail](treasure-trails-shopper) — Trails put you at multiple sales where an organizer may have the item you're looking for.
• [The leaderboard and monthly league](leaderboard-and-league) — purchases from bounty claims count toward your monthly XP total.