Auto Bidder Delay allows you to control how long GigRadar waits before submitting a proposal after a matching job appears on Upwork.
This setting helps you balance proposal visibility, account safety, and Connect efficiency. Faster bids can help you reach clients sooner, while longer delays can filter out jobs that are later removed, made private, converted to invite-only, or quickly filled.
Where to Find Auto Bidder Delay
Open an active scanner.
Navigate to the Auto Bidder tab.
Scroll down to the Auto Bidder Delay section.
From there, you can choose how long GigRadar should wait before submitting proposals for matching jobs.
The delay slider ranges from YOLO (~1 minute) to Backstop (~2 hours), allowing you to choose the bidding strategy that best fits your goals.
How Auto Bidder Delay Works
When Auto Bidder finds a matching job, GigRadar waits for the selected delay before submitting the proposal.
The selected delay affects three key factors:
View rate - how likely you are to reach clients early.
Risk profile - how aggressive your bidding behavior appears.
Connect efficiency - how many Connects are spent on jobs that remain active long enough to be reviewed.
In general:
⚡ Shorter delays → Higher view rate, Higher risk
🛡️ Longer delays → Lower view rate, Lower risk, Better Connect efficiency
Available Delay Options
YOLO (~1 minute) - Coming Soon
Not yet available.
Near-instant headless bidding is coming in a future update. We're putting the final safety rails in place before we ship this mode.
Once released, YOLO will become the fastest Auto Bidder option available.
Near-instant proposal submission.
Maximum visibility potential.
Designed to be among the first applicants on new jobs.
Most aggressive automation profile.
Highest risk level.
Result: maximum speed with virtually no waiting.
Turbo (4-7 minutes)
Turbo Mode accelerates proposal delivery while still introducing a short delay.
GigRadar spins up a virtual browser before the proposal finalizes, skipping the regular event queue so your bid lands the moment it's ready.
Faster than standard bidding.
Higher visibility potential.
Higher risk than recommended settings.
Result: bids are typically placed within 4–7 minutes, ahead of most freelancers.
Default (10-15 minutes) - Recommended
Our recommended setting for most users.
You still beat the long tail of freelancers while maintaining a bidding rhythm that looks indistinguishable from a real person at a keyboard.
Balanced visibility and safety.
Natural bidding behavior.
Suitable for most freelancers and agencies.
Result: the best balance between visibility, safety, and consistency.
Default for 78% of GigRadar agencies.
15-30 Minutes - Cooled-Off Bidding
This setting intentionally waits through the period when many problematic jobs disappear.
Late bids skip jobs that Upwork removes for spam, duplicate postings, or jobs that become invite-only within the first 15 minutes.
More conservative bidding behavior.
Better Connect efficiency.
Filters out low-quality or short-lived jobs.
Advantage: you don't spend Connects on jobs that are about to disappear from the marketplace anyway.
30-60 Minutes - Conservative Bidding
A meaningful share of fresh posts go private, get removed by Upwork moderation, or get filled within the first hour.
Bidding later filters those jobs out automatically.
Human-like bidding pattern.
Lower visibility compared to faster modes.
Lower overall risk.
Advantage: zero Connects burned on jobs that won't exist by the time your proposal would have been reviewed.
2 Hours - Backstop Bidding
The most conservative option.
By the 2-hour mark, jobs that were going to be removed, set private, or auto-closed by Upwork already are. You only bid on the survivors.
Lowest-risk bidding behavior.
Highest Connect efficiency.
Best suited for evergreen searches and low-competition niches.
Advantage: highest Connect efficiency. Best for evergreen, low-competition scanners.
Which Delay Should I Choose?
Choose Turbo if:
You want maximum visibility.
You prefer reaching clients as early as possible.
You are comfortable with a more aggressive bidding strategy.
Choose Default if:
You want the best overall balance.
You prefer a natural bidding pattern.
You're unsure which option to use.
Choose 15-30 or 30-60 Minutes if:
You want to improve Connect efficiency.
You prefer a more conservative approach.
You want to avoid spending Connects on jobs that disappear quickly.
Choose 2 Hours if:
Connect efficiency is your top priority.
You work in evergreen or lower-competition niches.
Being first is less important than bidding only on jobs that survive initial marketplace filtering.
Understanding the Trade-Off
Auto Bidder Delay follows a simple principle:
Shorter delays
Higher view rate
Faster bids
Higher risk
Longer delays
Lower view rate
More human-like behavior
Lower risk
Better Connect efficiency
There is no universally "best" setting. The ideal delay depends on whether your goal is to maximize proposal visibility or maximize the return on every Connect spent.
For most users, Default (10–15 minutes) remains the recommended starting point.