BestAdAgency is my attempt at building the outbid.lol of ecommerce: a site where every paid #1 spot is public, priced in the open, and taken by whoever pays $1 more. The difference is that the paid spots sit on top of 235 scored rankings of agencies, software and suppliers, and they are labeled so they never pass for editorial picks.
Today is launch day on X. This is the story of why I built it, what I borrowed, and what I changed.
What is outbid.lol?
outbid.lol is a public pay-to-rank leaderboard built by Jonathan Wilke (@jonathan_wilke), an indie hacker from Germany. It launched on August 19, 2026, as a side project. The about page sums up the idea in one line: rank is what you pay, nothing else.
That is the whole product, and that is what got me. No pitch deck about influence or authority. You pay, you rank, and everyone can see it.
Why did outbid.lol stick with me?
I have run Exclusiva, an ecommerce growth agency, since 2016. We have worked on 250+ product launches. And for most of those years, I have watched how directories in our space sell visibility.
Most of them sell placement. Few of them show it plainly. A brand reads a “top agencies” list and has no easy way to tell which entries are earned and which are bought. Agencies get a rate card behind a sales call. Nobody sees the price except the buyer.
outbid.lol flips that. The price is the ranking, and the ranking is public. Watching it, I kept thinking: what if an ecommerce directory worked the same way, but only for the paid part?
What did I keep from the outbid.lol idea?
Three things.
Public prices. Every Sponsored spot on BestAdAgency shows its price. The live bid board lists every Sponsored spot on the site, ranked by what was paid for it.
Outbid by a dollar. To take a held spot, you pay $1 more than the current holder. No negotiation, no sales call.
One button to the top. The board has a “Claim #1 on the board for $X” button. At launch, every open spot starts at $1, so the button reads $1.
What is different about BestAdAgency?
outbid.lol ranks purely by payment. That works for a leaderboard. It would not work for a buyer’s guide. A brand choosing an Amazon PPC agency needs to know who is good, not just who paid.
So I split the page in two.
Scored rankings underneath
BestAdAgency publishes 235 rankings across Amazon, TikTok Shop, Shopify and DTC. Listed companies are scored by a published methodology: Results 40%, Specialty fit 25%, Pricing transparency 20%, Verified reviews 15%. Unverifiable claims score zero. Payment never changes a company’s score or editorial position. (The one exception to scored order is my own agency, which I explain below.)
Labeled spots on top
Above each ranking sit up to three Sponsored spots. They are labeled “Sponsored”, visually separate from the list, and priced in public. That is where the outbid.lol mechanic lives. The ranking below stays editorial.
30-day terms with refunds
Each spot runs 30 days from payment. If someone outbids you, you get an email right away, and your unused days are refunded pro rata. You can retake the spot at the new price plus the increment. I wanted the competitive mechanic without making people pay for days they did not get.
Prices tied to real demand
Every list targets a search phrase, and together the 235 lists target 943,920 monthly searches. The Get listed page shows each list’s searches per month next to the price of its three spots. Starting prices scale with monthly searches and cost per click (Semrush, US). During launch, every open spot starts at $1.
How do I handle owning an agency and a ranking site?
This is the obvious question, so here is the plain answer.
BestAdAgency is owned by Exclusiva Inc, my agency. Because I own the site, Exclusiva is shown first on the agency lists, marked as the owner. That placement is not based on the scoring, and the ranking pages say exactly that. Every other agency is ranked by the published methodology. The top of every agency ranking discloses the ownership in its first lines.
And one hard rule: Exclusiva cannot buy a Sponsored spot on any list where it is ranked. If a Sponsored spot ever links to something I own, it carries an “Owner” label on the board.
I would rather tell you upfront than have you find it later. The full details are on the disclosure page.
What does a buyer see when they land on a ranking?
A brand landing on a ranking sees, in order: the disclosure, a quick answer, any Sponsored spots (labeled), and then the scored list. Each entry shows who it is best for, pricing model, location, founded year, team size, pros and cons, and a profile link.
Companies can get a free profile, which makes them eligible for every relevant ranking. They also get free ranking badges for their site, proposals and email signature. The paid part is optional and sits on top.
Why launch it in public?
Because the whole idea only works in public. A pay-to-rank board that nobody watches is just a price list.
So today I am putting it on X. As I write this, the board reads “No bids yet. Every Sponsored spot is open.” Whoever claims the first one will sit at the top of the live bid board for everyone who visits.
I will not pretend to know how it goes. That is the fun part of building in public: you find out with everyone else.
What is next?
The rankings keep getting reviewed. Our methodology says lists are reviewed every quarter, and sooner when a company changes pricing or service. Companies keep requesting profiles. And the board fills up, or it doesn’t, in full view.
Credit where it is due: Jonathan built the original idea. I just wanted to see what happens when you bolt it onto a scored directory for an industry that badly needs more transparency about who pays for what.
FAQ
What is outbid.lol?
A public pay-to-rank leaderboard built by Jonathan Wilke, launched on August 19, 2026. Rank is set purely by what people pay.
How is BestAdAgency different from outbid.lol?
Paid spots sit above 235 scored editorial rankings. They are labeled “Sponsored”, last 30 days, and never change the editorial order.
How much does a Sponsored spot cost at launch?
During launch, every open spot starts at $1 for 30 days. To take a held spot, you pay $1 more than the current holder.
Where does Exclusiva appear?
Exclusiva is shown first on agency lists because it owns the site, and that placement is not based on scoring. It cannot buy a Sponsored spot on any list where it is ranked.
What happens if I get outbid?
You are emailed right away, unused days are refunded pro rata, and you can retake the spot at the new price plus $1.
Take the first spot
See who holds #1 right now, or take it yourself. Open the live bid board.
