Usually players use a blind bid where they submit the amount of IPCs they want into a server, the server tells them by email which bid was lower (in case of a tie, the server chooses one player at random.)
The person who “won” the bid decides how s/he will spend the money and what units will be placed where.
Generally the rule is that you must place units on your own territories. So you would not see a German Infantry in French Indo-China or a Japanese Submarine in SZ 12.
The idea is that you are bidding for the amount of IPC needed to bring the game into balance. It’s generally thought that in Classic and Revised the Axis are at a disadvantage and thus need more units to make the game fair.
Bids in Classic tend to run between 22 and 32 IPC. (4 infantry, 2 armor; 9 infantry, 1 armor; 1 fighter, 5 infantry, 1 armor; etc.)
Bids in Revised tend to run between 5 and 9 IPC. (armor in libya; submarine in SZ 50; 3 infantry in Ukraine, etc.)
To my knowledge there has been no bidding in Anniversary yet. However, I am getting close to asking for the allies to have a bid of 5 so that Russia may start with a second tank.
