What is a bounty? How can I start one?

Overview

Bounties encourage other users to answer a question by offering reputation as a reward.

If you've asked a good question but it remains unanswered, adding a bounty can draw more attention to it and increase the chance of receiving an answer. You can also start a bounty on another user's question.

Start a bounty

You can start a bounty on an eligible question that is at least two days old.

To start a bounty:

• Click Start a bounty at the bottom of the question.
• Choose a bounty between 50 and 500 reputation in 50-point increments.
• Select a reason for starting the bounty.
• Optionally, add more information about your bounty.
• Click Start bounty.

Once you add a bounty to a question, Stack Internal deducts the selected amount from your reputation. A bounty does not guarantee an answer, and bounties are not refundable.

Administrators and moderators can start a bounty on any question without using their own reputation.

Bountied questions

Bountied questions receive additional visibility.

They appear with a special indicator in question lists and remain on the Bountied tab for seven days.

Award a bounty

After a waiting period, you have seven days, plus a 24-hour grace period, to award the bounty.

Click the bounty award icon next to the answer you want to reward.

You can't award a bounty to your own answer.

If you don't award the bounty yourself, Stack Internal automatically awards it according to the site's bounty rules. See the full Bounties article for details.

Rules and restrictions

Keep the following in mind when starting a bounty:

• You can only have three active bounties at a time.
• A question can only have one active bounty.
• If you've already answered the question, the minimum bounty is 100 reputation.
• The minimum bounty doubles each time you place another bounty on the same question.
• You can't cancel or change a bounty after you start it.

Learn more

For more information about starting, awarding, and managing bounties, see Bounties.

If you have questions or issues, reach out to our support team for help.