Ok - I love this question. We had a fabulous lawyer who wrote most of our real estate law in Colorado. He, unfortunately, died in a plane crash. After he died I watched many of his videos, one of which was MYTHS that Realtors believe. He said:

 . . . there's this myth that a Listing broker can't tell a subsequent Buyer's side what the current offer amounts are. Of course they can, they just have to ask their Seller if it's okay. But each of those Buyer's offers aren't confidential and you can't make them confidential. And if you're really helping that Seller, you should be turning to that Buyer and saying, 'I have three at this price, and if you can beat it, then you're gonna to be the one who wins.'

I now use this approach in multiple offer situations. I give them all the same information - The highest bid right now is $387,000 - $17,000 over asking price. Now bring us your highest and best. THAT way, no one is trying to hit the bull's eye but not knowing which wall the target is on. Not trying to guess if $10,000 will do it but willing to stay in the game. And, the ones who don't want to pay that much don't waste their efforts.

Pat, I don't think most agents in this area even have a clue about escalation clauses.  Tried to use one a couple of years ago and just couldn't get the other side to get a grip on what it meant.

Highest and best in my market.

Escalator Clauses are not used in my area. I am not sure most agent even understand them. Multiple offers use the highest and best.

In Oklahoma there is no escalator clause.

Our real estate commission does not allow us as agents to write an escalation clause.

Hi Pat - We see both. On our listings where we're expecting multiple offers, we're requesting best and final and no escaltor clauses - less buyer (and agent) confusion.

I do not write offers with Escalator Clause, and I never received any as a listing agent. 

They ask for highest and best and recently are seeing use of the escalator clause.

Escalator Clauses are not used in my area and I doubt many agents even know what they are

Good morning Pat. I can count on one hand the number of purchase agreement I have ever seen with an escalation clause.

Patricia Kennedy not many agents try 'escalator clause'.

Many times the listing agents come back and ask for more even when escalator clause is in the offer - and they wanted the highest and the best on day 1.

I haven't hear much about escalator clauses. Usually it's best and final. But of course I don't see what other buyers are doing when offering

Mimi Foster 's comments are interesting regarding confidentiality. The COE addresses this, too

Highest and best in Indiana

I have not seen an escalator clause this year yet

We see both competing on the same house.

Never seen an escalator clause, it usually goes back and forth to highest and best. But we are not seeing multiple offers except on lower priced homes. And certainly not all the time. 

We are not in a market that is having many multiple offers now.

Best and final offer is the norm.  I prefer to counter with a price though.

Escalators haven't been in use here in a long time.  Maybe if the inventory gets tighter we'll see them again.

In my situations, first quick clean full price offer gets it

I've seen both happen.  People are pulling out all the stops in our low inventory marketplace

They are told to bring in H&B by a certain time. Often times, they do not which makes me wonder their logic or the buyers logic. The market has not been busy enough to use the rabbit out of the hat 'escalator clause' yet.

I still se a few low ball offers here, not as hot as some areas.

I have written more Escalator Clause this year and even that is not working.

We are definitely seeing multiple offers, and some escalating clauses.   The ones that are winning the bid are those paying over appraised value.  

Escalator clauses were being used a lot about a year ago.  I am seeing highest and best these days. 

Highest & Best. Very rare we see Escalation Clauses.

We have seen both on our listings, and used them when representing buyers

Escalation clauses are used here in CO. Everyone in my classes who mentions them suggests to not bother, go with highest and best, and, as Jon Goodman says (bold added):

"The smart seller, who seeks to avoid all of the uncertainties and complications of an escalation clause, may simply counter the offer from the buyer using the maximum price in the escalation offer as the fixed price in the counter proposal."

The highest and best seems to be preferred.

I have only seen one used once and thought it was a great idea! Evidently it hasn't taken off because I haven't seen one in years.

Typically highest and best. We do not see alot of esculation clauses and when i do, they are most often not written in the seller favor. 

As listing agent, always require highest and best.

Then negotiate.

Escalators on a 250 house will counter at 7 figures, then the buyer agent figures it out.

Representing the buyer I have found escalater cluases useful but escalators are more useful at the mall.

Each agent has their own strategy.

Hi Pat -- we see both but typically the escalation clause is not used in the initial but in the case of a multiple counter offer.  

To-date, I've not seen anyone use the "escalator clause" in my market. It always seems to be the "highest and best" route.

Highest and best here

My broker & I wrote an escalator clause ourselves in the mid 2000's. Our MLS later prepared a more extensive version we all use.  Occasionally some sellers, mostly banks won't accept them and just demand highest & best.  I like them as often times, we can achieve a nice outcome where the offer we escalate off of is less than my buyers cap, so we aren't fully escalated, but we still win the bid.  

different agents handle differently

i am a fan of the escalator clause..makes the seller realize there are two sides to every story