For Sellers: Creating and Managing Your Auction

This section guides you through listing a product for auction and managing the sale.

Setting Up Your Auction Listing:

• Currency & Pricing: Set the currency for your auction (e.g., USD, EUR).
• Bid Increment (Optional): You can define a mandatory minimum bid amount for different price ranges (e.g., bids must increase by $5 for items under $100, and by $10 for items over $100). If you don't set this, bidders can raise the bid by any amount.
• Reserve Price (Highly Recommended): This is your secret minimum price. If the auction ends below this price, you are not obligated to sell the item. The system will show bidders that the reserve has or hasn't been met, but not the exact amount.
• Example: You set a reserve price of $200 for a camera. The bidding goes to $150. The listing will show "Reserve Not Met." The auction ends, and you are not forced to sell.
• Duration & Scheduling: Set the auction duration, from a minimum of 1 day to a maximum of 365 days.Choose to start the auction immediately after activation or schedule it for a specific future date and time.
• Auction Sniping Control (Subscriber Feature):Sniping is when a bidder places a winning bid in the final seconds of an auction. As a subscriber, you can disable sniping. If disabled, you must set an extension period between 1 and 30 minutes.
• How it works: If a bid is placed in the final 60 seconds and sniping is disabled, the auction timer is automatically extended by your chosen period (e.g., 5 minutes). This gives other bidders a chance to respond, potentially driving the final price higher.
• Inventory Commitment: Upon activating your auction, 1 unit of the product's stock is automatically blocked in your inventory. This guarantees the item will be available for the winner. This block is released if you delete/deactivate the listing or if the auction ends unsuccessfully.

During the Auction:

• Notifications: You will receive a notification in your ERP system for every new bid placed. This notification includes the bidder's identity, even if they bid anonymously.
• Responsible Person: The employee set as the responsible person for the listing in your ERP will receive these bid notifications.

After the Auction Ends:

• Successful Sale (Reserve Met):
• You receive a notification of the sale.
• The sales data is logged in your CRM / DEAL menu.
• The blocked inventory unit is officially marked as sold in your inventory management system.
• Unsuccessful Sale (Reserve Not Met or No Bids):
• The listing will either automatically restart or become inactive, based on your configuration.
• The blocked inventory unit is released back into available stock.

For Sellers: Mastering Bid Increment Rules

Understanding Bid Increments

A bid increment is a rule you set to define the minimum amount by which a new bid must exceed the current highest bid. This helps create a structured and predictable bidding environment.

• Optional Tool: Setting a bid increment is not mandatory. If you choose not to set one, bidders can increase the bid by any amount.
• Strategic Value: Increments can help pace your auction and ensure bids increase by a meaningful amount, especially for higher-value items.

Key Features of Our Bid Increment System

Our system offers unparalleled flexibility to cater to sellers with diverse and international inventories:

• Unlimited Rules: You can create an unlimited number of distinct bid increment rules.
• Multi-Currency Support: Each rule is tied to a specific currency (e.g., USD, EUR, GBP). This allows you to have perfectly tailored increment strategies for all your auctions, regardless of their listing currency.
• Per-Ad Selection: When creating an auction ad, you can easily select the pre-made bid increment rule that matches your chosen auction currency.

How to Create a New Bid Increment Rule

Follow this step-by-step process to create a custom bid increment rule.

Step 1: Navigate to the Bid Management Section

• In your ERP system, go to: erp_name/auction-management/bid-increments
• Click the [Create] button.

Step 2: Define the Basic Rule Information

• Rule Name: Enter a descriptive name for this rule (e.g., "Standard EUR Increments," "High-Value USD Rule"). This helps you easily identify it later.
• Currency: Select the currency for this specific rule from the dropdown menu (e.g., Euro - EUR).

Step 3: Set Your Price Ranges and Increments

You will see: From Price and To Price and Bid Increment Amount.

• From Price: The lower bound of the price range.
• To Price: The upper bound of the price range. The rule will apply to bids that are equal to or greater than the "From Price" and less than the "To Price."
• Bid Increment Amount: The mandatory minimum bid increase for bids within the specified price range.
• To add a new price range:
• Click the [+ Add Row] button
• Fill in the From Price, To Price and Bid Amount for the new range.
• You can add as many rows as needed to cover all potential price points for your items.
• Save Your Rule: Once you have finished adding all necessary price ranges, click the [Save] button.

Your new rule is now saved and will be available for selection when you create any new auction listing in the same currency.

Practical Example

Scenario: You are a seller based in Europe who frequently auctions collectible stamps in EUR.

• Goal: Create a bid increment rule for EUR auctions.
• Rule Name: Collectibles EUR Increments"
• Currency: Euro (EUR)

You might set up your increments like this:

How it works in an auction:

You will see: From Price and To Price and Bid Increment Amount.

• If the current bid is €45, the next bid must be at least €50.
• If the current bid is €180, the next bid must be at least €190.
• If the current bid is €600, the next bid must be at least €650.

This structured approach ensures bids increase significantly as the value of your item rises.

For Buyers: How to Bid and Win

This section explains how to participate in auctions as either a private individual or a corporate user.

Placing a Bid:

• Finding an Item: Browse or search for items listed under the "Auction" format.
• Bid Increments: If the seller sets a bid increment, you will see the minimum amount you must bid (e.g., "Current bid: $50. Enter at least $55").
• Proxy Bidding (Maximum Bid): This is the recommended way to bid. You can enter a maximum bid higher than the current minimum. The system will store this amount and only bid on your behalf, automatically outbidding others up to your maximum. The bid increment rules still apply.
• Example:
• The current bid is $50. You set your maximum bid to $80.
• The system places a bid for you at $55.
• Another bidder bids $60. The system automatically bids $65 on your behalf.
• Another bidder bids $70. The system automatically bids $75 for you.
• If someone bids $85, they would become the highest bidder because your maximum ($80) was exceeded, and you would be notified.
• Anonymous Bidding: You can choose to bid anonymously. Your username will be hidden from other bidders in the public bid history, but the seller will always know your identity.

Tracking Your Bids:

• Listing Page: When logged in, the auction page will show your status:
• Highest Bidder: You are currently winning
• Outbid: Someone has placed a higher bid. You will also receive a notification for this. It will also show your own maximum bid amount if it is higher than the current price.
• "My Auctions" Section (Private Users): All auctions you have bid on are tracked here.
• Procurement / Auctions Menu (Corporate Users): Employees must use the corporate account platform to view and manage company bids. The employee who placed a bid will be notified if the company is outbid.
• Retracting a Bid: If you are the current highest bidder, you have the option to retract your bid.
• Consequences: The next highest bidder (if one exists) becomes the new winner. The seller is notified.

Corporate Bidding

• An employee must switch to the corporate user account on the platform.
• The employee must have purchasing rights based on the company's Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) settings in the ERP.
• The bidding process is identical, but all bids are managed within the company's ERP system under Procurement / Auctions, not in a personal "My Auctions" section.

Auction Conclusion & After-Sale Process

• Winning the Auction
• You will receive a notification that you have won the item.
• The item will appear in your "My Purchases" menu (private) or the company's Procurement menu (corporate).
• Finalizing the Purchase: As the winner, you must complete the following steps to check out:
• Fill in Your Details: Provide necessary contact information.
• Provide Addresses: Submit a valid invoice address and delivery address.
• Choose Payment: Select from the available payment options (e.g., credit card, PayPal, bank transfer).
• Select Delivery Method:
• Choose to pick up the item in person.
• Choose delivery. If delivery is selected, you must also select a shipping provider from the options given.
• Once these steps are complete, the seller will be notified to prepare and ship your order.