Webcast Pre-Bidding – Toggle On and Toggle Off
Pre-Bidding for your Webcast Auctions is a toggle-able feature, meaning you can manually turn it on and turn it off at any stage. Before Enabling Webcast Pre-Bidding, we recommend running through the following checklist:
- Ensure both your Webcast Auction and Lots are in Live status
- Enable or Disable Manual Increments for your Webcast Auctions
- Ensure your Lots each have a set Opening Bid and Increment, or at a minimum, just an Increment.
Enabling Webcast Pre-Bidding
Step 1 – Open the View Auctions page and click Edit
- Inside the Webtron Dashboard, click the Auctions & Items dropdown and click View Auctions.
- Once the View Auctions page has loaded, look to the right-hand side of the Auctions table, under the Actions column click the blue Edit button for your Webcast Auction.
Step 2 – Open the Dates tab and tick Enable Webcast Pre-Bidding
- Across the top of the Edit Auction menu, click the Dates tab.
- Inside the Auction Start & End section and beneath the Time Zone and Webcast Start Time options, tick the checkbox next to Enable Webcast Pre-Bidding, then click Save Auction.
After clicking Save Auction, you’ll return to the View Auctions page and see the yellow “Auction saved successfully” confirmation message across the top of your screen. Pre-Bidding is now enabled for your Webcast Auction.
Disabling Webcast Pre-Bidding
Since Webcast Pre-Bidding is a toggle, if you need to disable Webcast Pre-Bidding, you can follow the exact same steps as Enabling, but this time untick the Enable Webcast Pre-Bidding checkbox.
Step 1 – Open the View Auctions page and click Edit
- Inside the Webtron Dashboard, click the Auctions & Items dropdown and click View Auctions.
- Once the View Auctions page has loaded, look to the right-hand side of the Auctions table, under the Actions column click the blue Edit button for your Webcast Auction.
Step 2 – Open the Dates tab and untick Enable Webcast Pre-Bidding
- Across the top of the Edit Auction menu, click the Dates tab.
- Inside the Auction Start & End section and beneath the Time Zone and Webcast Start Time options, tick the checkbox next to Enable Webcast Pre-Bidding, then click Save Auction.
After clicking Save Auction, you’ll return to the View Auctions page and see the yellow “Auction saved successfully” confirmation message across the top of your screen. Pre-Bidding is now disabled for your Webcast Auction.
FAQ – Enabling and Disabling Webcast Pre-Bidding
Q: How will my Bidders know pre-bidding is turned on?
A: Logged in Bidders will see the Bid and Place Auto Bid buttons on each Lot, but we recommend adding some text to your Auction Description and to your Auction Email Marketing campaigns to let Bidders know pre-bidding is enabled.
Q: Will turning pre-bidding off cancel any pre-bids?
A: No, any Bids and Auto Bids placed when Pre-Bidding is enabled will remain on their respective Lots. Bids and Auto Bids placed during Pre-Bidding can of course be manually cancelled and disabled via the Bid Table, but disabling Pre-Bidding will not remove any Bids or Auto Bids.
Q: Who can place Pre-Bids?
A: Any Bidders who have Accepted the Terms and Conditions and registered for your Auction can place Pre-Bids. This is of course still conditional on if they are Auto Approved to Bid or if you have manually Approved them to Bid. If their Auction Registration is in Pending, Suspended or Insufficient Data status, they cannot place any Pre-Bids or bid during the Live phase of your Webcast Auction.
Q: Can I open Pre-Bidding but only for a few specific Bidders?
A: Yes and no, get in touch with us at support@webtronoa.com to discuss this or click here to open our Private Pre-Bidding Explained guide.
Q: Can I schedule Pre-Bidding or have it automatically enabled/disable on certain dates?
A: No, Pre-Bidding is a simple toggle-on and toggle-off feature that must be manually enabled and disabled.