This guide covers the how and why of Suspending Timed Items. Whilst the title says “Live to Suspended”, you can move Items in Draft, Preview or Live to Suspended status.
Suspending an Item – the Why
Suspending an Item is done for two primary reasons:
To enable the Cancel Bid and Disable Auto Bid actions – Without a doubt, 99% of the time the reason why you would Suspend an Item is to enable the Bid Table’s Cancel Bid and Disable Auto Bid actions.
To quickly disable the Bid/Purchase buttons on an Item – Suspending an Item will instantly remove the Bid, Place Auto Bid, Make Offer and Buy Now buttons from an Item and mark that Item as Suspended on the Portal (in place of the End Time/Countdown), like this:
Any Status* to Suspended – Moving an Item from it’s current status to Suspended
Before we begin, just a quick clarification, Suspended status is *only applicable to Items in Draft, Preview or Live status. Items in Withdrawn cannot be Suspended, and Items in Closed status should not be Suspended under any circumstances.
Items in Closed status can be Suspended but shouldn’t be if they are in the Sold Selling Status, this will cause a continuity error and break your Item, so don’t Suspend an Item that has Sold.
Draft, Preview or Live to Suspended – Suspending an Item via the Item List menu
Step 1 – Navigate to the View Auctions page and open the Item List
Once you’ve logged into the Webtron Dashboard, navigate to the Auctions & Items > View Auctions page:
On the View Auctions page, look to the middle-right of the Auctions table, under the Items column click on the # items link to open the Item List for an Auction:
Step 2 – Select your Item(s) and click the grey Suspend button
After clicking the # Items link, the Dashboard will load and display your full Item List for that Auction in a table:
Look to the left-hand edge of the table, each Item Row houses it’s own Select checkbox, with a Select All checkbox found at the top-left of the table.
Select an Individual several Items, then look above the table for the grey Suspend button (7th button from the left, sitting between Approve and Withdraw). Click the grey Suspend button, the Confirmation Request panel will then appear, click the green Confirm button to proceed:
The Dashboard will load for a moment and move your selected Item(s) from their current status to Suspended status. You’ll see a yellow “# Item(s) changed” message at the top of your screen, and the Item(s) will now show as SUSPENDED (if moved from Draft or Preview) or as SUSPENDED (if moved from Live) under the status column:
Step 2A (Optional) – Hiding Suspended Items from your Portal
If you have moved an Item from Live to Suspended status, it will remain visible on your Portal. You can manually hide Suspended-from-Live Items by ticking the Select checkbox for each Item at the left-hand edge of the Item List table, then click the grey Hide button above the table and click Confirm:
The Dashboard will load for a moment and your Items will immediately disappear from your Portal. The Status row for each Item will change from light green (STATUS) to light red (STATUS) to reflect the new Hidden state of those Items:
If you need to unhide those Items, tick the Select checkbox for each Item at the left-hand edge of the Item List table again, then click the grey Make Visible button above the table and click Confirm:
Your Items will immediately re-appear on your Portal, but remain in Suspended status.
Draft, Preview or Live to Suspended – Suspending an Item via the Bid Table
If the status column is showing as STATUS (with the light red background), those Items are hidden from your Portal. If the status column is showing as STATUS (with the light green background), those Items are visible on your Portal.
Use the Make Visible and Hide actions above the Item List table to toggle the visibility of your selected Items as needed:
If you’re unsure if your Item would be visible or not, float your mouse over the blue Key button in the Status column heading, this will display the Visibility and Selling Status colour key:
Light red (STATUS) indicates an Item is Hidden from your Portal. Light green (STATUS) indicates an Item is Visible on your Portal. Gold (SELLING STATUS) indicates an Item has Sold. Orange (SELLING STATUS) indicates an Item is Unsold/has not Sold.
FAQ – Suspending Timed Items
Q: Why would I suspend an Item? A: Suspended status is intended to be temporary – You should only Suspend an Item if you are cancelling bids or disabling auto bids on that Item, or need to temporarily remove the Bid/Purchase buttons from that Item. If you need to permanently remove Items from availability, use Withdrawn status instead. Don’t forget to Withdraw any Items left in Suspended status before your Auction’s End Time.
Q: Why would I suspend an Item instead of Withdrawing it? A: It is true that the Suspended and Withdrawn statuses both have a lot in common, but they do serve two more distinct roles: 1. Suspended status is intended to be temporary – You should only Suspend an Item if you are cancelling bids or disabling auto bids on that Item, or need to temporarily remove the Bid/Purchase buttons from that Item. If you need to permanently remove Items from availability, use Withdrawn status instead. 2. Withdrawn status is intended to be permanent – Whilst both Suspended and Withdrawn Items can be returned to Live status and have their Bid/Purchase buttons restored, Withdrawn is primarily used to indicate an Item is no longer available, either at the behest of the Vendor/Consignor or due to other outside circumstances.
Q: Can I delete a Suspended Item? A: No, only Items in Withdrawn status can be deleted.
Q: I suspended an Item and it’s status row is showing in green, but it hasn’t re-appeared on the Portal, how do I fix this? A: Your Portal will temporarily hide an Item when it’s Status changes, but the Item will re-appear if you switch pages on your Portal or refresh your Portal tab. You can also force unhide the Item by ticking it’s Select checkbox and then click the grey Make Visible button above the Item List table.
Q: I can’t reconcile my Auction, it keeps showing this error message:
Auction 'Auction Title' [Auction ID Number] <strong>status unchanged</strong>.
# item(s) closed from a total of # items.
Unchanged item states - (already reconciled or unable to reconcile)
SUSPENDED: #
What do I do to fix this? A: Check your Item List first, if you have any Items left in Suspended status after your Auction has closed, you won’t be able to fully Reconcile your Auction, even if those Suspended Items have passed their End Time. To avoid this with your future auctions, ensure all Suspended Items are Withdrawn prior to the End Time of your Auction and Items. For more details on how to fix this, click here to open the Live to Reconciliation – Reconciling a Timed Auction guide and skip to the Troubleshooting a Stuck Auction section of the guide.
Q: Is there any way I can set my Portal not to automatically show Suspended Items? A: No, but your Bidders won’t immediately see an Item in Suspended status after you hit Suspend. From the Bidder’s perspective, when an Item changes status it will briefly disappear and reappear if they refresh or change pages on your Portal (e.g. opening an Item’s Item Details page then going back to the Auction Catalogue page), so you do have time to manually hide an Item if you need to.
Q: Can anyone bid, buy or make an offer on a Suspended Item? A: No, all Bid/Purchase buttons are disabled on an Item when it is moved to Suspended status.
Live to Suspended – Suspending Timed Items
This guide covers the how and why of Suspending Timed Items. Whilst the title says “Live to Suspended”, you can move Items in Draft, Preview or Live to Suspended status.
Suspending an Item – the Why
Suspending an Item is done for two primary reasons:
Any Status* to Suspended – Moving an Item from it’s current status to Suspended
Before we begin, just a quick clarification, Suspended status is *only applicable to Items in Draft, Preview or Live status. Items in Withdrawn cannot be Suspended, and Items in Closed status should not be Suspended under any circumstances.
Items in Closed status can be Suspended but shouldn’t be if they are in the Sold Selling Status, this will cause a continuity error and break your Item, so don’t Suspend an Item that has Sold.
Draft, Preview or Live to Suspended – Suspending an Item via the Item List menu
Step 1 – Navigate to the View Auctions page and open the Item List
Once you’ve logged into the Webtron Dashboard, navigate to the Auctions & Items > View Auctions page:
On the View Auctions page, look to the middle-right of the Auctions table, under the Items column click on the # items link to open the Item List for an Auction:
Step 2 – Select your Item(s) and click the grey Suspend button
After clicking the # Items link, the Dashboard will load and display your full Item List for that Auction in a table:
Look to the left-hand edge of the table, each Item Row houses it’s own Select checkbox, with a Select All checkbox found at the top-left of the table.
Select an Individual several Items, then look above the table for the grey Suspend button (7th button from the left, sitting between Approve and Withdraw). Click the grey Suspend button, the Confirmation Request panel will then appear, click the green Confirm button to proceed:
The Dashboard will load for a moment and move your selected Item(s) from their current status to Suspended status. You’ll see a yellow “# Item(s) changed” message at the top of your screen, and the Item(s) will now show as SUSPENDED (if moved from Draft or Preview) or as SUSPENDED (if moved from Live) under the status column:
Step 2A (Optional) – Hiding Suspended Items from your Portal
If you have moved an Item from Live to Suspended status, it will remain visible on your Portal. You can manually hide Suspended-from-Live Items by ticking the Select checkbox for each Item at the left-hand edge of the Item List table, then click the grey Hide button above the table and click Confirm:
The Dashboard will load for a moment and your Items will immediately disappear from your Portal. The Status row for each Item will change from light green (STATUS) to light red (STATUS) to reflect the new Hidden state of those Items:
If you need to unhide those Items, tick the Select checkbox for each Item at the left-hand edge of the Item List table again, then click the grey Make Visible button above the table and click Confirm:
Your Items will immediately re-appear on your Portal, but remain in Suspended status.
Draft, Preview or Live to Suspended – Suspending an Item via the Bid Table
Suspending an Item in the Bid Table is the much quicker method of the two but doesn’t feature the same Make Visible and Hide actions available in the Item List menu. Click here to open our Cancelling Bids and Disabling Auto Bids guide, Step 1 details how to Suspend and re-Approve (Make Live) and Item inside the Bid Table.
Item Visibility reminder
If the status column is showing as STATUS (with the light red background), those Items are hidden from your Portal.
If the status column is showing as STATUS (with the light green background), those Items are visible on your Portal.
Use the Make Visible and Hide actions above the Item List table to toggle the visibility of your selected Items as needed:
If you’re unsure if your Item would be visible or not, float your mouse over the blue Key button in the Status column heading, this will display the Visibility and Selling Status colour key:
Light red (STATUS) indicates an Item is Hidden from your Portal.
Light green (STATUS) indicates an Item is Visible on your Portal.
Gold (SELLING STATUS) indicates an Item has Sold.
Orange (SELLING STATUS) indicates an Item is Unsold/has not Sold.
FAQ – Suspending Timed Items
Q: Why would I suspend an Item?
A: Suspended status is intended to be temporary – You should only Suspend an Item if you are cancelling bids or disabling auto bids on that Item, or need to temporarily remove the Bid/Purchase buttons from that Item. If you need to permanently remove Items from availability, use Withdrawn status instead. Don’t forget to Withdraw any Items left in Suspended status before your Auction’s End Time.
Q: Why would I suspend an Item instead of Withdrawing it?
A: It is true that the Suspended and Withdrawn statuses both have a lot in common, but they do serve two more distinct roles:
1. Suspended status is intended to be temporary – You should only Suspend an Item if you are cancelling bids or disabling auto bids on that Item, or need to temporarily remove the Bid/Purchase buttons from that Item. If you need to permanently remove Items from availability, use Withdrawn status instead.
2. Withdrawn status is intended to be permanent – Whilst both Suspended and Withdrawn Items can be returned to Live status and have their Bid/Purchase buttons restored, Withdrawn is primarily used to indicate an Item is no longer available, either at the behest of the Vendor/Consignor or due to other outside circumstances.
Q: Can I delete a Suspended Item?
A: No, only Items in Withdrawn status can be deleted.
Q: I suspended an Item and it’s status row is showing in green, but it hasn’t re-appeared on the Portal, how do I fix this?
A: Your Portal will temporarily hide an Item when it’s Status changes, but the Item will re-appear if you switch pages on your Portal or refresh your Portal tab. You can also force unhide the Item by ticking it’s Select checkbox and then click the grey Make Visible button above the Item List table.
Q: I can’t reconcile my Auction, it keeps showing this error message:
What do I do to fix this?
A: Check your Item List first, if you have any Items left in Suspended status after your Auction has closed, you won’t be able to fully Reconcile your Auction, even if those Suspended Items have passed their End Time. To avoid this with your future auctions, ensure all Suspended Items are Withdrawn prior to the End Time of your Auction and Items. For more details on how to fix this, click here to open the Live to Reconciliation – Reconciling a Timed Auction guide and skip to the Troubleshooting a Stuck Auction section of the guide.
Q: Is there any way I can set my Portal not to automatically show Suspended Items?
A: No, but your Bidders won’t immediately see an Item in Suspended status after you hit Suspend. From the Bidder’s perspective, when an Item changes status it will briefly disappear and reappear if they refresh or change pages on your Portal (e.g. opening an Item’s Item Details page then going back to the Auction Catalogue page), so you do have time to manually hide an Item if you need to.
Q: Can anyone bid, buy or make an offer on a Suspended Item?
A: No, all Bid/Purchase buttons are disabled on an Item when it is moved to Suspended status.