This guide gives a broader overview of the Auction Registrants and Bidder Registrations workflow on your Portal and inside the Webtron Dashboard.

Creating an Account vs. Registering for an Auction – What’s the Difference

When a Bidder first lands on your Portal, they’ll be required to first Create an Account. This will register their details within your User Database and require them to verify their Email Address is valid, this is what we call the Bidder Create and Activate Account workflow:

After your Bidder has activated their account and logged in, they’ll be required to Register for an Auction before they can Bid on or Buy any of the Items within that Auction. We call this the Bidder Auction Registration workflow:

So why do your Bidders have to register for each Auction? The reasons for that are twofold:

1. Ease of Bidder Management – Your Dashboard Admins can manage Registrants on a per-Auction basis
2. Per-Auction Terms and Conditions – Your Dashboard Admins can set per-Auction Terms and Conditions (Special Terms and Conditions)

Managing Bidder Auction Registrations Overview

There are two branching workflows when it comes to Bidder Auction Registrations, think of them as a river that will fork in two directions. It starts with the Bidder creating their account and confirming their Email Address (Activation), once they log in and Accept your Terms and Conditions to Register for an Auction, this is the point where your the Bidder Registration workflow diverges into:

1. Auction Registration Auto-Approval
2. Auction Registration Manual Approval

Auction Registration Auto-Approval

As is the case with many Portals, Auto-Approval is the standard setup. In a nutshell, when your Bidders accept your Ts and Cs and register for an Auction, they are immediately auto-approved and able to Bid on or Buy the Items in that Auction.

Your Dashboard Admins retain all of the necessary Registration Status controls, but any Bidder who registers for one of your Auctions immediately has the ability to interact with that Auction.

Auction Registration Manual Approval

If you would prefer to review your Bidders one-by-one, Manual Approval will place your Bidders in Pending status immediately upon their acceptance of your Ts and Cs. Whilst in Pending status, your Bidders will be unable to Bid on, Buy or make any offers on the Items in your Auction, and they will receive an automatic email notification informing them their Auction Registration is being reviewed by your Admins.

Your Dashboard Admins that are part of your Pending Registrants notification list will receive an email notifying them of a new Bidder Registration awaiting review, which leads us into the Registration Status controls.

Bidder Registration Statuses – Status Definitions and Controls

After a Bidder registers for an Auction, we refer to them as Bidder Registrants. Bidder Registrants can be exist in one of 5 distinct Registration Statuses, these being:

• Pending
• Suspended
• Approved
• Insufficient Data
• Awaiting Deposit (No longer supported)
• Issue with Deposit (No longer supported)

Let’s break down a few of the Registration Status workflows and what your Dashboard Admins can and can’t do when managing a Bidder’s Registration Status.

Each of the Registration workflows will be broken down by an Action. These Actions correspond with a Control found in the Webtron Dashboard, in both the per-Auction Registration List and the Bidder’s Profile > Auction tab. We’ll list these from most common to rare:

1. Registration Status > Admin Action > Registration Status
2. Bidder Action > Registration Status
3. Bidder Action > Registration Status > Automated Action > Registration Status
4. Bidder Action > Registration Status > Admin Action > Registration Status

As an example, the most common workflow is the following:

Register (Bidder Action) > Approved (Status)

If Auction Registration Manual Approval is enabled

Pending Status

Manual Approval follows a semi-unique workflow, it is the only workflow that uses the Pending status.

Register (Bidder) > Pending (Status) – Bidders who register for an Auction when Manual Approval is enabled will immediately be moved into Pending status. From there they can be manually Approved, Suspended or left in Pending by your Auction Admins.

Recommended Admin Action – if you choose to Approve this Bidder’s Registration, we recommend also Whitelisting that Bidder. The next time they register for an Auction on your Portal, their Whitelisted status will result in all of their future Registrations being Auto-Approved.

Pending (Status) > Approve (Admin Action) > Approved (Status) – Your Dashboard Admins can use the Approve action to move a Bidder from Pending to Approved status. Once in Approved status, the Bidder can fully Bid on, Buy and Make Offers on Items within that Auction.

All Registration Status Controls

Pending is the only Registration status unique to Manual Approval, from this point on all Registration Statuses and Controls are universal across both Registration Management settings.

Suspended Status

As Auto-Approval is the more commonly used Registration Management setting, Suspend is the most commonly used Admin Action. Moving a Bidder’s Registration to Suspended status will immediately eject them from that Auction, all Bid and Buy options will be hidden and they will receive an automatic Email notification detailing their Suspended status.

A Bidder’s Registration status can be moved to Suspended status from any other status:

Any Status > Suspend (Admin Action) > Suspended (Status)

From Suspended, you then have the additional option of moving the Bidder into one of two statuses:

Suspended (Status) > Approve (Admin Action) > Approved (Status) – Your Dashboard Admins can easily re-approve a Bidder, once back in Approved status they can once again interact with your Auction.

Suspended (Status) > Request Further Information (Admin Action) > Insufficient Data (Status) – Your Dashboard Admins can use the Request Further Information action to send a formatted email to the Bidder requesting further verification documents (that you specify). This email template is managed and edited by us, and the content inside it can be tailored to your specifications.

Same as Suspended status, when in Insufficient Data status your Bidder cannot interact with that Auction in any way. They will not be able to Bid, Buy or submit offers until manually approved.

Insufficient Data Status

If you are using our Bidder Stripe Verification module:

Skip Verification (Bidder Action) > Request Further Information (Automated Action) > Insufficient Data (Status)

If you are not using the Verification module:

Any Status > Request Further Information (Admin Action) > Insufficient Data (Status)

Insufficient Data status is primarily used in two workflows:

1. Skip Verification – Your Bidder has chosen to Skip Verification when using our Bidder Stripe Verification module.
2. Manual Verification – Your Admins need to manually request verification documents from a Bidder in Pending or Suspended status.

A Bidder can be moved to Insufficient Data status from any other status by using the Request Further Information action. Once in Insufficient Data status, the Dashboard will send a formatted email to the Bidder requesting further verification documents (that you specify). This email template is managed and edited by us, and the content inside it can be tailored to your specifications.

Bidder Registration Statuses – The Where

A Bidder’s Registration status can be managed from two menus in the Webtron Dashboard:

Auction Registrations List (Per-Auction)

Like the Bid Table, each Auction contains it’s own dedicated Auction Registrations List. This can be access from the Auctions & Items > View Auctions menu by clicking on the # pending or # approved links inside the Auctions table and under the Bidders column:

Each registered Bidder’s status is listed under the left-most column labelled Status, with the Status Controls found under the right-most column labelled Actions:

Using the # approved link to access the Auction Registrations List will pre-filter the Registrations table to show only Bidders in Approved status. Use the Filter/Modify Filter button at the top-left of the menu to select and display Bidders in other or all Registration Statuses:

Actions Required Shortcut table (Dashboard Home)

If you have any Bidders in Pending or Insufficient Data status, you will also see the Actions Required shortcuts on the Dashboard Home page each time you log in. Click on any of the numbers in the table to open the Bidder Registrations List with that status pre-filtered:

Bidder (User) Profile Auction History tab

Every Bidder’s Auction Registration is recorded, stored and listed under the Auctions tab inside their User Profile. From here you can see every Auction they have registered for, their current Registration status, and the Registration controls: