Lots vs. Listings – Timed Auction Item Types Explained

When it comes to the interactive purchase options available to you and your Bidders, Timed Auctions offer a bit more flexibility than Webcast Auctions.

Two vital Item Settings work in concert to set the way your Bidders can interact with your Items, these being the Item Type and the Purchase Option. This Guide will cover the difference between the two main Item Types available for your Items in a Timed Auction.

Timed Auction – Lots

Lot is the standard Item Type for Timed Auctions, offering the flexibility of Standard Bidding (Purchase Option – NONE):

• Bidding on the Increment
• Setting an Auto Bid maximum amount

Lot also supports setting one of two additional Purchase Options:

• Buy Now (BUY_NOW) – Buy Now enables you to set a Purchase Price for a Bidder to buy that Lot outright
• Make Offer (MAKE_OFFER) – Make Offer enables your Bidders to offer an amount up to 3 times on that Lot, Dashboard Admins will be notified of the offer and can either accept or reject it from the Offer Table inside the Webtron Dashboard.

However, whilst the Lot Item Type offers this flexibility, it comes with caveats:

• Purchase Cut-off – Purchase Cut-off is a setting found in the General Settings tab of the Auction Details menu. The Buy Now and Make Offer buttons will disappear before a Timed Auction concludes, the latest they will disappear is the 24 hour (1 day) point before the End Time. This is due to Lots offering standard bidding, if no Purchases or Offers are made, the Dashboard will remove the buttons to allow Bidding to continue uninterrupted.
• Purchases are Final – This is a limitation shared with the Listing Item Type but it is worth mentioning that if a Bidder confirms their Buy Now intention or one of your Dashboard Admins accepts an offer, that Purchase is final. It cannot be revoked or the Lot restored to Live status. Lots purchased via Buy Now or Make Offer can of course be credited from any generated Invoices, but the Invoicing phase is of course after your Auction has concluded. If a Bidder reneges on a purchase before the conclusion of your Timed Auction, that Lot will need to re-uploaded.

Timed Auctions – Listings

Listing is the standard Item Type for the Marketplace, but Timed Auctions also support using Listings, both alongside Lots in the same Auction or a Timed Auction purely comprising of Listings.

The key difference between Lots and Listings is that Listings do not support Bidding. The Place Bid and Place Auto Bid buttons do not appear on Listings.

Listings support setting one of two Purchase Options:

• Buy Now (BUY_NOW) – Buy Now enables you set a Purchase Price for a Bidder, or in this context Buyer, to purchase that Listing outright.
• Make Offer (MAKE_OFFER) – Make Offer enables your Buyers to offer an amount up to 3 times on each Listing. Dashboard Admins on the Pending Offers notification list will be notified of the offer and can either accept or reject it from the Offer Table inside the Webtron Dashboard.

Unlike Lots using the Buy Now and Make Offer purchase options, Listings in Timed Auctions are not affected by the Timed Auctions’ Purchase Cut-off setting, Purchases and Offers can be made on Listings until their End Time is reached.

Which one should you use?

It is entirely up to you which Item Type you would like to use, our recommendations are entirely contextual and come down to:

• Which Item Type best suits the Item itself
• How you would like to structure your Auctions
• How you want your Bidders/Buyers to interact with your Items

If you are interested in making use of the Listing Item Type, we would recommend exploring our Guides covering the Marketplace, as the Marketplace functions more akin to a permanent storefront on your Portal.

Timed Auction Lots – Special Conditions and Features

Timed Auction Lots support manual End Dates and Times

Whilst we encourage using Bidding Extension and Stagger End Times instead, you can set a unique End Dates and Times on a per-Timed Lots basis. However, if you are using Stagger End Times, this cannot be done as Stagger Ends Times will enforce a End Time pattern on all Lots and Listings in that Auction.

Timed Auction Lots support Bidding, Purchases and Offers

As specified earlier in the Guide, Timed Lots are unique from the perspective that they support all available Purchase Options in the Webtron Dashboard whilst also offering Bidding.

Timed Auction Lots support Quantities and Per-Item or Per-Lot Bidding

Timed Lots share a similar trait with their Webcast Lot counterpart, in that, a Timed Lot can be given a quantity value or greater than 1. This servers one of two purposes, in this case, Bidding Type:

1. Per Lot (Bidding Type) – Per Lot is the default Bidding Type, and when a Timed Lot has been given a quantity greater than 1, the Bidder will win the entire set quantity for that Lot for one price.
2. Per Item (Bidding Type) – Per Item is additional Bidding Type available for Timed Lots with a quantity greater than 1. Setting Per Item as the Bidding Type means a Bidder will be bidding the Increment x the Quantity value. For example, a Timed Lot using Per Item bidding, $25 Increments and a quantity of 4 will display Bid 4 x $25 = $100 on the Bid button. Essentially, the Bidder is bidding a price for each individual Item (Quantity) assigned to that Timed Lot.

Timed Auction Listings – Special Conditions and Features

Timed Auction Listings support mid-auction Invoicing

Timed Listings share a similar trait with their Webcast Lot counterpart, in that, when sold via a Buy Now Purchase Price or an Accepted Offer, an Invoice can be generated containing that Timed Listing before the Timed Auction itself has ended.