Tutorial Video – Creating Items for Timed Auctions in-Dashboard
Step 1: Click Auctions & Items > Create New Items
- Inside the Webtron Dashboard’s Sidebar, click the Auctions & Items dropdown, then click ‘Create New Items’.
- You’ll now see the Ghost Items menu, click the Choose an Auction dropdown and select your Auction:
After selecting an Auction, two options will appear; ‘Start Creating Items‘ and ‘Choose File‘. Click the ‘Start Creating Items‘ button to open the New Items menu:
Step 2: Create new Items by clicking the grey New Item row
After clicking ‘Start Creating Items‘ the New Items menu will appear. The New Items menu contains a table with the following column headings (Columns marked with * are required):
- Select Item checkbox
- Type * (Item Type)
- Lot # * (Lot Number)
- Title *
- Summary
- Description
- Category *
- Vendor *
- End Date1
- End Time1
- Buyers Premium2
- Charges2
- Hammer Tax2
- BP Tax2
- Charges Tax2
- Currency1
- Display Price
- Purchase Option *
- Unit of Measure
- Purchase Price *
- Opening Bid
- Bid Increment/Dynamic Bid Increment3
- Reserve Price
- Quantity4
- Bidding Type4
- Contact Seller
- Location
2Editable per Item: All columns from Buyers Premium to Currency can be edited on a per Item basis.
If Enabled: Increment column will be labelled “Dynamic Bid Increment” and must be left blank, with the Dynamic Bid Increment being set by the Dashboard based on the value set under the Opening Bid column.
If Disabled: increment column will be labelled “Bid Increment” and the Increment value can be set per Item.
At a bare minimum, the following columns must be filled in before you can convert your Item from Ghost status to Preview status:
- Type * (Item Type)
- Lot # * (Lot Number)
- Title *
- Category *
- Vendor *
- Purchase Option *
- Purchase Price *
- Bid Increment * (if column heading says Dynamic Bid Increment, leave this column blank)
Click the Plus + sign under the first column to create a new Item row, and click it again to create additional Items as needed:
Then under the Type column, Lot will be pre-filled by default:
Step 3: Creating a Lot
This guide will now be split by Item Type, first we’ll cover how to create a Lot.
Step 3A: Set the Item Type to ‘Lot’ *
As a quick reminder, the Lot item type allows for Bidding and the addition of a Buy Now or Make Offer purchase option, and the Listing item type allows for only either a Buy now or Make Offer purchase option with no option for bidding on Listings:
Lot is the default option for Timed Auction Items and will be pre-filled for you when you create your first Item row.
Step 3B: Set a Lot Number (Optional)
Once you’ve selected Lot as your Item Type, you now have the option of setting a Lot Number, or the Dashboard will automatically assign a Lot Number (ascending from 1):
The Lot Number field supports alphabetical (A, B, C etc.), alphanumeric (1A, 1B, 1C etc.) and numeric values (1, 2, 3 etc.).
Step 3C: Set a Title *
After you’ve set your Lot Number, the next required field is the Title, or Lot Title. The Title for each Lot can be up to 128 characters long and acts as a 1-2 sentence description of each item. Click into the Title field and fill in your Lot Title:
If you’re unsure what to fill in for your Lot Title, our recommended structure is [Year] [Brand/Make/Artist] [Model] [Type] [Material].
Step 3D: Set a Summary and/or Description (Optional)
Once you’ve set a Lot Title, you click on either the Summary or Description field to open the Item Summary and Description panel. Inside the panel, you can set either a Summary and/or Description, with both being completely optional.
Summary is a short 1-2 sentence descriptor that will appear underneath your Lot Title, and can be up to 128 characters long. This field is most often used for Estimates, Pickup Locations, Buying Conditions (i.e. “Sold as is, where is”) or any other information you’d like to provide to your bidders:
Description is more long-form content that will appear on the Item Details page for that Lot:
Both the Summary and Description fields support Rich Text formatting, such as:
- Bold
- Italic
Strikethrough
- Number Point list formatting
- Dot Point list formatting
- Hyperlinks
- Advanced Content formatting, such as:
Headings
Paragraph
Address
- Basic HTML Formatting (Such as HTML Tables)
Step 3E: Set a Category and Vendor *
The next required columns are the Category and Vendor columns respectively.
When setting up your Auction Portal, you will have sent us a list of Categories for your Category Tree or opted to use a single Category for all Items. To set the Category, click in the field under the Category column and start typing in the name of a Category. The Dashboard will offer you a clickable pre-fill, click the pre-fill to assign that Category to your Lot:
The same goes for the Vendor column.
You can assign a Vendor Profile to each or all of your Lots by clicking into the field under the Vendor column, typing out the name of your Vendor and clicking the pre-fill offered by the Dashboard:
You can create new Vendor Profiles via the Users & Groups > Vendors menu in the Webtron Dashboard’s sidebar:
Step 3F: Set the Purchase Option to either None, Buy Now or Make Offer *
The next required field is the Purchase Option. The Lot item type supports selecting one of the following Purchase Options:
- None (NONE)
- Buy Now (BUY_NOW)
- Make Offer (MAKE_OFFER)
If you want Bidding Only on your Lots, set the Purchase Option to None.
If you want Bidding and a Buy Now Purchase Price, set the Purchase Option to Buy Now.
If you want Bidding and the option for Bidders to submit Offer Amounts, set the Purchase Option to Make Offer.
Click on the dropdown under the Purchase Option column and select either NONE, BUY_NOW or MAKE_OFFER:
If using Make Offer, the Purchase Price column becomes optional and can be used to set a hidden Minimum Acceptable Offer amount (all offers submitted below that amount will be auto-rejected by the Dashboard).
Step 3G: Set the Opening Bid amount (Optional)
After setting the Purchase Option, you have the option of setting an Opening Bid amount:
Setting an Opening Bid is optional, if left un-set, your Portal will use the Bid Increment as the Opening Bid.
Step 3H: Set the Bid Increment amount *
After setting or leaving the Opening Bid blank, you’ll be required to fill in a Bid Increment amount:
The Bid Increment column will set the initial Increment or Rises your Lot will follow with each bid placed. After converting your Lots from Ghost to Preview status, you can then edit the Increment via Bulk Edit or the Bid Table.
Step 3I: Set the Reserve amount (Optional)
Lots for Timed Auctions support setting a Reserve amount. If using Reserves, fill in the field under the Reserve column with a whole number:
Setting a Reserve amount is optional, and, once converted from Ghost to Preview status, the Reserve amount can be added or edited via Bulk Edit or the Bid Table.
The remaining columns (Quantity, Bidding Type, Contact Seller and Location) are also optional. We recommend checking the Overviews for each feature here:
- Quantity and Bidding Type Overview
- Contact Seller Overview
- Per-Item Locations Overview
Step 4: Convert your Items from Ghost to Preview status
Once you’ve filled in all of the Required Fields for at least one item, the Convert button will enable. Once you’re ready to convert your Items, click the Select All checkbox at the top-left of the table to select all of your Ghost Items, then click the Convert button above the top-left of the New Item table:
Click Convert Items to proceed, and after a short loading period, your Ghost Items will be converted to Preview status and moved to the Items menu here:
Please Note: Your Items can only be converted from Ghost to Preview status once all required fields have been filled in. If your Ghost Items contain the red marker at the left-hand edge of the New Items table, that Item either has required fields needing to be filled in or corrected:
Now that your Items are in Preview status, you can begin uploading photos via Bulk Upload Images or Bulk Edit, or Approve your Items to add photos via VendorPlus.
Optional: Advanced options for Timed Auction Items
Advanced Summary and Description Formatting
Both the Summary and Description fields support Rich Text formatting, such as:
- Bold
- Italic
Strikethrough
- Number Point list formatting
- Dot Point list formatting
As well as Pre-Formatted options like:
Headings
Paragraph
Address
Basic HTML Formatting (Such as HTML Tables)
If you’re interested in learning the ins-and-outs of Advanced Item Content Formatting, get in touch with us at support@webtronoa.com to arrange a training session.
Setting per-Lot Buyers Premium and Tax Rate Percentages
The Buyers Premium and Additional Tax columns (Tax on Hammer, BP and Charges) are pre-filled based on your Auction Details, but you can click into the field for each column and set the Buyers Premium and Additional Tax percentages on a per-Item basis:
Otherwise you can leave these columns filled in as-is, and proceed straight to the Purchase Option column.