Setting up Per Item Bidding (Quantity x Increment)
Estimated reading: 13 minutes
This guide covers how to configure your Timed Auction Lots for Per Item bidding, including how to set your Lots to Per Item (Bidding Type) and setting a Quantity value.
We’ll split this guide into two sections, Setting up Per Item Bidding in the Webtron Dashboard, and Setting up Per Item Bidding via the Item CSV Spreadsheet.
Ease-of-Use Recommendation – We recommend setting up Per-Item Bidding either by creating your Lots in-Dashboard or after importing your Item CSV Spreadsheet. The Webtron Dashboard’s Ghost Item and Bulk Edit menus use Field Validation that will assist you in setting both the Bidding Type and the Quantity for each Lot.
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Setting up Per Item Bidding in Create Ghost Items and Bulk EditSetting up Per Item in Excel
Setting up Per Item Bidding in-Dashboard in Create Ghost Items and Bulk Edit
Per Item Bidding can be enabled at any point during Item Creation or by editing converted Lots. We’ll run through this from the Ghost Items menu but setting it up via Bulk Edit is almost exactly the same.
Step 1 – Open the Create New Items menu, select an Auction and click Start Creating Items
As a quick reminder, you can create Items for your Auction inside the Webtron Dashboard itself, no excel spreadsheet required. To do this, ensure your Auction has been created and is sitting in Preview or Live status.
Once that’s done, click the Auctions & Items dropdown at the top of the Dashboard, then click Create New Items:
This will open the Ghost Items menu, from here click on the Select an Auction dropdown and choose your Auction from the list (your newest Auction will be last on the list):
Once you’ve selected an Auction, two options will pop-out, click the green Start Creating Items button:
Step 2 – Selecting Bidding Type: Per Item and adding a Quantity
After clicking Start Creating Items, the Dashboard will display the Create Ghost Items menu. At the centre of your screen you’ll find a table with a single faint blue row beneath a series of columns. Click the blue row to Create a new Ghost Item, then click any of the empty space around the table, like this:
Clicking the empty space around the table will trigger the Dashboard to highlight the required fields you need to fill in order to enable the Convert option. Save the Bidding Type and Quantity for last, fill in the following fields (at a minimum):
Item Type – Lot (Pre-Filled with Lot) Lot Number – Leave blank for automatic numbering from 1 ascending Lot Title Category Vendor Purchase Option – Select NONE, BUY_NOW, or MAKE_OFFER Opening Bid (Optional) Increment Reserve (Optional)
Once those are filled in with your Lot content or placeholders, look to the top-right of your screen, just above the Create Ghost Items table, click the grey End-to-End button (the Left and Right arrow button) to switch between each end of the table:
End-to-End Note – The End-to-End button inside the Create Ghost Items and Bulk Edit menus acts as a shortcut to switch between each end of the their respective tables. If you are using a device without a trackpad or a mouse without a scroll wheel, we recommend using the End-to-End button.
By default, your Lots will be set to Bidding Type: Per Lot. To change this to Per Item, click the Per Lot dropdown beneath the Bidding Type column (3rd column from the right here, 4th column from the right in Bulk Edit) and select Per Item:
If you haven’t set your Lot’s Quantity yet, the Dashboard will now highlight the Bidding Type cell in red, as Per Item requires your Lot’s Quantity value be set to a value higher than 1. Click into the Quantity cell and type in a number value (no decimals) to set your Lot’s Quantity:
Step 3 – Select your Items and click the green Convert button
After you have set the Bidding Type to Per Item and set your Lot’s Quantity value, click the End-to-End button to return to the other end of the table. Click on the Select All checkbox at the top-left of the table to select all of your Ghost Items.
Before you click Convert, we recommend creating a CSV Backup of your Items, click the grey Export button at the top-right of the menu to download a CSV Spreadsheet containing the Lots you have created so far:
Then click the green Convert button above the top-left of the table, then click the blue Convert Items button inside the confirmation panel to convert your Lots from Ghost status to Preview status:
Your converted Lots will disappear from the Item Creation menu, to return to your Item List you can click the blue Items shortcut at the top-right of the Create Ghost Items menu, or click Auctions & Items, then click View Auctions to return to the View Auctions page:
From the View Auctions page, click on the # Items shortcut to open the Item List for your Auction, your newly converted Lots will be sitting in Preview status:
Setting up Per Item Bidding in Excel
Setting up Per Item Bidding via our CSV Spreadsheet template is slightly trickier as it is more manual, but if you’re unsure of what to enter at any stage, we’ve put together a more guided Excel Spreadsheet with dropdown selections.
Excel Recommendations and Tips
Working with Microsoft Excel can be a little unwieldy, especially on non-ultrawide or smaller displays. We have a few tips to help you keep track of your progress while you’re fill in the sheet:
Freeze Panes
Freeze Panes is a feature in Excel that allows you to “Pin” a column or columns and float them on the left-side of your screen while you’re scrolling right to fill in off-screen columns:
For example, to make it easier to keep each row lined up, we’ll Freeze Columns A, B and C.
Step 1 – Highlight Column D and open the View tab
To float your Lot Title column, click on the “D” at the top of Column D to select the entire Column:
Once selected, look to the top-left of your screen. Across Excel’s top bar you’ll find a series of tabs, click on the tab labelled “View”:
Step 2 – Enable Freeze Panes
Inside the View tab, look towards the right-hand end for the Freeze Panes button (the icon with blue squares and a blue * at the top-left):
Click on the Freeze Panes dropdown, then click the Freeze Panes option at the top of the list:
Now when you scroll to the right, Columns A, B and C will remain on top. If you’re finding they’re covering up too much of the spreadsheet, float your mouse over the edge of each column, left-click and drag left to resize each Column’s width:
Copy-pasting the dropdown lists to empty cells
The Item Type, Category, Vendor, Purchase Option, Bidding Type and Contact Seller columns feature a handy dropdown in their top Item row cell (Row 3), these dropdown lists assist you in selecting a valid option for each column. If you find that a cell beneath each of those columns doesn’t contain the dropdown, simply highlight the top Item row cell in Row 3, right-click and click Copy, then Paste in the empty cell:
Or click on the top Item row cell, float your cursor over the bottom right of the cell, when it the cursor turns from a white plus sign to a smaller black plus sign, hold left-click and drag your cursor downwards and then release left-click:
This will add the dropdown to as many cells as you highlight.
We’ll be using the Guided Excel Spreadsheet in the following steps, but it is important to note, you can leave certain fields or columns blank, and then fill them in inside the Webtron Dashboard’s Create Ghost Items menu once you’ve imported your spreadsheet.
Step 1 – Set your Items to Item Type: LOT and fill in your Lot Details
First things first, open your Guided Spreadsheet Template in Excel and under the first column (Column A – Item Type) select or type in LOT (in all caps). For Timed Auctions, Per Item Bidding is only supported by Item Type: LOT.
Next, fill in your Lot Details from Column B (Lot Number) to Column G (Vendor), and from Column Q (Purchase Option) to Column V (Reserve Price):
If you’re unsure what to enter in to each of the cells under these columns, here is a quick breakdown:
Lot Number (Column B) – Leave blank or add an alphanumeric value (e.g. 1 or 1A)
Title (Column C) – 120 characters or less, a high-level description of your Lot (e.g. Make Model Year)
Summary and Description (Columns D and E) – Summary can be 240 characters, 1-2 sentences about your Lot. Description can be longer and will usually be filled in with more technical details or assessment of your Lot.
Category and Vendor (Columns F and G) – The Guided Spreadsheet will contain dropdown options in both the Category and Vendor columns, allowing you to pick a Category from your existing Category Tree, and pick a Vendor from your Vendor List.
Purchase Option (Column Q) – Purchase Option for Lots is usually just NONE for Standard Bidding, but for Per Item Bidding we recommend also using Purchase Option: BUY_NOW.
Purchase Price (Column S) – Fill in only if using Purchase Option: BUY_NOW or MAKE_OFFER, skip if using NONE. Fill in a whole amount for your Lot’s purchase price.
Opening Bid (Column T) – Leave blank to start this Lot at 0 + the Increment, or fill in a whole number for each Lot row.
Bid Increment (Column U) – Leave blank if you are using Auto Increments, or fill in a whole number for each Lot row to set the starting Increment for your Lots.
Reserve Price (Column V) – Setting a Reserve Price is optional, leave blank for Unreserved or fill in a whole amount for each Lot row.
Step 2 – Set your Items to Bidding Type: Per Item and add a Quantity to each Per Item Lot
Setting a Quantity and Per Item can be done in any order, but we recommend setting your Lots to Per Item first, as that will help you distinguish Lots using Bidding Type: Per Lot.
Under Bidding Type (Column X) click on the dropdown and select PER ITEM or type PER ITEM in all caps for each Lot row:
Per Lot Note – If you have some Lots that will use Bidding Type: Per Lot instead of Per Item, click on the cells for those Lots and select PER LOT, or type PER LOT in all caps, or leave those cells blank. If any cells beneath the Bidding Type column are left blank, during import, the Webtron Dashboard will default those Items to Bidding Type: Per Lot.
Under Quantity (Column W) add a whole number to each cell. For Bidding Type: Per Item, the quantity must be greater than 1:
Once you’ve filled in the remaining cells for both Columns, proceed to Step 3.
Step 3 – Save your Spreadsheet as a CSV
Once you’ve finished filling in your spreadsheet, look to the top-left of your screen and click the File tab:
From here, you’ll find a list of options down the left-hand side of your screen, click Save As:
Excel will pick either OneDrive or This PC as the save destination, we recommend the This PC option. Excel will also offer to save the spreadsheet in the same location you opened your Spreadsheet from, you can change this by clicking the green “More options…” text on the screen.
At the top of your screen, you can change your File Name to whatever you prefer. Click on the dropdown beneath the File Name and select the option labelled “CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv)“, then click the Save button to the right of the dropdown:
CSV Format Required – The Webtron Dashboard will only read spreadsheets in the .csv (comma delimited) format. Attempting to import spreadsheets in any other format will result in a “Expected Columns missing” error message.
Excel will display a warning message, stating that “The selected file type does not support workbooks that contain multiple sheets”, that’s fine. While using Save As, you’re creating a new copy of your spreadsheet and saving just your Lotting Data (the first sheet). Click OK to proceed:
Your new CSV Spreadsheet will be saved to your computer’s hard drive.
Step 4 – Import your spreadsheet to the Webtron Dashboard
Return to the Webtron Dashboard via your browser of choice, then once logged in, click on the Auctions & Items dropdown, then click Create New Items:
After the Ghost Items menu loads, click on the Select an Auction dropdown and select your latest Auction:
Two options will pop-out underneath, click the grey Choose Files button and select your new CSV Spreadsheet via File Explorer, then click Open:
File Type Recommendation – If you’re confused about which File to pick, look under the File Type column in File Explorer, choose the file labelled “Microsoft Excel Comma Separated Values File”.
The Upload Items button next to Choose Files will change from grey to green, click the green Upload Items button to import your spreadsheet:
The Webtron Dashboard will load for a moment and open your Imported Items in the Create Ghost Items menu:
You can now make further edits to your Items inside the Dashboard itself, and correct any fields that are flagged in red.
Step 5 – Backup and Convert your Items from Ghost to Preview status
Once you have finished reviewing your Items, we recommend creating a backup of your changes. Move back to the left-most edge of the Ghost Items table (horizontal scroll or click the End-to-End arrows above the top-right of the table), then tick the Select All checkbox at the top-left of the table:
Once your Item List is selected, click the grey Export button above the top-right of the Ghost Items table (If prompted by your browser, click Leave):
The Dashboard will now generate and download the Item Backup Spreadsheet, containing your full Item List and any changes you have made since importing your Items.
After the Item Backup Spreadsheet finishes downloading, click the green Convert button above the top-left of the Ghost Items table, then click the blue Convert Items button in the confirmation panel that appears:
Your Items will now be moved from Ghost status to Preview status, and from the Create Ghost Items menu to the Item List menu for this Auction:
Previewing your Lots
When converting your Lots, you are moving them from Ghost status to Preview status, but they will remain hidden from your Portal. To preview your Auction and the Lots within it, we recommend following the Previewing a Hidden Auction on your Portal guide linked below:
Previewing a Hidden Auction on your Portal
As part of our Pre-Auction Checklist, we recommend giving your Auctions a quick once-over review on your Portal before making them publicly visible to your Bidders. But of course, how do you access your Auction on your Portal without also exposing it to your Bidders? All it takes is a few clicks and some precise timing. Auction and Item Requirements - Approved to Live status For your Auctions and the Items within them to show
Setting up Per Item Bidding (Quantity x Increment)
This guide covers how to configure your Timed Auction Lots for Per Item bidding, including how to set your Lots to Per Item (Bidding Type) and setting a Quantity value.
We’ll split this guide into two sections, Setting up Per Item Bidding in the Webtron Dashboard, and Setting up Per Item Bidding via the Item CSV Spreadsheet.
Ease-of-Use Recommendation – We recommend setting up Per-Item Bidding either by creating your Lots in-Dashboard or after importing your Item CSV Spreadsheet. The Webtron Dashboard’s Ghost Item and Bulk Edit menus use Field Validation that will assist you in setting both the Bidding Type and the Quantity for each Lot.
Choose a Tab to continue
Setting up Per Item Bidding in-Dashboard in Create Ghost Items and Bulk Edit
Per Item Bidding can be enabled at any point during Item Creation or by editing converted Lots. We’ll run through this from the Ghost Items menu but setting it up via Bulk Edit is almost exactly the same.
Step 1 – Open the Create New Items menu, select an Auction and click Start Creating Items
As a quick reminder, you can create Items for your Auction inside the Webtron Dashboard itself, no excel spreadsheet required. To do this, ensure your Auction has been created and is sitting in Preview or Live status.
Once that’s done, click the Auctions & Items dropdown at the top of the Dashboard, then click Create New Items:
This will open the Ghost Items menu, from here click on the Select an Auction dropdown and choose your Auction from the list (your newest Auction will be last on the list):
Once you’ve selected an Auction, two options will pop-out, click the green Start Creating Items button:
Step 2 – Selecting Bidding Type: Per Item and adding a Quantity
After clicking Start Creating Items, the Dashboard will display the Create Ghost Items menu. At the centre of your screen you’ll find a table with a single faint blue row beneath a series of columns. Click the blue row to Create a new Ghost Item, then click any of the empty space around the table, like this:
Clicking the empty space around the table will trigger the Dashboard to highlight the required fields you need to fill in order to enable the Convert option. Save the Bidding Type and Quantity for last, fill in the following fields (at a minimum):
Item Type – Lot (Pre-Filled with Lot)
Lot Number – Leave blank for automatic numbering from 1 ascending
Lot Title
Category
Vendor
Purchase Option – Select NONE, BUY_NOW, or MAKE_OFFER
Opening Bid (Optional)
Increment
Reserve (Optional)
Once those are filled in with your Lot content or placeholders, look to the top-right of your screen, just above the Create Ghost Items table, click the grey End-to-End button (the Left and Right arrow button) to switch between each end of the table:
End-to-End Note – The End-to-End button inside the Create Ghost Items and Bulk Edit menus acts as a shortcut to switch between each end of the their respective tables. If you are using a device without a trackpad or a mouse without a scroll wheel, we recommend using the End-to-End button.
By default, your Lots will be set to Bidding Type: Per Lot. To change this to Per Item, click the Per Lot dropdown beneath the Bidding Type column (3rd column from the right here, 4th column from the right in Bulk Edit) and select Per Item:
If you haven’t set your Lot’s Quantity yet, the Dashboard will now highlight the Bidding Type cell in red, as Per Item requires your Lot’s Quantity value be set to a value higher than 1. Click into the Quantity cell and type in a number value (no decimals) to set your Lot’s Quantity:
Step 3 – Select your Items and click the green Convert button
After you have set the Bidding Type to Per Item and set your Lot’s Quantity value, click the End-to-End button to return to the other end of the table. Click on the Select All checkbox at the top-left of the table to select all of your Ghost Items.
Before you click Convert, we recommend creating a CSV Backup of your Items, click the grey Export button at the top-right of the menu to download a CSV Spreadsheet containing the Lots you have created so far:
Then click the green Convert button above the top-left of the table, then click the blue Convert Items button inside the confirmation panel to convert your Lots from Ghost status to Preview status:
Your converted Lots will disappear from the Item Creation menu, to return to your Item List you can click the blue Items shortcut at the top-right of the Create Ghost Items menu, or click Auctions & Items, then click View Auctions to return to the View Auctions page:
From the View Auctions page, click on the # Items shortcut to open the Item List for your Auction, your newly converted Lots will be sitting in Preview status:
Setting up Per Item Bidding in Excel
Setting up Per Item Bidding via our CSV Spreadsheet template is slightly trickier as it is more manual, but if you’re unsure of what to enter at any stage, we’ve put together a more guided Excel Spreadsheet with dropdown selections.
Excel Recommendations and Tips
Working with Microsoft Excel can be a little unwieldy, especially on non-ultrawide or smaller displays. We have a few tips to help you keep track of your progress while you’re fill in the sheet:
Freeze Panes
Freeze Panes is a feature in Excel that allows you to “Pin” a column or columns and float them on the left-side of your screen while you’re scrolling right to fill in off-screen columns:
For example, to make it easier to keep each row lined up, we’ll Freeze Columns A, B and C.
Step 1 – Highlight Column D and open the View tab
To float your Lot Title column, click on the “D” at the top of Column D to select the entire Column:
Once selected, look to the top-left of your screen. Across Excel’s top bar you’ll find a series of tabs, click on the tab labelled “View”:
Step 2 – Enable Freeze Panes
Inside the View tab, look towards the right-hand end for the Freeze Panes button (the icon with blue squares and a blue * at the top-left):
Click on the Freeze Panes dropdown, then click the Freeze Panes option at the top of the list:
Now when you scroll to the right, Columns A, B and C will remain on top. If you’re finding they’re covering up too much of the spreadsheet, float your mouse over the edge of each column, left-click and drag left to resize each Column’s width:
Copy-pasting the dropdown lists to empty cells
The Item Type, Category, Vendor, Purchase Option, Bidding Type and Contact Seller columns feature a handy dropdown in their top Item row cell (Row 3), these dropdown lists assist you in selecting a valid option for each column. If you find that a cell beneath each of those columns doesn’t contain the dropdown, simply highlight the top Item row cell in Row 3, right-click and click Copy, then Paste in the empty cell:
Or click on the top Item row cell, float your cursor over the bottom right of the cell, when it the cursor turns from a white plus sign to a smaller black plus sign, hold left-click and drag your cursor downwards and then release left-click:
This will add the dropdown to as many cells as you highlight.
We’ll be using the Guided Excel Spreadsheet in the following steps, but it is important to note, you can leave certain fields or columns blank, and then fill them in inside the Webtron Dashboard’s Create Ghost Items menu once you’ve imported your spreadsheet.
Step 1 – Set your Items to Item Type: LOT and fill in your Lot Details
First things first, open your Guided Spreadsheet Template in Excel and under the first column (Column A – Item Type) select or type in LOT (in all caps). For Timed Auctions, Per Item Bidding is only supported by Item Type: LOT.
Next, fill in your Lot Details from Column B (Lot Number) to Column G (Vendor), and from Column Q (Purchase Option) to Column V (Reserve Price):
If you’re unsure what to enter in to each of the cells under these columns, here is a quick breakdown:
Step 2 – Set your Items to Bidding Type: Per Item and add a Quantity to each Per Item Lot
Setting a Quantity and Per Item can be done in any order, but we recommend setting your Lots to Per Item first, as that will help you distinguish Lots using Bidding Type: Per Lot.
Under Bidding Type (Column X) click on the dropdown and select PER ITEM or type PER ITEM in all caps for each Lot row:
Per Lot Note – If you have some Lots that will use Bidding Type: Per Lot instead of Per Item, click on the cells for those Lots and select PER LOT, or type PER LOT in all caps, or leave those cells blank. If any cells beneath the Bidding Type column are left blank, during import, the Webtron Dashboard will default those Items to Bidding Type: Per Lot.
Under Quantity (Column W) add a whole number to each cell. For Bidding Type: Per Item, the quantity must be greater than 1:
Once you’ve filled in the remaining cells for both Columns, proceed to Step 3.
Step 3 – Save your Spreadsheet as a CSV
Once you’ve finished filling in your spreadsheet, look to the top-left of your screen and click the File tab:
From here, you’ll find a list of options down the left-hand side of your screen, click Save As:
Excel will pick either OneDrive or This PC as the save destination, we recommend the This PC option. Excel will also offer to save the spreadsheet in the same location you opened your Spreadsheet from, you can change this by clicking the green “More options…” text on the screen.
At the top of your screen, you can change your File Name to whatever you prefer. Click on the dropdown beneath the File Name and select the option labelled “CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv)“, then click the Save button to the right of the dropdown:
CSV Format Required – The Webtron Dashboard will only read spreadsheets in the .csv (comma delimited) format. Attempting to import spreadsheets in any other format will result in a “Expected Columns missing” error message.
Excel will display a warning message, stating that “The selected file type does not support workbooks that contain multiple sheets”, that’s fine. While using Save As, you’re creating a new copy of your spreadsheet and saving just your Lotting Data (the first sheet). Click OK to proceed:
Your new CSV Spreadsheet will be saved to your computer’s hard drive.
Step 4 – Import your spreadsheet to the Webtron Dashboard
Return to the Webtron Dashboard via your browser of choice, then once logged in, click on the Auctions & Items dropdown, then click Create New Items:
After the Ghost Items menu loads, click on the Select an Auction dropdown and select your latest Auction:
Two options will pop-out underneath, click the grey Choose Files button and select your new CSV Spreadsheet via File Explorer, then click Open:
File Type Recommendation – If you’re confused about which File to pick, look under the File Type column in File Explorer, choose the file labelled “Microsoft Excel Comma Separated Values File”.
The Upload Items button next to Choose Files will change from grey to green, click the green Upload Items button to import your spreadsheet:
The Webtron Dashboard will load for a moment and open your Imported Items in the Create Ghost Items menu:
You can now make further edits to your Items inside the Dashboard itself, and correct any fields that are flagged in red.
Step 5 – Backup and Convert your Items from Ghost to Preview status
Once you have finished reviewing your Items, we recommend creating a backup of your changes. Move back to the left-most edge of the Ghost Items table (horizontal scroll or click the End-to-End arrows above the top-right of the table), then tick the Select All checkbox at the top-left of the table:
Once your Item List is selected, click the grey Export button above the top-right of the Ghost Items table (If prompted by your browser, click Leave):
The Dashboard will now generate and download the Item Backup Spreadsheet, containing your full Item List and any changes you have made since importing your Items.
After the Item Backup Spreadsheet finishes downloading, click the green Convert button above the top-left of the Ghost Items table, then click the blue Convert Items button in the confirmation panel that appears:
Your Items will now be moved from Ghost status to Preview status, and from the Create Ghost Items menu to the Item List menu for this Auction:
Previewing your Lots
When converting your Lots, you are moving them from Ghost status to Preview status, but they will remain hidden from your Portal. To preview your Auction and the Lots within it, we recommend following the Previewing a Hidden Auction on your Portal guide linked below: