Creating vs. Importing Webcast Lots

This guide defines the two main methods of adding your Auction Assets/Items in the Webtron Dashboard, for the new third option, click here to open our Vendor+ Auction Management Explained guide.

Create or Import?

One of the earliest decisions you will make when using the Webtron Dashboard is whether or not you will Create your Items in-Dashboard, or Import them via our formatted CSV Spreadsheet.

During our Onboarding and Training sessions, we’ll run you through using the Create Items in-Dashboard process, but ultimately how you decide to add your Auction Items to the Dashboard is up to you. This Guide covers our recommendations, as well as the Pros and Cons of using each method.

Creating Webcast Lots in-Dashboard

Our recommended method for adding your Auction Items in the Webtron Dashboard is using the Item Creation menu built in to the Webtron Dashboard itself.

Why we recommend the Item Creation menu:

• The Item Creation menu is a more guided experience – the Webtron Dashboard will highlight the required fields for each Item and assist you in correct formatting errors.

• The Item Creation menu supports robust formatting options – this applies more directly for the Item Summary and Item Description fields, the Webtron Dashboard supports Rich Text formatting for Summaries and Descriptions, making it easy for you to format your Summaries and Descriptions, Bold text, add Italics, format paragraphs with Dot Points and Number points, and even add basic HTML formatted Tables.

• The Item Creation menu auto-saves your progress – after every edit, even to a single field, the Webtron Dashboard will sync your progress to the cloud, enabling you to exit and resume creating your Items at any point, and from any different device.

• The Item Creation menu can also create manual backups – at any stage in the Lotting process, you can tick your Ghost Items on the left-hand side of the table, and click the grey Export button at the top-right of the Item Creation menu, this will instantly generate and download a CSV spreadsheet backup of your current Ghost Items. This CSV spreadsheet can also be re-imported directly to the Webtron Dashboard, no editing required.

• The Item Creation menu supports Group Editing – whilst using a spreadsheet you can easily make mass changes through Copy and Paste, the Dashboard’s equivalent is Group Edit. You can select multiple Ghost Items and apply uniform changes from Category to Item Location in just 5 clicks.

• The Item Creation menu will offer pre-fills for Categories and Vendors – to save you time checking your Category Tree and Vendor list, you can start typing out a Category or Vendor name and the Dashboard will offer you a clickable pre-fill.

• The Item Creation menu makes it easier to set per-Item details – by default, your Created and Imported Ghost Items will use several of your Auction settings (such as End Date and Time, Buyer’s Premium and Taxes). When an Item is using those Auction default details, the Dashboard will mark them out with greyed text. Per-Item changes are indicated with black text, making it far easier to set details such as Buyer’s Premium or Taxes on a per-Item level.

• The Item Creation menu makes setting Item Type and Purchase Option easier – rather than having to type out your chosen Item Type, Purchase Option, Bidding Type, or Contact Seller setting, the Item Creation menu formats these options as selectable dropdown options and checkboxes.

Pros:

• Accessibility
• Automatic Saving and Manual Backups
• Ease of Use
• Auto-Resume Progress

Cons:

• Widescreen and Horizontal Scrolling – you may find scrolling left and right cumbersome without using an Ultrawide display or a trackpad.
• One editor only – to prevent continuity issues, the Dashboard will prevent two Dashboard Admins from accessing the Item Creation menu for the same auction at the same time.
• Copy Pasting – If you have already cataloged your Auction, you may find it easier to copy paste your Items into another spreadsheet rather than the Dashboard.
• Inherited Formatting – When pasting Item content into the Summary or Description fields, the Dashboard will attempt to maintain the formatting from the source (paragraph structure, bolding, line-breaks, etc.) but this may lead to formatting issues such as auto-tabling. To prevent this, use the Paste without Formatting option in your right-click menu or press CTRL SHIFT V when pasting.

Importing Webcast Lots via Spreadsheet

The Webtron Dashboard also offers the option of importing your Auction Items via CSV Spreadsheet, but with one key caveat:

• The CSV Spreadsheet must use our pre-formatted column structure

Any old spreadsheet can’t just be imported to the Webtron Dashboard, you must use either the Guided Spreadsheet we sent you in our Onboarding Pack, or download an empty sheet from the Create New Items menu:

Pros:

• Multi-Editor Support – Using Excel 365 or Google Sheets allows multiple of your team members to catalogue your auction and fill in the same spreadsheet.
• Ease of Re-Import – Whilst you can back up your created items via exporting a CSV Spreadsheet, this is a manual process. Cataloging your Auction in a spreadsheet from the start naturally speeds up the re-import process.