How an auction works
Customers pay a small bid fee from their wallet for every bid. A bid can never cost more than the customer has available. When the auction ends, the leading bidder wins, unless the winning bid is below your reserve price; then nobody wins.
Winners are notified automatically. A physical prize is claimed through the cart at the winning price, a digital one is downloaded, and a coin prize goes straight to the wallet.
The six auction types
| Type | Result |
|---|---|
| English | The highest bid. |
| Reverse | The lowest bid. Each bid must undercut the lowest by the bid step, and never go under the lowest price it sells for, which the form asks you to set. |
| Sealed | The highest bid, at its own amount; of equal bids, the earliest. Bids stay hidden until the end, and a customer can bid more than once. |
| Penny | The leading bidder when the clock runs out. Each bid raises the price by the bid step and adds time to the clock. |
| Lowest unique | The lowest amount that only one person bid. |
| Highest unique | The highest amount that only one person bid. |
All six types come with BidKing Pro. The form shows only the fields a type uses. For example, a penny auction has no starting bid, a reverse auction has no reserve price, and the bid step applies to English, reverse and penny auctions.
Create an auction
- Add a category
Auctions Categories. You need at least one.
- Start a new auction
Open Auctions All Auctions and choose New auction.
- Pick the item
Create it right there (name, description, retail price, up to five photos, physical or digital), or choose one from your item library.
- Set the rules
Choose the type, then set the bid fee, start and end time, starting bid and bid step. If you like, add a maximum bid, time added per late bid and a reserve price.
- Save
It goes live at its start time.
With sellers switched on (see Sellers), sellers can list their own auctions from their account, and you can hold each new listing until you approve it.
Auction tools included
All of these come with BidKing Pro. Each is its own plugin, and most are set on the auction's own form, so you choose per auction. An auction that doesn't use a tool works exactly as before.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Buy Now | A fixed price to skip bidding, paid through the normal cart. When it disappears once bidding starts is set store-wide on Auctions Buy Now rules, and each auction can choose its own; see Buy Now rules below. |
| Notify Me | A bell button on upcoming auctions. Subscribers get one email when the auction starts. |
| Auction Shipping | A flat shipping fee, added in the cart, at checkout and when a win is claimed. |
| Anti-Snipe | A trigger window and an extension, for example: a bid in the last 2 minutes adds 5 more. The end moves the moment a qualifying bid lands. |
| Auto-Bidder | Customers set a limit (a maximum price, a floor price or a number of bids) and the system bids for them until it's reached. Works on English, reverse and penny auctions. |
| Buyer's Premium | A percentage added to the winning bid, charged once when the auction settles. |
Buy Now rules
Auctions Buy Now rules sets, for each group of auction types, when Buy Now disappears once bidding starts. Each auction can keep the store default or pick its own on its form.
| Auction types | Choices | Unless you change it |
|---|---|---|
| English and penny | Hide after the first bid; hide once bids reach the Buy Now price; never hide | Hides once bids reach the Buy Now price |
| Sealed, lowest unique and highest unique | Hide after the first bid; never hide | Hides after the first bid |
| Reverse | Hide after the first bid; never hide | Stays until the item sells |
Never hide means a buyer can take the item at its Buy Now price at any time, even when the top bid is higher, so the form asks you to confirm it. Every change is recorded in the admin log.
Auction tools you can add
These are add-ons for BidKing Pro, sold separately from the add-on store in your admin. Once installed, each is set per auction on the auction's form, except Auction Consignment, which has its own pages.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Unlock Fee | A one-time fee, paid from the wallet, before someone can bid on that auction. |
| Auction Consignment | Customers hand you items to sell by auction. |
Live bidding
The auction page shows new bids without reloading. On any hosting, open pages check for news every few seconds. Connect the Realtime plugin, included, to a WebSocket server and news reaches every open page as it happens, and a bidder who loses the lead gets a private outbid alert; First setup shows how.
When an auction ends
A scheduled job closes ended auctions every minute, so the scheduled task must be running. Winners are listed under Auctions Winners, and every bid under Auctions Bids.
Cancelling an auction from the list refunds every bid fee to the bidders' wallets. Once a winner is declared, the auction can no longer be cancelled.
Something wrong or unclear on this page? Tell us at [email protected], or see how to get help.