Auction Flex Online Auction Guide

Complete Walk-Throughs

Integrated Web Service Walk-Through

 

Introduction

Welcome to HiBid - Auction Flex's Internet Auction Platform. The following guide is designed to provide initial support and advice for getting started with HiBid.

Step One - Your Custom Links

We have likely already emailed you 3 HiBid links to use on your website. These links are for Upcoming Auctions, Past Auctions, and Email List Signup. You will notice that these 3 links look just like the rest of your website (even though they are being powered by our web servers). If these links don't yet look like your website, we are likely in the process of building your template. Feel free to email us to check on the status of your template.

The upcoming auctions link should be front and center on your home page and be very, very easy to find. Do not bury your upcoming auctions link on a sub-page of your website. Remember that 99% of your website traffic is on your website to find info on your upcoming auctions so make it as easy as possible for them to find this information.

Make sure these links are set up by a web designer familiar with your site. Once these links are in place on your website, the transition from your home page to your auctions hosted on our servers will be seamless. The template that we create for you will give the feel that all the content is coming from your website even though it is our servers that are delivering the content.

Step Two - Auction Cataloging

With the website setup complete, the next step will be generating your catalog for the upcoming auction. It is very important that you catalog your items in detail with pictures because bidders will rely on your descriptions and photos to evaluate the item. We highly recommend that you take multiple images per lot. Detailed pictures will help your bidders feel comfortable with the item they are interested in and in-turn, increase the likelihood of that bidder placing an online bid.

Step Three - Uploading the Auction

The next step in this guide is to upload your auction. The process is fully integrated within the Auction Flex program and is very user friendly. From Auction Lots & Preview simply click the Upload button at the bottom and a new form will appear with many online settings and options. If you are unfamiliar with these options, please contact the Auction Flex staff for a walk-through. When your auction is ready to upload, simply click *Upload this Auction*. Auction Flex automatically optimizes your images for the web and creates the thumbnail images.

This uploaded auction will immediately be available on your upcoming auctions page... you may never have to modify your website again! Your auction will also be available on www.hibid.com which provides additional exposure to your auction for free. Also, if you post your auctions on Auction Zip, make sure that you use our built-in AuctionZip upload feature (one of the tabs in the auction upload form). This feature will automatically post your auction to Auction Zip complete with all your catalog images and provides a link back to your HiBid catalog for online bidding.

HiBid supports internet-only (timed) auctions, webcast (simulcast) auctions, and internet absentee bidding. When offering internet absentee bidding, you will want to close bidding a few hours before the auction starts to give yourself time to download your bidders and bids. When conducting internet-only (timed) auctions you should use features like staggered close, soft-close, and linked soft-close. For more on those capabilities please consult the help file or contact us.

Step Four - Advertising, Advertising, Advertising

Advertising is the most important step in conducting online auctions. You must get the word out to potential bidders that your auctions are now online and that bids can now be placed online. The internet is a vast place and the mantra of "if you build it, they will come" does not work here. You wouldn't conduct an onsite auction without advertising and signage, right? You should advertise wherever you have previously had success (bulk email, direct mail, Google ads, online partners, etc.) and put special emphasis on this new capability available from your website.

When you are first starting with online bidding you should consider marketing even more than normal. Remember, you are asking your bidders to adopt a new channel for leaving bids. The success of your new online auction venture is directly related to the advertising in place to support it. With persistence, each auction should do better than the previous auction in terms of number of bidders and bids.

 

Step Five - Bids and Bidders

When your bidding closes you will need to download your bidders and bids into Auction Flex for clerking and invoicing. From Auction Check-In click the Advanced button on the left side and then click the Download Internet Bids button. Now all of your bids and bidder info has been downloaded into Auction Flex and if you chose to do so, your bidders have been checked into the auction and assigned bidder numbers.

If the online bidding was absentee, there is nothing more to do. All the bids are in the system and will appear in the appropriate places (auctioneer's copy, auctioneer's screen, clerking screens, etc.)

If you were conducting an internet-only auction there are time-saving features built into Auction Flex specifically for you:

 

Conclusion

Getting started with your new Online Auction capability will take time and persistence. Using the steps above, the success rate of these auctions will continually grow. Remember to advertise and remember to fully describe and image your items. Welcome to the world of Online Auctions!

If you have any questions on HiBid or Auction Flex, please contact us.