Once an auction is active, all invited and notified sellers have the opportunity to view and start bidding for the IPS/IPS`s variants. The invited and subscribed sellers will receive a push and/or e-mail notification (depending on their notification settings) regarding the start of the auction. Once they enter the auction, this is the view they will have:
At the top is a timeline that provides an overview of the various stages of the auction and its current status.
Below it, at the very front under “Offers,” the offering sellers will have a view of all submitted offers if the visibility of bidding is not defined by the buyer as “Private.” Under “Comments,” sellers will have access to information regarding discussions, notes, and explanations about the current auction and the IPS included in it. The visibility of comments is the same as the visibility of bids. To have visibility to bids and comments, the seller must have submitted at least 1 bid in the auction. Contractors will have the opportunity to send a personal message to the buyer if they deem it necessary to conduct personal communication. Under “Documentation,” you can review attached files such as general conditions, drawings, etc., if the buyer has attached them. In “Notes,” there may be additional explanations about the auction from the buyer, and under “History,” submitted bids will be visible. Information such as the number of views, bidding sellers, and potential participants is provided at the top right. It is visible to sellers as follows: for bidders – depending on the auction visibility setting; for potential participants – depending on the visibility setting of the seller with their profile.
The active links in the auction represent a specific IPS variant containing the buyer’s preferred quantity for purchasing the products contained in it. All variants can be structured into lists and groups based on the buyer’s preferences for their appearance and organization. To view an IPS and its variants, click on the link. Here you can view all products contained in the IPS.
It is possible for the seller not to have all or some of the products in their product catalog for a specific auction in which they are participating. In this case, as soon as the seller submits an offer for such a product, it will automatically be added to their seller catalog as public and without a set price. Subsequently, the seller can edit the visibility and set a price from “My Product Catalog.”
To participate in the auction, the seller must press the “Offer” button, marked in green. A new column will open in the table where the seller can select from the dropdown menu for which product/products and accordingly provide a price for it/them. When finished, they should press “Make Offer,” and the offer will be published. Some of the products for which the seller will submit an offer may require additional configuration from them. This is additional information requested by the buyer. This step cannot be skipped in order to submit an offer.
Whether the seller can submit a bid for only one IPS or is required to enter a price for all of them depends on the number of winners determined by the Buyer. For example – if the auction is with Multiple winners, then each seller can bid for only one of the IPS, but if the auction is with One winner, then each seller is required to enter a price for each IPS before they can submit the offer.
By submitting a bid in an auction, free sellers will have visibility of the first two competing bids submitted in the auction. To see all competitive offers, the seller needs to have a paid tier or one-to-one annual subscription with the buyer who has started the auction.
The seller may choose not to complete the submission of an offer but to save the entered data so far using the “Save Draft” button. This will remain as an option for submitting a final offer, indicated in red text under “Offer.” If the seller uses the “Offer” button after creating the draft, the offer is not automatically submitted but only displayed with information about who created it and awaits approval with the “Make Offer” button. After that, it becomes active. Please review the images below to follow the entire process.
All participating sellers will be notified of the newly submitted offer, but the visibility of who published the offer and what price was associated with it will depend on the offer visibility settings set by the buyer. You can see the auction settings in the “Auction Information” tab within the auction itself.
The buyer may request additional information from the bidders when submitting their offers, besides the price proposal. This information may include details such as warranty periods for products and delivery timeframes in days. Whether a seller can submit an offer for only one IPS or is required to enter a price for each line depends on the number of winners determined by the Buyer. For example, if the auction is set with Multiple Winners, then each seller can submit an offer for only one of the IPS, but if the auction is set with One Winner, then each seller must enter a price for each IPS before being able to submit their offer.
By submitting an offer, free sellers will have visibility of the first two competitive offers submitted in the auction. To see all competitive offers, they need to have a paid level or an annual one-to-one subscription with the buyer who launched the auction.
After a seller submits their offer, they will have the option to delete it within 2 minutes of submission by clicking on the trash can icon. If the requested quantity by the buyer is more than 1, the system will calculate the total quantity at the price offered by the seller and will set the Total Offer Value for the auction in the seller’s column. Sellers can also decide whether to improve their initial offer by submitting a new offer or to stick to the original one. To improve a given offer, the seller must click on the edit icon, resembling a pencil inside the column containing the offer awaiting improvement, and enter the new improved value. There is also an option to change the delivery deadline. Once the changes are entered, the seller can click on the green checkmark to save the changes made. It should be noted that the buyer may have set a maximum price for the IPS variant, which is visible under the link to the IPS itself. In that case, if the offer exceeds the maximum price, the seller will receive a notification and will not be able to submit an offer until it is corrected according to this condition.
There is no limit to the number of offers and bids that can be submitted in a given auction until its specified end date and time, unless the buyer sets a condition in the auction for a specific number of minutes of extension and a Maximum Number of Offers per Seller during that extension. If the buyer has set it to 10, it means that once the auction enters the extension, each seller has the right to improve their offer up to 10 times. It is not mandatory for the buyer to enter a maximum number of offers in the extension, but when entered, sellers will see it. It should be noted that only the buyer knows exactly when the time for extension expires in order to conclude the auction as quickly as possible.
Keep in mind that the buyer will be able to include all offline offers received for some of the products in the IPS variants and make them visible to participants in the auction. Offline offers are those received by buyers from sellers who are not registered users on Auxionize, but are visible as offers in the auction, and the buyer will consider them when making their purchase decision.
You have several options for leaving comments in the auction. The comment can be at the auction level (questions/information regarding the auction itself), at the IPS level (questions/information regarding the IPS and the products contained in it), or at the attribute level (questions/information regarding an attribute of a given product or its values). Therefore, in the comments section, you can specify which comments you want to view.
In addition to these 3 types of comments, you have the opportunity to leave a public note directly to your offer here:
Each free seller has unlimited visibility for all competitive offers, subject to them having beforehand submitted an offer, for the first 10 auctions in which they have taken part. The visibility is determined by the auction bidding type, set up by the buyer (Semi public, Public offer and Private offer).
The number of auctions with full visibility in which a given seller can take part are shown via the “eye” icon, positioned between the company name and rating icons as shown below.
After the 10 auctions with full visibility run out, the seller automatically reverts to default settings with limited visibility of the first 2 offers after submitting an offer. In order to gain full visibility the seller needs to purchase a tier.
Please note that if you are using the free tier, you have visibility of all competing bids for the first 10 auctions. Visibility is determined by the type of auction visibility set by the buyer (Public, Semi-Public or Secret).
The number of full visibility auctions a free seller can participate in is depicted by the “eye” icon positioned between the company rating and the company name.
After the 10 auctions limitation expires, the seller automatically remains with limited visibility to the first 2 bids after submitting a bid. Full visibility requires level purchase. For more information, please visit Annual Subscription Plans for Sellers.