After selecting “Start Auction”, you will see a list of all IPS variants of your company, showing their name, the number of items in each of them, their annual purchase value, pre-set payment and delivery terms and currency. Select “Add” at the beginning of each row, right next to the IPS variants for which you would like to start an auction.
An important clarification is that IPS’s containing airline tickets or transport products will need to go through a configuration after being added to the auction. Such a configuration includes specifying whether the trip will be two-way or one-way, its date and time, number of passengers and luggage, class and number of stops, etc.
Each IPS option you want to purchase is added to a specific group on a specific sheet. In case another sheet needs to be created, press the “+” sign, enter the name of the new sheet and press “Save”. Click “Add Group” to create a new group. You have the option to set personal names for the sheets and groups in your auction by pressing the pencil. Once you add an IPS variant, it will appear in the corresponding sheet and group.
In this IPS step, you will also see that the auction settings allow you to edit the Quantity field for each IPS variant and add a Maximum Price. The “quantity” of the variant can only be edited with a higher value, as the minimum desired value for purchase is predetermined by the buyer when creating the variant. “Maximum price” determines the maximum price that a seller can submit for an IPS and when setting it, sellers are technically not able to enter more higher prices than that. You can also easily remove any of the selected options using the “Remove” button.
Click “Step forward” when the selected IPS / IPSs have been added and the required number of sheets and groups has been created.
In the next step, “Auction Type” you must specify its type, with the options being Auction and Pre-Auction. The auction option refers to the typical reverse auction, in which sellers have the opportunity to make an unlimited number of offers for IPS variants until the expiration of the duration determined by the buyer. The pre-auction provides an opportunity for preliminary professional discussions between the buyer and the participating sellers regarding the conduct of the auction before its launch in order to properly compose it. In addition, Pre-Auction allows you to change the originally set rules, add or delete IPS’s and documents, and after the Pre-Auction is completed, all submitted bids become inactive, but visible as a story for the buyer in the auction. Sellers only have visibility according to visibility rules. After selecting the auction type, click the “Step forward” button.
The next step “Rules” defines all settings regarding the type of visibility of the bid, access to the auction and other necessary rules that are important for the auction.
Start by entering the start and end time and date of the auction. The duration of auctions may vary depending on their type.
Set “Assignment period in days” to make it clear in what period after the end of the auction the purchase will be awarded to a selected supplier/suppliers.
Continue with entering “Order Period in days”, communicating in what period of time the order will be placed after its assignment to a supplier.
Set an “Extension” period for the auction, which determines how long after it ends, sellers will be able to continue submitting bids. The setting to extend the duration of the auction is appropriate in cases where sellers continue to improve their bids based on the presence of new competitors or bidders who bid a few minutes before the end of the auction. Extending the duration of the auction is optiona.
Another option is to enter the maximum number of offers in the extension for the seller. In case you have set a number of bids, sellers will be limited in the number of bids they can submit during the auction extension. This field is not mandatory.
Set the “Access Type” of the auction depending on whether it will be with “Open”, “Closed” or “Controlled” access. Open access allows all sellers registered in Auxionize to participate with an IPS offer, while “Closed” access allows only sellers invited beforehand by the buyer to participate. “Controlled” access allows invited and uninvited sellers to participate in an auction with offers, but they must request access and then be approved for participation by the buyer.
The “Number of Winners” section determines the number of sellers who will be rewarded with the execution of a certain part of the auction. As one auction may contain several IPS’s and their variants, at the discretion of the buyer, the entire order can be divided into several separate parts and distributed among several sellers for execution. In order to make the order as convenient and organized as possible for the buyer, the auction can be divided into separate sheets with their groups. The auction can have multiple sheets as the highest level of classification, and in each table the buyer can create several groups containing different variants of IPS’s, part of their nomenclature. In addition to the “Signle auction winner” option for the auction, which provides the entire order from the auction to one contractor, there are options for awarding “Single sheet winner”, “Single group winner”, “Single product winner” and “Multi Winners”. If a buyer creates several separate sheets in one auction, the “Single sheet winner” option will allow the buyer to award each sheet to a different seller. If the auction contains two separate sheets and two separate groups created under each sheet, the “Single group winner” option will allow the buyer to award each group to a different seller. The “Single product winner” will allow the buyer to award each product to a different seller. The last option “Multi winner” will allow the buyer to award more than 1 seller for the same product.
In the “Description” field, enter all the information about the auction that you consider valuable and necessary to share with the sellers for their clearer understanding of the products and services you are looking for.
“Partial ordering” allows the buyer to avoid ordering the entire total quantity of the purchase specified in the auction and to divide it into several portions with specific payment amounts and dates on which these amounts will be due for payment. For example, if a buyer awards a seller with a purchase of 50 tonnes of steel, that buyer has the option to divide the purchase into 5 equal orders of 10 tonnes of steel (or different sized parts) and set fixed payment and order dates for the predetermined fractions. It is important to note that when an entire purchase is divided into several fractions, the minimum quantity of each fraction must not be less than the specified minimum quantity specified in the IPS variants.
The buyer adjusting the auction can activate the option “Show warranty input field for sellers to offer”, allowing each seller to specify the warranty period of the products offered by him to ensure replacement or repair in case they are damaged.
By activating the option “Show delivery period input field for sellers to offer”, the buyer allows each seller to enter their own delivery period. Different sellers may offer different delivery times based on production deadlines and inventory availability. Often, in addition to the best price, the delivery time plays a key role in determining the winning sellers.
When creating an auction, the buyer should specify the delivery and payment terms. These conditions can be set to each auction, or already set in the IPS itself. If the buyer selects the IPS-based option, he will not need to enter additional conditions, as they will be already included in the IPS variant. However, If the buyer wants to enter auction-based conditions, he must select the “Auction-based” option, which will automatically activate several fields below, where he can enter the preferred delivery address, currency as well as terms of delivery and payment.
After that the “Detailed offer visibility settings” should be defined. In the drop-down menu there are four options for visibility of the offer – “Public” (which means that all participating sellers have visibility to the values of all submitted offers, as well as the names of the sellers who submitted them); “Semi-public” (meaning that all participating sellers can only see competitive prices, but not the company names); “Secret” (participating sellers cannot see the offers and the bidding companies). You can also use the “Custom” option, which allows you to set a customized bid visibility not only for the participating sellers, but also for different employee roles, part of the buyer’s company.
Once you’ve finished setting up your visibility settings, click ‘Step Forward’, where you’ll be able to choose which sellers to notify about your auction once you start it.
The next step is “Access Control”, where you can select preferred sellers to be notified of your auction and to participate in it. The options for inviting sellers to participate are listed and explained below.
In the first table you will see all the sellers that the system recommends and automatically adds to be notified of your auction. This is because products from your auction are available in the nomenclatures of these sellers or they have subscribed to receive notifications about particular categories. With the red X on the right, you can remove certain sellers you don’t want to notify about your auction.
After reviewing the recommended sellers, you can search for specific companies from the search engine below them and also add them to the list of sellers who will be notified about the auction. For this purpose, these sellers must be registered in Auxionize. Once you find the company you are looking for, add it via the green plus on the right.
The next option is “Add companies by email”. It gives the buyer the freedom to invite participants by e-mail, who do not have to be registered with Auxionize, but are known to operate in an industry that meets the characteristics of the products in the auction
The buyer can add emails from a list. The lists are prepared in advance in Settings -> E-mail lists. There, the sellers that the buyer wants to notify can be divided into industry lists or other criteria that are convenient for them.
The buyer can also directly enter emails of specific companies they wish to invite to register in Auxionize.
Please note that although the auction notifications may be sent to companies that are not registered in Auxionize, their participation in each auction to which they are invited requires valid registration on the platform.
In the next step “Documents”, the buyer can add the general terms and conditions applicable to the auction. The General Conditions drop-down menu consists only of documents that are uploaded in the Settings -> General Conditions menu. In this step, the buyer can select other documents from the already saved files or upload them. Other documentation valuable for the completion of the auction may include sketches, plans, etc.
Click “Step forward” to get to the section where the buyer can enter additional important notes and descriptions about the auction.
Click “Step forward” again to get to the last phase, where you can see a preview of the auction. Click “Start” when you are ready to start your auction. When you click “Start”, you must confirm the start of the auction and give it an appropriate title.
