After selecting “Start Auction”, on the first step of setting it, you will see the users restriction screen. This is the step in which the buyer decides if all of the employees should have access or just selected ones. Please note that admins of the company have always access.
On teh next step 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 flight 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 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 set it up. 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.
Begin by entering the start and end time and date of the auction. The duration of auctions may vary depending on their nature.
If desired, set up to 2 reminders for invited sellers. Choose how much time before the end of the auction you want to remind the invited participants by filling in the “Reminders.”
Set “Change Auction End” if you are unsure of the date and time of its completion. This allows the buyer to change (forward in time) the date and time for the end of the auction once during an active auction. After its conclusion, the order period in days is shifted proportionally.
Set the “Assignment period in days” to indicate the period after the auction ends when the purchase will be awarded to the selected supplier/suppliers. When this deadline expires, and if no winner has been selected, it will be automatically canceled.
Continue by entering the “Order Period in Days,” indicating within what timeframe after its awarding to a supplier the order will be placed. When this period expires, and if no order has been made from the auction, it will be automatically canceled.
Set the “Extension” of the auction, determining how long after its end sellers will have the opportunity to continue submitting bids. The option to extend the auction duration is suitable in cases where sellers continue to improve their bids based on the availability of new competitive ones or participants submitting bids minutes before the end of the auction. For example, if you set the auction end at 14:00 and specify an extension of 5 minutes, then if a bid is submitted at 13:56, the auction will be extended until 14:05. After 14:00, or the official end time, if there is a bid submitted at 14:02, the auction will be extended until 14:07. The extension of the auction duration is an optional choice, not mandatory.
In case you have chosen to have an extended auction, you must enter the maximum number of bids in the extension for the seller. If you have specified the number of bids, sellers will be limited to the number of bids they can submit during the auction extension.
Set the “Access Type” of the auction depending on whether it will have “Open,” “Closed,” or “Controlled” access. Open access allows all sellers registered on Auxionize to participate with a bid for IPS variant, while “Closed” access allows only sellers invited by the buyer to participate. “Controlled” access allows invited and uninvited sellers to participate in the auction with bids, but they must be pre-approved for participation by the auction creator by submitting a request for approval.
The “Number of Winners” section determines the number of sellers who will be rewarded with the execution of a specific part of the procurement order. Since one auction may contain several IPS and their variants, at the buyer’s discretion, the entire order can be divided into several separate parts and distributed among several sellers for execution. To provide the buyer with the most convenient and organized view of the order, the auction can be divided into separate lists with their groups. The auction can have multiple lists as the highest level of classification, and within each table, the buyer can create several groups containing different variants of IPS, part of their catalog. In addition to the “Single Winner” option for the auction, providing the entire order from the auction to one contractor, there are options for awarding “Single Winner per List,” “Single Winner per Group”, “Single Winner per Product,” and “Multiple Winners.” If a buyer creates multiple separate lists in one auction, the “Single Winner per List” option will determine one winner for each list to whom the IPS variants contained in it will be awarded. If the auction contains two separate lists and two separate groups created under each list, the “Single Winner per Group” option will allow the awarding of the order to a total of four sellers since each group will have its winner. The “Single Winner per Product” option will determine as many winners as there are IPS variants in the auction. The last option for awarding winners is defined by “Multiple Winners.” This option allows the buyer to determine how many contractors will be awarded the order. For example, if the auction is started with the participation of only one IPS and the reward type is set to “Multiple Winners,” the total quantity contained in this IPS can be distributed for assignment to several winning contractors. This option is valid even for auctions composed of multiple IPS.
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 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.
