Choosing what's in an auction

With the Auctions app, you can choose what each auction includes: bidding on items, items sold at a set price, a paddle raise, and sponsors. Leaving out what your event isn't running hides its tabs in the administrator and its pages on your auction site.

To choose what's in an auction:

1. Open the Auctions Manager.
2. Click the title of the auction you want to manage, or click Add to create one.
3. Click the Details tab.
4. In the What's in this auction section, between General and Manage Bidders, select Yes or No for each setting.
5. Click Save.

The auction's tabs change after you save.

What each setting controls

Setting	Administrator tabs it shows	What it affects on the auction site
People Bid on Items	Winning Bids; also Categories, Items and Fulfillments	Bidding on silent and live items, bid details and Bid History on items, and each guest's My Bids
Items Sold at a Set Price	Categories and Items	Fixed-price items such as raffle entries and drink tickets, their Buy Now, and My Orders
Paddle Raise	Paddle Raise	No auction-site pages
Sponsors	Sponsor Levels and Sponsors	The Sponsors page

My Orders still appears if a silent item in the auction has a Buy Now price, even when Items Sold at a Set Price is No.

All four settings default to Yes. Auctions created before these settings existed are treated as Yes for all four, so they keep working as before until you choose No.

Choosing No

When you select No, your browser asks you to confirm, for example: "Turning off Sponsors hides the Sponsor Levels and Sponsors tabs and the Sponsors page. Nothing is deleted, and it all returns when you choose Yes again. Continue?" Click Cancel to put the setting back to Yes.

Nothing is deleted. Choose Yes again later and the tabs and pages come back with everything in them, except the Sponsors menu item described below.

What you can't turn off once it's in use

You can't turn a setting off while the auction is using it. When you save, the setting stays at Yes, your other changes are still saved, and one of these messages appears:

• "People bid on items" can't be cleared: items in this auction have bids.
• "Items sold at a set price" can't be cleared: this auction has orders.
• "Paddle raise" can't be cleared: this auction has paddle raise levels or pledges.
• "Sponsors" can't be cleared: this auction has sponsors or sponsor levels.

Even one paddle raise level with no pledges, or one sponsor level with no sponsors, keeps that setting on. Items with no bids or orders never stop you.

Sponsors and the Sponsors menu item

When you set Sponsors to No, Show Sponsors Menu Item on the auction's Menu & Pages tab is set to No at the same time. Setting Sponsors back to Yes doesn't turn it on again. Your auction site shows the Sponsors page only when both are Yes.

To show the Sponsors page again after setting Sponsors back to Yes:

1. Click the Menu & Pages tab.
2. For Show Sponsors Menu Item, select Yes.
3. Click Save.

Item types follow the settings

When you add an item, Item Type offers only the types the auction includes: Silent Bidding and Live Bidding with People Bid on Items, and Fixed Price with Items Sold at a Set Price. Without bidding, a new item starts as Fixed Price. Existing items keep their type. Adding, importing or copying an item of a type the auction doesn't include is refused, for example with "This auction does not include Fixed Price items."

When an auction has no items

If both People Bid on Items and Items Sold at a Set Price are No, your auction site's home page shows a landing page instead of the item grid: Event Info, a Donate button, your Sponsors by level, and Help. Each appears only when its Show … Menu Item setting on the Menu & Pages tab is Yes and it has something to show. Donate also needs a Donations page selected, and Sponsors needs Sponsors set to Yes.

Which tabs appear

• Details, Menu & Pages, Bidders and Checkouts: always, plus Overview once the auction is saved.
• Sponsor Levels and Sponsors: when Sponsors is Yes.
• Paddle Raise: when Paddle Raise is Yes.
• Categories and Items: when People Bid on Items or Items Sold at a Set Price is Yes.
• Winning Bids: when People Bid on Items is Yes.
• Fulfillments: when People Bid on Items is Yes, or when any item in the auction has Track Fulfillment set to Yes. Silent and live items always track fulfillment, and so does any item that requires shipping.

Tabs keep their usual order, and a link to a hidden tab opens the auction's first tab.

Related articles:

• Creating and managing an Auction
• Choosing which pages appear in your auction's navigation
• Setting up your first auction