Auction eCommerce

eAuction Platform Overview: The Most Important eAuction Software Features

Updated February 9  |  6 min read

eAuction Platform Overview

Here's an overview of all the eAuction tools and features you need for your auction eCommerce software (also sometimes referred to as "electronic auctions" and "eAuctions"). Watch the video or read on to learn all about it.

Key Takeaways
  • A customizable eAuction platform with fundamental core features will give your website everything it needs.
  • Self-service and notifications are infinitely useful to your auction platform customers.
  • Automate workflows and integrate with back-office systems for the greatest efficiency and ease of use.
  • Running multiple auction types can boost business and allow room for growth, so it's best to choose a platform that lets you run anything from a reverse Japanese auction to a standard English auction.
  • Working with eAuction platform development experts will yeild the best results for your business and your customers, no matter how many auction types you want to offer.

Operate Your Business At Scale

For an auction eCommerce platform to be successful, the eAuction (also spelled e auction or e-auction) software needs to be capable of operating your business at scale and matching your workflows.

Typically, off-the-shelf or SaaS-based tools don't have the customizability necessary to do that, which can make working with these systems challenging.

Eauction platform customizability.
Eauction platform benefits.

Customizability with Core Benefits

That's why businesses need a solution that's customizable while maintaining the core features of the eAuction software.

It's beneficial to look for the best-commoditized eAuction tools, including being able to deal with standard types of auctions, and having a search function capable of handling millions of SKUs and advanced attributes. Then, you want to be able to customize the software to meet your needs while still retaining all the benefits of the core software features.

Core Features of eAuction Software

Self-Service Is Essential

Self-service for your vendors and buyers (or auctioneers and bidders) is absolutely the best way to go—consumers want to efficiently navigate your electronic auctions, not have to call customer service to do every little thing. And that means enabling self-led customer services online within your auction eCommerce platform.

truly efficient purchasing software for an electronic procurement auction
auction ecommerce automated workflows

Automated Audits & Workflows

Automated workflows are another powerful asset for your eAuction platform. You can use automated workflows for validation, such as an audit and review before people can sell and purchase things in an eAuction.

Notifications Mean More Interaction

An intuitive notification system should be present, as this is what allows users to interact with the eAuctions on a regular basis. Platform users should be able to set up their own preferences for how they want to be notified for the different auctions they're engaged in and for the overall platform.

auction ecommerce engagement
procurement process for eauction platform shipping

Operate Payment & Shipping Processes

An effective eAuction platform can accept standard payment types and offer shipping and logistics options. It should also be able to do tax calculations and deal with returns and reimbursements and glean the disposition of items based on their status, ratings, reviews, etc., and adjust the search or recommended items function accordingly. 

When winners pay through the platform, potential buyers and vendors want to know if it will go through without issue, even if there are multiple buyers or multiple suppliers.

Maintain Accurate Product Catalogs

Your eAuction platform should also have a robust catalog with accurate product detail pages. Product information, inventory data, pricing, categories, and filters should be dynamically pulled into the auction eCommerce software with automated logistical integrations.

auction ecommerce product catalogs
procurement processes for eAuction events

Handle Different eAuction Events

An enterprise-level eAuction platform can handle various auction events. These can be online, in-person, timeframe-based, customer-specific, or group-based. For example, internal filtering can enable the system to only show certain items to the selected group.

Our platform can host any type of auction; you can run traditional and reverse auction websites at the same time, as well as many other auction types.

Improve Marketing with Analytics

Advanced analytics are also crucial to your electronic auction software and could be from machine learning or eCommerce business intelligence. This is what allows the system and the business to drive marketing methods and increase leads.

eAuction platform analytics
online bidding

Online Bidding & Auctioneering

Making sure buyers can easily bid online and that sellers can easily manage their auctions are fundamental to any e auction software. Bidders need to be able to submit bids to a particular auction on the site—preferably at the press of a button—and vendors need to be able to put an item up for sale to be bid on.

Details and images often need to be uploaded as well, so standardizing your listing process is recommended.

Clarity Offers These Features & More

These are all standard features an eAuction platform ought to have, and Clarity certainly provides all of these features with our auction eCommerce software solution.

eAuction platform features.
eAuction Platform Development.

eAuction Platform Development

The ability to customize and extend existing eAuction software while preserving the core capabilities is a key characteristic of a successful eAuction platform. Development teams may build something that matches a certain requirement, but in doing so, they may paint themselves into a corner with the capabilities, so that it's hard to upgrade later.

Clarity has conducted hundreds of enterprise-scale customization projects each year. With each project, we gain insight into common requirements for features; we then use this insight to evaluate and further enhance our core offering for our eAuction software solution.

We complete customizations in a modular or override-friendly way, such that we extend or override the core auction functionalities, but we don't modify the core code—that way, the core code can always be updated.

It's much easier and more efficient to implement the right kinds of upgrades, extensions, and customizations than it is to implement poorly organized features that don't have a core program. No matter the kind of auction you're looking for—English auctions, Japanese auctions, Dutch auctions, reverse auction software—Clarity can make it happen.

Auction platform customization.

Achieve the Ideal eAuction Platform

The ideal situation is to benefit from commodities of scale while still getting business-specific customizations that are unique to your workflows and make sense within your industry. You'll attract qualified suppliers and buyers that help you grow your business.

With Clarity's eAuction platform solution, that is certainly achievable. Talk with one of our experts to learn more about how we can optimize your business and improve your cost savings.

FAQ

 

E-auction is another term for eCommerce auction, which is another way of saying online auction. E-auction can also refer to can be online or an auction that requires the use of an electronic device at an in-person event. E-auctions can include many auction types, including traditional auctions, reverse auctions, Dutch auctions, forward auctions, or many other auction types.

An online auction uses auction tools to facilitate the e-auction process, such as electronic auction software or online auction platforms to create an auction event and facilitate the entire process. They also offer real-time bidding so that the auction is a fair as possible.

 

An electronic auction, or online auctions, is an auction that takes place online or on a dedicated auction eCommerce website. How the e-auction process works depend on the type of auction it is, the business model of the platform host, and other factors.

At the most basic level, auctioneers post their items for an auction on the website and bidders then enter the website to bid on the items for sale. Whoever wins the auction pays the agreed amount and gets the item, usually by delivery.

 

To participate in an electronic auction, or online auctions, go to an eAuction website or platform and make an account or continue as a guest. According to the rules of the particular auction, you're engaging in and the governance of the auction website, place your bid (the amount you're willing to pay to get the item) and wait to see what happens.

It's a good idea to set up notifications so you're alerted if something changes, such as if someone outbid you and you need to make another bid to keep the item or you won the auction, etc.

 

There are many different auction types of eAuctions. The most common are auction types are English auctions, Dutch auctions, forward auctions, Japanese auctions, Japanese reverse auctions, reverse auctions, and sealed bid auctions that use auction software to facilitate the auction event. The final price of any type of auction can help set a new market price.

 

When building your e-auction website for your business, you want to keep in mind what types of things you're offering in the auctions, whether you'll have multiple sellers on a marketplace e-Auction platform or just your own auctions, and what your users will be expecting when they come to your e-auction website.

Across the board, though, some of the most important e-Auction tools are notifications, standardized listings, accurate catalogs, handling e-Auction events, analytics, reporting capabilities, self-service, automated workflows, bidding process, and seamless payment and shipping processes. Even complex aspects such as contract management and fostering buyer/supplier relationships with advanced communication tools can help you stand out.

 

A reverse auction is a procurement strategy where sellers compete to win business from a buyer. In contrast to a traditional auction, prices decrease instead of increase. In a reverse auction, the buyer specifies their requirements and sellers submit bids, successively lowering their prices to secure the contract. The process of a reverse auction encourages cost efficiency and fosters competition, ultimately benefiting the buyer by driving prices down and ensuring the best value for the desired goods or services.

Still have questions? Chat with us on the bottom right corner of your screen #NotARobot

Managing multiple stores with a multi-store eCommerce platform and enterprise resource planning.
 
Autumn Spriggle is a Content Writer at Clarity Ventures who stays up to date on the latest trends in eCommerce, software development, and related topics to provide readers with the latest and greatest. She strives to help people like you realize the full potential for their eCommerce business.