This article describes how Auction Houses can set up auto-approval criteria for their trusted bidders.
New! LiveAuctioneers now automatically approves trusted bidders as soon as they view an item.
This article contains the following sections:
About Auto-Approval
Auto-Approval enables you to streamline the bidding process by automatically approving qualified bidders who meet your pre-defined criteria, so they can start bidding faster.
How Does Auto-Approval Work?
When a bidder views an item's page, the system automatically determines if they meet your auction house's approval criteria. If the bidder meets the criteria, they are immediately approved for the auction. The bidder will then receive an on-screen confirmation message, encouraging them to bid.
Please note, a registration confirmation email will only be sent to the bidder if they save an item in the auction or place a bid on an item in the auction.
Bidders with open disputes, suspensions, or have been blocked by our fraud team will not be auto-approved for any auction until those issues are resolved.
If a bidder does not meat the auto-approval criteria, they will not be notified as such. They will instead manually register for the auction, and you will then have the option of manually approving them.
Benefits for Auction Houses
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Increase bids by up to 10%
- Auction houses that auto-approve bidders drive up competition and hammer prices.
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Better understand your audience
- Know who’s interested in your auction, even if they haven’t registered yet.
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Streamline bidding
- Empower trusted bidders to place bid faster.
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Do less admin work
- Eliminate manual approvals for trusted bidders. Auto-approvals work within your existing approval settings.
Benefits for Bidders
- Bidders meeting your auction house's auto-approval criteria are instantly approved.
- Approved bidders can place bids immediately, without manual registration.
Setting Auto-Approval Criteria
- From the Seller Dashboard, click on the Bidders tab and select Automation Settings.
- Select the Custom Auto-Approval menu from the left side of the page.
- Click the Edit link to the right of the Custom Auto-Approval section.
- To set auto-approval criteria with bid limits, click the Edit link to the right of the Custom Auto-Approval with Bid Limit section at the bottom of the page.
- You should select between having Custom Auto-Approval or Custom Auto-Approval with Bid Limits- not both.
- If both sections are configured, the one that was saved most recently will take precedence.
- Check the box to the right of a condition to select it as approval criteria.
- Select whether bidders will be automatically approved if they meet Any or All of the selected conditions.
- You’ve previously approved this bidder
- This bidder has been approved for at least X number of auctions
- This bidder has won at least X number of items on LiveAuctioneers
- This bidder has spent $X amount of money on LiveAuctioneers
- This bidder has a verified credit card on file
- This bidder is likely approved through Live.Approvals
- If you are selecting auto-approval criteria with a bid limit, you can also select that amount from the Bid Limit drop-down. Bidders with bid limit approval will be able to spend up to this amount in your auctions. For more information, see Bid Limits.
- Click the Save Criteria button to save the changes.
- A confirmation message will appear on the right side of the page.
- Changes to the Auto-Approval criteria will impact all ongoing auction as well as future auctions.
Identifying Auto-Approved Bidders
All auto-approved bidders will appear under the Approved or Approved Limited tab on the on the Bidder Dashboard. There is no differentiation between manually approved and auto-approved bidders on those tabs.
Please note, if a bidder was auto-approved before they saved an item or placed a bid, you’ll see the following message under their Bidder Profile on the right side of the page:
“This bidder has met your criteria to be auto-approved for your auction. Status: They have viewed one of your items. Their personal information will be shared once they save or bid on an item.”
Until a bidder saves an item or places a bid, some personal information (physical address and phone number) will be hidden. This protects the bidders’ privacy, while still allowing them to participate quickly. Once they save an item or place a bid, all of their information will be available.