Creating and running an auction

Every auction starts from a unit in your inventory. MotoDealerHQ copies the unit's details in, so you only set the auction terms: price, timing, fees and disclosures.

Before you start #

• Auctions must be switched on under Auctions › Auction settings, and the format you want must be ticked. See auction formats.
• Live auctions need a recorded compliance review for your jurisdiction. Before that, tick Test auction to try things out. See the compliance gate.

The auctions dashboard #

Open Auctions › Auctions to see everything at a glance.

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1. New auction and settings. Start an auction, open Auction settings, or open the Audit trail.
2. Status tiles. Active, scheduled, ending today, pending bidder approvals, bids, sold and unsold, fraud flags, overrides, and purchases waiting for payment. Most tiles are links.
3. Status filter. Show only drafts, scheduled, active, ended, sold and so on.
4. Your auctions. Location, status, current bid, bids, reserve status (met, not met or none) and end time.

Create a draft #

1. Select + New auction.
2. Pick the unit under Inventory unit. Units on hold (a paid deposit or a signed deal), sold, archived or already in an auction are not listed.
3. Select Create draft.

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The VIN or HIN, stock number, year, make, model, trim, mileage or hours, description, condition, price and video links are copied in. Photos stay linked to the unit.

Set the terms #

The draft opens in the edit form. Fill in each part, then select Save.

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1. Format. Only the formats you switched on are offered.
2. Who may bid. Any approved bidder, dealer-only or invite-only.
3. Reserve. Leave blank for none. Tick Show the reserve amount to bidders to show the amount; otherwise bidders only see "met" or "not met".
4. Start and end. In your dealership's time zone. An auction runs for at least 5 minutes and at most 30 days.
5. Anti-sniping. A bid in the final window extends the end. See bidding, proxy and anti-sniping.

The form has five parts:

• Listing: title, format, who may bid, Test auction and description.
• Bidding: starting bid (at least $1), fixed increment (blank uses your dealership ladder), reserve, Buy It Now price, Highest bid accepted, start and end, and anti-sniping.
• Fees, payment and pickup: buyer fee (none, flat or a percentage with a minimum and maximum), an internal seller fee, the bidding deposit, payment deadline in hours, pickup deadline in days, and shipping and pickup terms. See deposits and settlement.
• Disclosures: title status, lien status, odometer, salvage or rebuilt details, known defects and a condition report. All are shown on the public auction page.
• Terms and conditions: prefilled from your default terms in Auction settings.

The form checks your numbers. For example, the reserve cannot be below the starting bid, and Buy It Now must be above the starting bid and not below the reserve.

Publish #

1. Open the auction and select Publish / schedule.
2. The auction becomes Scheduled, and the unit is held for the auction. It turns Active at the start time.
3. To take it back before it starts, select Back to draft.

Publishing freezes the terms as version 1. Every later change creates a new version and a line in the public change log on the auction page. Bidders and watchers are told.

After the first bid #

Once someone bids, the material terms are locked. You can still:

• lower or remove the reserve, or show a hidden reserve,
• remove Buy It Now or lower the buyer fee,
• give more time to pay or collect, or offer shipping,
• add to the description, terms, pickup or shipping text and disclosures (never remove words).

Each change needs a reason, and a note for bidders that appears in the change log. The start, end, format, starting bid and increments stay fixed. Extending the end needs an override approved by a second person.

Watch, pause, cancel or relist #

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1. Edit or publish. Buttons change with the status.
2. Live figures. Current bid, bids and bidders, reserve and end time (with extensions).
3. Pause or cancel. Pause with a reason; resuming gives back the remaining time (at least 5 minutes, or the anti-sniping window). You can cancel only while there are no bids. With bids, cancelling needs an override.
4. Bid history. Every bid with the bidder's name, amount, type (manual or automatic proxy) and server time. Hidden maximum bids are never shown here.
5. Terms versions. The public change log and each terms version.
6. Event log. A tamper-evident log of everything that happened. "Integrity check passed" means no entry was changed.

When an auction ends without a sale, the unit stays Auction unsold, off your retail inventory. Select Relist to start a new draft, or Return unit to retail to put it back on sale.

Tips #

• Run a test auction first. It is never listed, is reachable only through the Staff preview link (test auction) on the auction page, and can never become a real sale.
• Add photos and a condition report before you publish. Photos of a unit in an auction are kept for 365 days after it closes.
• The auction closes on the server's clock, within about a minute of the end time.

Permissions #

Limitations #