Online Auctions are gaining popularity in recent times as they are becoming one of the preferred ways of running auctions. In this article, we will explain the following,

– What are Unique Auctions, what are its benefits and its types
– How to Run Unique Auctions in your WooCommerce Shop

What is Unique Bid Auction

Unique Bid Auction is one of the types of Auctions and it is similar to the type of strategy for choosing the winner. In Unique Bid auction, the winner will be chosen based on the bidder whose bid is either the lowest unique bid or the highest unique bid.

Advantages of Unique Auctions
– In Unique Bid Auctions, the winner will be chosen based on the bidding strategy used by the bidders. So, your customers will be more interested to participate in the auction.
– You can optionally choose to collect a refundable or non-refundable bid fee from your users for placing the bid in Unique Bid Auction.
– It helps in gaining more traffic to your site.

How Unique Auction Works?
Unique Bid Auction is different between other Auction types because it allows only unique bid value to be chosen as the winning bid. Also, Bidders cannot know other bidder’s bids until the auction has ended. Once the auction has ended, the winner will be announced and all bidders can view the bids placed by other bidders. Unique bid auction can further be divided into two types

(i) Highest Unique Bid Auction
(ii) Lowest Unique Bid Auction

(i) Highest Unique Bid Auction
Highest Unique Bid Auction is one of the types of Unique Bid auction. In this auction type, the user will have to place their bids without knowing what the other users may have bid. Once the auction end date has been reached the user who placed the highest Unique Bid will be chosen as the winner.

Example

Bid Value         Number of times bid value placed
10                              5
40                             3
50                             2
60                             3
80                             1
100                           1
110                            3

In above table, you can see the value of the bids placed and the number of times a same bid value has been placed.
As per the example, the bid value “100” is the highest bid placed and it has been placed only once(Highest unique value). So, the user who has placed the bid value “100” will be chosen as the Auction Winner.

(ii) Lowest Unique Bid Auction
Lowest Unique Bid Auction is one of the types of Unique Bid auction. In this auction type, the user will have to place their bids without knowing what the other users may have bid. Once the auction end date has been reached the user who placed the lowest Unique Bid will be chosen as the winner.

Example

Bid Value        Number of times bid value placed
10                          5
40                         3
50                         2
60                         3
80                         1
100                       1
110                        3

In above table, you can see the value of the bids placed and the number of times a same bid value has been placed.
As per the example, the bid value “80” is the lowest bid placed and it has been placed only once(Lowest unique value). So, the user who has placed the bid value “80” will be chosen as the Auction Winner.

How Unique Bid Auction uses in Your WooCommerce Store

Auctions Made Easy for WooCommerce is a Premium WooCommerce Auctions Plugin which is available in WooCommerce.com. Using this plugin you can create and run Unique Bid auctions in your WooCommerce shop. The plugin supports two types of Unique Bid Auctions,

(i) Normal Unique Auction(Highest Unique Bid Auction)
(ii) Reverse Unique Auction(Lowest Unique Bid Auction).

(i) Normal Unique Auction(Highest Unique Bid Auction)
In Normal Unique Auction, the winning bid should be unique and highest value.

(ii) Reverse Unique Auction(Lowest Unique Bid Auction)
In Reverse Unique Auction, unique and lowest value is the winning bid.

Features Supported by Auctions Made Easy for WooCommerce to Run Unique Bid Auctions
– Using this plugin you can create the both Normal Unique Auction(Highest Unique Bid Auction) and Reverse Unique Auction(Lowest Unique Bid Auction)
– Bidders cannot know the bids placed by other bidders until the auction has ended. Once the auction has ended, the winner name will be displayed and all bidders can view the other user’s bids in the Auction Bid Details tab on the product page.
– My Bids tab available on the product page to allow the users to view their placed bids for the unique bid auction.
– Option available to customize the messages in Unique Bid Auction.
– If none of the unique value is available then the auction gets failed. Relist option is available to re-start the auction again if the auction gets failed.

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