On January 31st, Aucto is proud to announce the launch of our newest feature on Aucto.com. This new selling method is known as Tenders and will replace the previous Fixed Priced Listings across the website. Aucto.com will be phasing out all Fixed Priced Listings on the website. Our development team has worked extremely hard to make these new changes possible. This new selling method will provide our sellers with a chance to receive offers on their surplus industrial equipment in a competitive format.
Table of Contents
What is a Tender?
Tenders vs. Auctions
How Do I List A Tender?
What Do I Do After My Tender Ends?
Tender Tips & Tricks
Future Updates
Additional Resources
What is a Tender?
According to Investopedia.com, “to tender is to invite bids for a project or accept a formal offer.” This concept was part of the founding idea of the latest selling method on Aucto.com. A Tender on Aucto.com is a sale type were sellers can list industrial equipment for buyers to submit offers on. A tender can consist of as little as one lot and can feature as many lots as the seller has available to sell.
In a tender, a buyer can place an offer or a bid on the lots which they wish to acquire. The biggest difference, when compared to a traditional auction, is that the buyer sets the value of their bid and does not need to publicly disclose the value of the bid they have placed. Only the buyer who placed their bid and the seller of the lot know the amount of the bid. Also, a buyer can only submit one offer for each lot. Based on this fact, the buyer is encouraged to submit their best value offer if they are interested in winning the designated lot.
After a Tender ends, the seller now has up to seven days to award a winner, and this means the seller can review all submitted offers and determine a winner. After the seller selects a winner, the winner of the lot will be notified via email and provided an invoice for the lot. If the bids do not reach a value that the seller deems acceptable, then the seller does not need to accept any of the submitted offers.
Tenders vs. Auctions
Tenders will provide a new variety of selling type on Aucto.com. However, instead of competing with Auctions for attention across the website, Tenders will compliment them and provide our sellers with another opportunity to sell their surplus industrial assets.
Auctions are designed to help sellers quickly liquidate their surplus industrial equipment. Auctions allow sellers to recapture value from the industrial assets quickly. This style of selling is mostly suitable for heavy machinery, rolling stock, and smaller industrial equipment that can be easily transported. People who sell through auctions can normally expect a smaller return on the value on the assets, and this is because of the limited time associated with selling in an auction.
Unlike Auctions, tenders are a better selling option for large scale equipment where removal or a project length is not an issue. This sale type allows for sellers to gradually collect offers from interested buyers without feeling the pressure to liquidate the equipment before a certain time. Complete production lines or large scale industrial equipment at facilities that are installed or difficult to transport are items that tend to sell best in a Tender event.
How Do I List a Tender?
For our sellers who are interested in creating a tender, we have created a step-by-step guide highlighting all the steps required for creating your first Tender. If you have any issues with creating a tender after following this step-by-step guide, please contact Aucto support by emailing support@aucto.com to calling +1 (844) 326-7305.
Step #1 – To start hover over the “My Account” button in the top right section of the screen, once the menu items drop down, you will see a menu option titled “Manage Tenders.” Click on this option.
Step #2 – After clicking the “Manage Tenders” menu option, you will be brought to your seller’s dashboard. From here, click the option on the left side of the screen titled “Add a New Tender.”
Step #3 – After clicking “Add a New Tender,” you will enter the Tenders Wizard. The wizard is a step by step guide to help you list your Tenders. The First step of the Tenders Wizard is to enter your Tenders information. This information includes a descriptive title, the end date of your Tender, the ending time of your Tender, the category for the Tender, and whether this is a public tender or a private tender. After you complete all the information on this step, click the “Next Steps” button on the right side of the Tenders Wizard.
Step #4 – In the next step, you must enter the location(s) of the asset(s) that will be available in your Tender. To do this, press the “Add New Location” button and complete the form. The form includes the following fields: Address, Country, State/Province, City, Zip/Postal Code & Tax Rate. Once your location is added, click the “Add Location” button in the bottom right corner of the pop-up. After all the locations have been added, you must not choose if you wish to automatically approve bidders. To change this, toggle the switch. After this step is complete, click the “Next Steps” button.
Step #5 – The Next step is to set up your terms & conditions for the auction. You will need to enter your sales terms, removal terms, inspection terms, payment currency, and whether you will be charging any sales tax. If you are charging any sales tax, you will need to enter the tax rate you will be charging. After completing this step click the “Next Step” button to continue.
Step #6 – The final step of the “Tenders Wizard” is to add any additional logos or supporting documents you may wish to include in the Tender. If you do not wish to add any additional PDFs or logos, click the “Finish” button.
Step #7 – Now that the Tender is set-up, you will need to upload the lots for the Tender. To do this, click the lots button on the left side of the screen.
Step #8 – Once on the lot page, you can choose to add each lot individually or complete a bulk upload. If you wish to bulk upload lots, click the bulk upload lots button. If you elect to bulk upload, please ensure you correctly Map your CSV’s columns to the field on Aucto.com.
Step #9 – After uploading your lots, ensure that the pictures associated with the lots are uploaded and correctly match up with your lots you have already added.
Step #10 – After uploading all lots you wish to include in this Tender and ensure all photos are correctly associated with the proper lots, you can now publish your Tender. To do this, click the General Information tab; once you have the General Information tab open, you can change the status from Draft to view only or published. Once you have selected the status, click the “Apply” button. Your Tender will now be reviewed by Aucto Seller Support to ensure accuracy. If there are any issues, the seller support team will contact you and help you resolve any issues. If there are no issues, they will approve the sale on the website.
What Do I Do After My Tender Ends?
After your Tender has ended as a seller, you must decide if you are going to award a winning bid. You have seven days from the end date of your Tender to award a winning bid. If you do not award a winning bid, all lots in Ended status will be moved to unsold status. To see the bids submitted on your lots in the Tender, you must navigate to the Sellers dashboard.
Once in the seller’s dashboard, you must do the following:
Step #1 – After opening your seller tools dashboard, navigate and click on the menu option Past Tenders. After finding the Tender, you wish to award winners on click the “Manage” button.
Step #2 – After clicking the “Manage” button, you will be directed to the Tender Lots. Under status, you will see two statuses by default. You will see “Ended” and “Unsold.” Ended means the lot has received bids and is ready for you to award a winner if you wish. Unsold means you did not receive any bids on this lot. To view the bids, click the “View” button.
Step #3 – After opening the bids on your lot, you will be able to see the Aucto username of the person who placed a bid in your Tender, the bid type, the date and time they placed their bid, and the Bid amount. On the right side of the pop-up, you will see Award Lot buttons, clicking on this button will award the lot to this bidder. Once you click the “Award Lot,” a pop-up will appear. Click OK on the pop-up to proceed.
If there are no bids you wish to award the lots to, you do not need to press anything. Upon awarding a lot, the buyer will be notified that they have placed the winning bid.
Tender Tips for Sellers
Our new Tenders selling method provides our buyers with a chance to purchase sought after industrial equipment in a competitive format without the need to hire a 3rd party broker while also providing our sellers a chance to receive value for industrial equipment they no longer need. However, just like an auction, there are a few tips to know when looking to sell in a Tender.
Know What Your Lot is Worth – Before hosting a Tender, you should research into what the value of your lot is worth. Research to see what your make, model, and condition of your equipment is worth. This way, when you begin to receive bids & offers, you have a rough idea of the value that you can look to receive. If you are struggling with finding a rough value, reach out to Aucto seller support as they may be able to assist you.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words – When uploading your Tender, make sure you provide multiple high-quality images of each lot in the sale. If the buyer is unclear about what is in your lots, they are less likely to submit a quality offer. Try to clean any piece of equipment before taking photos. If possible, attempt to include the faceplate of the equipment as well.
Provide Accurate Details on Each Lot – Make sure you provide a complete and clear description for each of your lots. By providing a detailed description, you will be able to provide the potential buyer with more information regarding your lot, so buyers know exactly what is for sale and its condition. Always attempt to include the working condition, operation hours, and maintenance records on all assets.
Answer Buyers Questions – A buyer may have questions regarding your lots. If they do, they will reach out to you via the messaging center on the website. Make sure you are checking your messages and that you answer any questions a potential buyer may have. Each answered question can be the difference between a lot selling or not.
Focus on building proper lots – Make sure you build lots that a buyer would be interested in purchasing. When building a lot, you want to group like items together as a buyer is most likely to buy one type of equipment exclusively. For example, If your lot includes a Motor, attempt to feature other motors or items that work with a motor, you do not want to feature this motor with electrical controls or hand tools.
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Clayton Arnold is the Marketing Manager at Aucto. Clayton has 10 years of experience working in traditional and digital marketing campaigns. A Mohawk College graduate, Clayton believes in leveraging the latest technology & analytics to foster long-term relationships with clients.
