• Auction Types
    AuctionSite supports several different types of auctions. You decide which of these is appropriate for your audience. Enable or disable any of the supported auction types, leaving your users can with only a subset. You can mix and match any combination of auction types. For example, may want a site that only serves Reverse auctions. Possibly, only Standard, Multiple, and Blind. With AuctionSite, the choice is yours.
    • Standard Auction Type
      The Standard Auction is the most popular type of auction and probably the type most users are accustomed to. This is where the auctioneer sets a starting bid amount and bidders drive up the price as they compete. The highest bidder at the close of the auction automatically wins.
    • Reverse Auction Type
      This type of auction is just the opposite of a Standard auction. The auctioneer sets a starting bid and bidders drive down price as they attempt to outbid each other. The lowest bidder at auction close wins. This type of auction is perfectly suited for the auctioning of jobs, services, or items wanted.
    • Multiple Item Auction or Dutch Auction Type
      The Multiple Item auction, which is also known as a Dutch auction, is extremely common on business related sites. It is normally used when an auctioneer wants to offer multiple items for sale, but does not need to sell them as a single lot, to a single bidder. This means that the auctioneer is willing to sell one or more items to any and all successful bidders, using a single Multiple Item auction. The bidder has the choice to bid on as few as one item or as many as the total number of items offered. The bidding process works similarly to a Standard auction in that bidders drive up the price as they compete. Winning bidders are determined by a hierarchical list, generated by the quantity of items being auctioned. For example, if a Multiple Item (Dutch) auction has 16 items up for bid and at least six bidders want three items each, then only the five highest bidders will get all three of the items wanted. the sixth bidder will only be eligible for one item. Any subsequent bidders will not receive any items.
    • Blind Auction or Sealed Bid Auction Type
      The Blind auction may also be known as a Sealed Bid auction. Blind auctions are like a Standard auction in that the highest bidder at auction close wins. However, the difference is that bidders and the auctioneer do not known bid rankings until after the blind auction has closed. At closing, the highest bidder is revealed.
    • Fixed Price Auction Type
      Fixed Price auctions allow the auctioneer to sell an item at a predetermined price to the first bidder who places a bid. As soon as a successful bid is placed, the auction is closed and the bidder wins the item.
    • Barter Auction Type
      A Barter auction can be used if the auctioneer is willing to consider options other than a straight exchange of cash for the item being auctioned. This allows bidders to offer anything in exchange for an auction item. The auctioneer normally provides an enumeration of goods deemed acceptable for exchange. The winning bid is not determined automatically, and is instead selected by the auctioneer. The auctioneer can elect not to pick any of the submitted bids.
    • RFQ Auction Type (Request For Quote)
      A RFQ, or Request for Quotation auction would typically be issued by an individual or organization looking for a product or service that is described in the RFQ's detail. Any persons or organizations interested in providing a product or service to the auctioneer can submit their bid. The bid typically includes additional descriptions or features of products or services regarding the RFQ, as well as any other limiting terms to their bid submission. At auction close the auctioneer can choose which, if any, bid that he or she wants to accept.
    • Turbo Auction Type
      A Turbo auction, which can also be labeled as a $1-No Reserve auction, allows the auctioneer to auction low priced items in an attempt to garner quick and enthusiastic bidding on highly desired items. This is done by forcing the Turbo auction to always start at a low fixed amount (i.e. $1 - determined site wide by the administrator) not allowing a Reserve Price. Otherwise, a Turbo auction is just like a standard auction; the highest bidder at auction close is the winner.
    • Linked Auction Type
      Linked auctions can be used to link items on other sites. The auctioneer enters the URL for an item, and bidders are taken to the URL upon an attempt to bid. The Linked auction feature is useful for linking items to external shopping carts or affiliate purchasing sites.
  • Auction Management
    Making it easy for auctioneers and bidders to manage auctions is an important aspect of having a usable auction site.
    • My Auctions
      The My Auctions page is a centralized area where auction site users can easily manage their listings and items bid on. Auctioneers can do things like:
      • View open auction status.
      • View the success status of closed auctions.
      • Relist individual auctions.
      • Bulk relist multiple auctions.
      Bidders can easily keep track of all the auctions they've placed bids on and the status of their bids. Now it is easy for users to keep tabs on all desired auction items.
    • Bulk Relisting
      The bulk relisting feature allows auctioneers to manually relist multiple auction items with the single click of a button. This way auctioneers can pick and choose listings to relist, rather than using the auto-relist feature for all items.
    • Bulk Uploader
      The Bulk Uploader feature is a powerful tool that allows advanced users to list a large amount of auctions simultaneously. All you need to do is create a CSV file (typically in Microsoft Excel) with rows of predetermined auction property values. Based on your own configuration options, AuctionSite generates a sample CSV template users can start from. This file contains all necessary headings, along with sample data for each cell. Users can take their time creating a CSV file offline and upload their CSV template once, without having to go through the step-by-step process each time.
  • Administrative
    AuctionSite allows you to maintain and run your auction site right within a web browser. You have the unlimited flexibility in handling and managing your site. You can administer your site from virtually anywhere that has an Internet connection. You can even collaborate on your site's administration with someone in a totally different geographic location. AuctionSite provides you with a wide variety of administrative features and benefits. The hallmark of AuctionSite is in its flexibility. You can customize it to use as many or as few of the built-in options as you would like. We have had users who have had a basic AuctionSite sites up and running within minutes of receiving it, as well as those who have spent countless hours on customizing and tweaking the look, language and functionality of their sites until they find a combination of the built-in options that makes their site look its best. It's all up to you!

     
    • Auction Site Statistics
      As soon as you login to the administration page, you will notice some statistics about your auction site. This allows you to always have a quick snapshot of your auction site's activity.
    • Automated System Processing
      AuctionSite can send out status emails about auction listings and bidding activity to participating users, as well as process closed auctions without your intervention. This can be accomplished even if your AuctionSite site is hosted on an ISP's web server that does not allow external executables (EXE, DLL files). By taking advantage of the features in Windows Scripting Host and Internet Explorer, you can have any Internet connected machine trigger automated processes. By sending out these timely messages and updates, AuctionSite makes your site visitors want to keep coming back for more.
    • Common Billing and User Management System
      AuctionSite incorporates a built-in user billing and registration system called AS. Because this system is shared with other XCENT web server applications, your auctions can be integrated seamlessly. If you want to charge for auctions on your site, AuctionSite will automatically post these charges to the registered users' accounts. You can then bill them on a periodic (usually monthly) basis. Billing information can be exported to a variety of merchant processing software (including the popular ICVerify). Any merchant processing software or online processors that can accept batch processing in CSV format will work with AuctionSite. AuctionSite also interfaces with a variety of credit card processing gateways for automated payment collection. There is a constantly growing list of credit card gatewayts that are supported by AuctionSite. To see a current list, please consult our       FAQ Article #338.
    • Documentation
      AuctionSite includes real administrator documentation. While this may seem strange to list as a feature, we point it out because many of our competitors feel it is acceptable not to provide any documentation. At best, they inclue a brief re-hashing of their basic online help. We believe that you will want, and are certain you will need, more than that. We provide detailed documentation for setting up and maintaining AuctionSite. We also provide documentation in Adobe PDF format, so information can be read online or printed as a reference manual. You can even download a copy of the AuctionSite documentation at       XCENT Downloads. The free Adobe PDF viewer called Adobe Reader, can be downloaded from Adobe's website.
  • Categories
    Flexibility in creating your own category structure for your auction website is not just a marketing buzzword with AuctionSite. It has a number of options when defining your auction categories which lets you create nearly any category layout you can think of.
    • Unlimited Auction Categories
      AuctionSite allows you to define any number of auction categories. Create as many categories as needed to help users filter, organize, and find listings.
    • Flexible Category Hierarchy
      AuctionSite lets you get creative with how you structure the hierarchy of your categories. Not only do you have the flexibility to create thousands upon thousands of subcategories, you can also go up to 50 levels deep. Not even eBay goes over 5-8 subcategory levels on any once branch of their category structure. You can also determine the order in which categories are displayed, in case you want something other than alphabetical order.
    • Rootable Categories
      You have the flexibility to designate categories as simply placeholders. If you designate a category as rootable, auctioneers will be able to place new auction listings within that specific category.
    • Category Sets
      You can control logical category branch groupings within your category hierarchy by defining your own category sets. A category set lets you control where featured item listings within a category branch show sub-items for lower-level categories.
    • Filter Category Views
      Within a category, users can choose to filter the results displayed according to any of the following options:
      • New
      • Current
      • Closing Today
      • Last Chance
      • Closed
      • Featured & Premiere
      This is yet another way AuctionSite makes it easy for users to find auctions that generate the most interest.
    • Category Counts
      You have the ability to display the total number of items within a branch of your category structure. You can choose to display these counts for top level categories, only subcategories, or both. This feature lets you determine what looks best on your site.
  • Usage Fees
    If you intend to create an auction site where you want to charge end users any fees for using the site, AuctionSite again provides you with a lot of flexibility in defining what fees and how much you want to charge your end users.
    • Listing Fee
      You have complete control over what to charge users in order to make use of your site. Alternatively, you have the option not to charge anything at all. Base listing fees can be specified independently for each auction type. You can charge a different listing fee for Standard auctions, as opposed to Reverse auctions. Listing fees are flat fees based on the auction type or category. As an example, you have the ability to charge a higher rate for placing items in the Automobiles category versus the Toy category.
    • Listing Option Fees
      At the time of posting a listing, you can opt to charge a variety of Listing Options fees. An Option fee is added to the base listing fee when the auctioneer is placing a new auction. The Option fees are for additional features in order to showcase the listing and bring more attention. You can define the amount to charge for any Option fee. Some of the Option fees users may select are:
      • Extra Images
      • Featured Items
      • Premiere Items
      • Bold Listings
      • Highlight Listings
    • Closing Fees
      You can have a variety of Closing fees tied to an auction type, as well as the final price on a successfully closed auction item. Closing fees can be defined as a combination of flat fees and/or a percentage of the winning bid amount. These can even be defined in tiers to give you the most flexibility.
    • Subscriptions
      Through the AS User Management and Billing System, you can define subscriptions to offer on your site. You have the flexibility to define any number of subscription plans, and can define the pricing and length of term for sign-up and renewals phases. You can even set your site up so that different subscription options allow for different user capabilities or percentage discounts on all fees.
    • Fee Discounts by Group Membership
      Fees can be discounted or waived by defined user group memberships. User groups are a powerful feature in AuctionSite that allow you to build a very rich combination of features.
  • Configuration and Integration
    Flexibility is something that you will hear a lot about with AuctionSite. This is because it provides a very wide variety of configurable options and ways to allow you to integrate it with your site.
    • HTML Template
      AuctionSite uses an adaptable HTML template driven approach to allow a great deal of control over its appearance and layout. Using this template driven method for integrating appearance allows you to completely customize the menus and navigation on your auction site. This can be structured to mimic methods used on the rest of your site. Many other applications limit you to customizing only the header and footer of the application pages, but our template driven approach allows you to place your menus, banners, navigational elements, and logos on the top, bottom, left, or right. You choose where you want it to go. In fact, you can take any existing HTML page from your site design, remove the content, and be half way there.
    • Fonts and Colors
      In addition to allowing complete template customization, AuctionSite allows you to customize the look of dynamically generated content. You can customize the fonts (colors and sizes), table widths, and background colors. For more advanced users, AuctionSite also takes advantage of cascading style sheets (CSS).
    • Easy Auction Site Configuration
      Configuration and auction system settings are controlled via plain text files. This makes it very simple to make setting changes. You can even make many of these changes using a browser in real-time!
    • Email Component Support
      AuctionSite, like any other ASP based applications must utilize a server side component to send email. AuctionSite supports a wide variety of the most common email components. You'll never have to wonder if your ISP or web host provides an appropriate email component. As a matter of fact, we will add support for any publicly available component used by your ISP or web host, if they do not provide you with access to any that are already supported. See the       requirements for complete details.
    • Language and Locale
      AuctionSite utilizes common language files and text templates to provide a centralized way of editing displayed text. You can easily customize AuctionSite for another language, locale specific words, or language specific to a niche industry. You can even tweak the phrasing here and there to give your auction site a personal touch.
    • No Programming Knowledge Necessary
      AuctionSite does not require you to have a Computer Science degree to get it working. In fact, you do not need any programming skills to set it up. To completely install AuctionSite, you need to be familiar with transferring files to and from your web server (typically using FTP). If you have good HTML and website maintenance skills, then you will be able to completely customize the look and feel of AuctionSite. If you are going to be using SQL Server, you may need the assistance of your SQL Server administrator (if your site is hosted at an ISP or web host, most likely your host will be able to completely setup your database). If you do not have experience with setting up web sites or web applications, and feel the need for additional assistance, XCENT technicians are available to help get you up and running (An hourly rate applies - details available upon request).
    • Displaying Image Attachments
      You can choose from several formats for the image display on the auction item view. The first option is a traditional view, where all images are displayed full size. Another option allows you to display thumbnails only, and have the user click on each thumbnail in order to display a pop-up box of the full sized image. The final option is to display one full size image along with all other images as a series of thumbnails. When a user clicks on a thumbnail, the image is displayed full size in place of the default full size image. Again, AuctionSite is flexible and provides you with configurable options to let you choose which display format is preferred. This option requires additional components to be installed on your web server in order to be enabled. See the       requirements section for complete details.
    • Interfaces to Auction Search Engines
      AuctionSite provides interfaces to some special purpose search engines that specialize in indexing auction sites. These sites index a variety of auction sites, and provide additional methods to help make new users aware of your auction site. By making sure your site is registered with services such as these, you make it easier for more people to find your auction listings, and therefore increase incoming traffic. For more information about auction indexing services, see these sites:
    • Paypal Integration
      In addition to the extensive support AuctionSite has for various credit card processing gateways, it also has direct support for PayPal. When used with PayPal IPN, your users' accounts will be credited automatically upon payment. This minimizes the amount of manual payment processing traditionally associated with using PayPal.
    • NoChex Integration
      In addition to the extensive support AuctionSite has for various credit card processing gateways, it also has direct support for NoChex. When used with NoChex APC, your users' accounts will be credited automatically upon payment. This minimizes the amount of manual payment processing traditionally associated with using NoChex.
  • Interactivity
    Interactive features in AuctionSite make it provide a complete online auction experience for your site visitors.
    • Auction Watch
      The Auction Watch feature allows users to register an interest for items they want. When items meeting their criteria are listed, they will be notified via email. Additionally, users have the option to make their auction watch public. This is a way users can influence the type of items offered for auction, since auctioneers can use public auction watches to gauge demand.
    • Auction Winners List
      A winners list page is available, listing all recently won items. Without hassle, you have a detailed promotional page populated with live activity. You can link to this page from anywhere on the site. For an active auction site, it is a great way to help build excitement and further activity.
    • Auctioneer Withdraw Item
      If for some reason an item is no longer available to be sold, withdrawing an auction is easy. At the click of a button, the auction will be closed and the current high bidder, if there is one, will automatically receive an email notifying them of the withdrawal.
    • Auto-Extend Anti-Sniping
      AuctionSite sports an Auto-Extend feature which allows auction closing to be delayed if there is any last minute bidding activity. The Auto-Extend feature can really enhance a last minute bidding frenzy, which occurs on highly desirable auctions. The Auto-Extend feature can be enabled/disabled by the site administrator, and has an adjustable timeout window. The main advantage of enabling this feature is to help prevent users from attempting to steal a bid at the very last moment (bid sniping). The Auto-Extend feature also allows an online auction to mimic the activity of a live physical auction by keeping the action going while bids are coming in, regardless of the scheduled closing time.
    • Auto-Relisting
      The auto-relist feature allows the auctioneer's listings to be automatically relisted for a variable number of times if the item closes unsuccessfully. The auctioneer can choose how many times they wish to auto-relist an item.
    • Automated Email Messages
      One of the most important ways AuctionSite interacts with users is by sending out automated email messages for events occuring on your site. This includes outbid notices and current auction status. You can easily edit and customize text appearing in these messages to suit your own tastes. This customization ability allows you to cater the message to your audience or even add advertising.
    • Automatic Activity Email
      AuctionSite is designed to help you keep your site users informed of auction activity in items they have either posted or bid on. AuctionSite can automatically send out email notices to auction participants when an auction ends and when a bidder has been outbid. AuctionSite can also send out status emails to keep auction participants reminded of what they have active on the site. Additionally, AuctionSite has options for power users to disable status information. All of these aspects are important in order to keep users engaged and coming back to your site!
    • Comprehensive User Help
      We have strived to make AuctionSite as intuitive as possible. Since certain options or terminology may not be clear to new users, pop-up help windows are used extensively throughout AuctionSite's user interface for added guidance. By clicking on help links located next to user options, a pop-up window will appear with an explanation of the feature. These help files are simple HTML that can be customized in order to suit your site's needs. A Buyer's and Seller's guide is also provided, allowing you to easily customize the text in order to suit your audience. Having separate help files in this manner is beneficial to the experienced user, as it streamlines content within pages used for posting and bidding.
    • Ease of Use
      Since you need to encourage activity in an auction site to make it successful, the ease of posting an auction is extremely important. AuctionSite shines in the way it guides users through the process of posting an item. Even completely inexperienced users find it simple to post an auction and upload images using AuctionSite.
    • Encourage New Users
      Since AuctionSite allows you to bill auctioneers for posting auctions, you can also apply new user credit. This allows you to issue credit to new users, providing incentive without risk. Like many features in AuctionSite, this is configurable and optional, so the decision is yours.
    • File Attachment Option
      If you are utilizing the upload option for auction listings, you can allow users to upload other types of documents or files. This is particularly useful for Reverse or RFQ auctions, where the auctioneer may want to include detailed specifications, schematics, drawings or other related materials. You can specify the types and sizes of documents allowed.
    • Flash Buy
      Auctioneers can decide to set a price they are willing to accept if users want to circumvent the bidding process. The Flash Buy feature allows bidders to pay a special price in order to end the auction early, and avoid competition. Flash Buys can be used for both Standard and Multiple item auctions.
    • Highlight Color
      Highlighting is one of several listing options auctioneers can choose from in order to make their listings stand out. Auctioneers can choose a highlighting color from an administrator defined list. As with many features in AuctionSite, you also have the ability to globally enable or disable this feature.
    • Memorized Auction Items
      Users simply click a button when viewing an auction item in order to add it to their list of Memorized Auctions. This allows users to have a central place for all items of interest. This works much better than browser favorites, because favorites are usually tied to an individual computer. By using the memorized auctions feature, users can save items at work and follow up at home.
    • Multiple Currency Support
      Users can select a default currency so that all prices are displayed both in your site's default currency, as well as an approximate value in the user's currency. This provides international users with a friendly pricing conversion, without having to do calculations.
    • Proxy Bidding
      AuctionSite supports Proxy bidding on behalf of auction bidders. Proxy bidding allows a user to specify the maximum (in the case of a Standard auction), or minimum (in a Reverse auction) amount they are willing to bid. When a proxy bid is placed, the current bid is posted at the best bid price possible (with the actual proxy amount hidden from other bidders). When another bidder attempts to place a bid, the previous bidder's proxy will go into effect, in an attempt to surpass the new bidder. Whichever of these two bidders has the higher proxy bid, ends up as the current high bidder. Proxy bidding encourages more bidding activity and typically drives up auction prices. The proxy bidding feature can be disabled if not desired, and additional configuration options allow you to determine if proxy bids should immediately meet any Reserve price.
    • Report Questionable Auction Item
      You can allow visitors to report questionable items in order to catch any unfavorable behavior. This lightens the administrative workload, yet still leaves you with the final decision.
    • Searching Auctions
      Since many people do not have time to sit and browse through lists, AuctionSite provides comprehensive search functionality. Searching in AuctionSite is powerful and flexible. Users can search with multiple keywords within a category that interest them or the entire auction database. Users can search for items by many fields and can specify as many or as few of these fields as they want. Searches can even include all the active auctions posted by a particular user. This is a great feature for auction sites, as some auctioneers will create followings of loyal bidders. AuctionSite makes it easy for visitors to find the items that interest them.
    • User Account Self Management
      AuctionSite users can manage their own account details. You do not need to handle user information changes like:
      • Phone numbers
      • Email addresses
      • Lost passwords
      • Billing information
    • User Feedback
      Like other auction web sites, AuctionSite allows participants to leave feedback on transactions. This helps build a strong auction community, as well as buyer confidence. As the site administrator, you can moderate user feedback by editing malicious or abusive user comments. To avoid artificially inflated ratings, users can only leave feedback with other transactional partners.
  • Options
    This auction software is certainly not short on options for tailoring it to your needs or that of your target audience of end users.
    • Auction Items Closing Soon
      Visitors can quickly locate items closing soon. Since many auction items surge near the end of their listing time frame, this is a great way for users to easily find items they can bid on and get winning information right away. The time window used for closing soon listings is configurable, so you determine the time frame.
    • Auction Items Per Page
      The auction site administrator has a lot of options at disposal when using AuctionSite. You can configure the number of auction items or results that are displayed on each page. You can also determine how many items display in auction categories and search results. This allows greater control over the look and usage of your auction site.
    • Auctioneers Marketplace
      The Auctioneer's Marketplace is an area where power listers are featured with short profiles along with listings of all their current auction items. This allows new bidders to see some of the most trustworthy auctioneers on your site, quickly and easily. You can even use it as a way to profile or reward select auctioneers. By default, this feature is disabled for all users.
    • Bid Deltas
      The auction site administrator can define their own bidding deltas, or bidding increments/decrements. The software will automatically determine the next minimum bid based on the last bid. It calculates according to a predefined bidding deltas table. This feature is used to prevent bidders from placing inordinately low bids in an attempt to outbid the current bidder. For example, on a typical auction site, you would not want a bidder placing bids that are only a few cents higher than a previous bid. Normally, you would want subsequent bids to be at a more reasonable amount. For this, AuctionSite allows the administrator to define appropriate bidding deltas. It is possible to define a configuration such that bids increase by at least $0.25 each time for bids under $9, but when bidding increases above that, bids increase by at least $1. Each one of these tiers allows you to define the range of bid values and bid increments.
    • Hot Auction Items
      Auction items can display a hot item status. You define hot status based on the number of bids placed on an item, or the number of times that items has been viewed.
    • Image Attachments
      AuctionSite has a number of options when it comes to handling image uploads. You can limit the image to a certain height and width, so if your users are taking pictures with a high-resolution digital camera, images stored and displayed on your site scale for visitors in their browsers. The image is automatically sized down to the maximum dimensions defined. The size constraint even maintains the correct aspect ratio of the original image, preventing a squashed appearance. You also have the ability to limit image uploads by raw file size.
    • Informational Fields
      There are a number of built-in informational fields that help your auctioneers provide detailed information about listings. Fields like part number, product code, and serial number make it quick and easy for auctioneers to provide critical information for listings that need it. If the nature of your auction website is such that you have no use for these fields, they can be turned off globally.
    • Listing Results
      Listing results, which may be lists of auction items in categories or search results, have various configurable options. Items such as the number of bids displayed can be turned on or off. Users can sort results by clicking on column headers, allowing quick and easy access to items of interest in larger list results.
    • Main Auction Page Promotions
      You can choose to highlight Features or Premiere auctions on the front page of your site in a special promotional area. This allows you to charge additional fees for visibility. You also have a number of options for displaying these auctions as a list or in thumbnail view (This option requires additional components to be installed on your web server. See the       requirements section for complete details). A pseudo-randomized option allows for a fair distribution of Featured or Premiere listings.
    • Multiple or Single Auctioneers
      If you want to allow multiple auctioneers to simultaneously auction items, you can leave this feature in its default configuration. This is typically how sites like eBay or Yahoo Auctions work. If you want to limit auction postings to a select group of users, then you can configure AuctionSite that way instead.
    • New Auction Listings
      Visitors can quickly view new listings on your auction site by browsing the most recently added items. You control the time window used to determine the items displaying in new listing pages. Depending on the audience, you may need to adjust this time frame. Since AuctionSite is built to be flexible, this is a configurable option.
    • Password Protected Bidding
      Auctioneers can password protect their auction listings. A password protected listing can only be bid on by others with the password. This prevents other casual site visitors from being able to bid on protected listings, but still allows viewing access.
    • Per Auction Item Bid Increments
      Normally, the auction software defines a default set of values, called bid deltas, which determine how the next valid bid is calculated. The auctioneer is also allowed to override the global bid deltas and define a bid increment specific to a particular item.
    • Price Drop Option
      An auctioneer can select the Price Drop feature for any of their listings. The Price Drop feature decreases the starting bid in specified increments if no bids are placed; however, the auctioneer can decide the minimum threshold. This can be useful if the auctioneer isn't entirely sure of an item's market value or has items where prices fluctuate.
    • Reserve Price
      Not to be confused with a Reverse auction, a Reserve Price is an optional feature of Standard auctions. The Reserve Price allows an auctioneer to specify the minimum price an auction needs to close successfully. Although the Reserve Price is not shown to bidders while the auction is in progress, they are aware that a Reserve Price is in effect. The Reserve Price will be revealed at the successful closing of an auction.
    • Shipping Option Fields
      Multiple shipping option fields are available to auctioneers in order to define a variety of shipping options for listings. You can completely customize the text for shipping options to suit specific needs. You can even create any combination of Shipping Costs, Shipping Limits, and Shipping Vias (or Shipping Methods).
    • Special Icons
      Special icons can be displayed with listings in order to make items stand out. You can define these special icons for users to bring extra attention to their items. Administrator defined icons are especially useful on niche sites, since you can configure them for different meanings. When charging fees for site listings, you can assign a specific fee to this option.
    • Specify Exact Opening and Closing Times
      You can configure AuctionSite to allow auctioneers to designate an exact starting and ending time for their auction listings. This feature is useful for power users that want to time closings for a specific time in order to follow up on activity and be more responsive to their buyers. It can also be useful when used in conjunction with a live physical auction, because bids can be accepted on location and online. Otherwise, AuctionSite defaults to the same behavior found on many auction websites, where the auctioneer is only prompted for a number of days to run his/her listing. Here the closing time is determined by the time of day a listing was placed.
    • User Group Membership and Capabilities
      The group membership feature is extremely powerful in that it lets you create groups of users along with attributes. For example, you can define a Powersellers group, and allow that group to create their own Auctioneer Marketplace listings and receive a 50% discount on all fees. You can assign individual user accounts to this group or use the subscriptions feature to allow users who sign up under the Powersellers subscription plan to automatically inherit these capabilities. You can define any number of groups and have as many users in these groups. Group capabilities are an extremely powerful tool that let you get creative with how you organize your auction site.
  • Extras
    AuctionSite includes some additional features that come with it, or make it more useful in expanded configurations.
    • AS User Membership and Billing System
      AuctionSite includes the AS user membership and billing system. This is shared by several of our eCommerce web server applications, and has many powerful features. If you use it with any other XCENT eCommerce software application, it provides a seamless method for integrating all common user management and billing features. Now everything is behind a single username/password.
    • Mailing List
      Through the AS user management system, you can define multiple email lists. Users can sign-up or remove themselves from mailing lists at any time, without administrator intervention. Since you can send email to an entire list at once, it's easy to maintain a newsletter, mailing list, special alerts, or related news.
    • Public Messaging Forum
      Included with AuctionSite, is xcForum. This is a public user messaging system that can be used for creating a message board on your site. This is a great way to build a community among your site's users. This module is completely optional, and you choose whether or not you want to install.