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A complete solution for your auction website with its own online bidding platform, management software, website hosting, and productivity tools.Software ServicesforAuction WebsitesAUCTIONMETHOD.COM

#Software Services for Auction WebsitesA Message from AuctionMethods FoundersThank you for taking the time to review AuctionMethods software service for auction websites. If you are looking for a high-performance auction website for your business, then you are in the right place. Our all-in-one solution will give you everything you need to operate your own auction marketplace online - on your own website!AuctionMethod was formed by Daniel and Dennis West, two brothers from a family of auctioneers. Together, they have more than thirty years of experience building and running a successful auction company. Now they help other companies do the same by leveraging technology to increase efficiency and provide businesses with all the tools they need to control their own online auction marketplaces.Daniel P. WestFounder and Marketing ManagerSince graduating from Repperts School of Auctioneering in 1999, I have lived and breathed auctions every single day of my life. I love the auction method of marketing and could not be happier than I am helping companies succeed by using technology to grow their businesses.

Dennis B. West, Jr. Founder and Software EngineerI love using my experience as a software developer to create solutions that meet the ever-growing needs of our clients, who sell everything from retail goods to real estate. Efficiency is the name of the game in this business, and that is what our software service is all about.#Software Services for Auction WebsitesOur service is not like other online auction solutions. This is different.Given the incredible cost of developing and supporting the software and infrastructure required for independent online auction websites, many companies have been forced to cobble together multiple applications and services in order to support their auction businesses. Companies that choose to go this route often experience painful inefficiencies in data management, their customers suffer poor user experiences, and their business continuity is interrupted when different parts of their puzzle fail.

Online auctioneers need to have complete control over their marketplace, they need to leverage technology for efficiency gains, and they need to keep their overhead down. They need to do all of this while providing their buyers and sellers with an optimal experience that is fast, reliable, and intuitive. That is what AuctionMethods software service provides.Take the Power BackWhen auctioneers use a third-party bidding platform to host their auctions, they give up a large amount of authority and control over their sales. For flexibility and full control over your own marketplace, a hosted online auction platform with built-in management software is a much better solution.

Gain ControlYou should not have to give up your authority or control over your auctions in order to enjoy the marketing exposure and convenience of online bidding. Rather than patching together a website that leads your customers through a portal to someone elses marketplace, we give you a complete system for conducting and managing auctions on your own website. By having a website with its own bidding platform and management software, you will have full control over everything terms of sale, scheduling, communications, fees, invoicing, credit card transactions, and more.

Increase EfficiencyOur service covers the design, development, and hosting of auction websites. This allows companies to remain focused on core business functions rather than dedicating resources to the management of information technology. The software includes systems for managing auctions, fixed-price listings, mailing lists, bidders, and consignors. When work can be automated, it is. There are all kinds of built-in productivity tools designed to reduce labor when cataloging auction items, uploading pictures, sharing videos, creating newsletters, marketing, invoicing and payments, reporting, and more.

Decrease CostsIn addition to reducing labor costs associated with creating and managing auction events, our service replaces many of the applications and services commonly used by companies to support their online auctions. With a hosted website by AuctionMethod, your buyers and sellers only need to visit one website - yours! The same goes for auction managers and administrators, who simply have to log in to create auction catalogs, create advertising content, communicate with customers, process credit card transactions, run reports, and analyze performance data. By streamlining all auction processes by means of a single enterprise system, companies can open up new avenues for cost management strategies and greater profitability.#Software Services for Auction WebsitesOnline Bidding FeaturesWebsites built by AuctionMethod provide their visitors with an intuitive and user-friendly experience. Whether the user is a casual browser or an auction-savvy power bidder, they will find it easy to find what you are selling and even easier to place their bids and make their payments.

Mobile-Friendly A responsive web design ensures optimal performance across all devices.Search & Category Filters Visitors can easily search for auction items and select items from specific categories.Real-Time Push Updates The bid status and time left for each auction item is automatically refreshed in all views so that users do not have to refresh pages to get results.Watchlists Users can add and remove items to a watch-list of favorite items. The list allows users to submit and modify proxy bids for multiple items at once.Photo Galleries Each item can have a photo gallery with hundreds of pictures. Visitors can view thumbnails in a grid, or click on a picture to show the full size with image navigation.Communication Preferences From their account, users can modify mailing list subscriptions and set preferences for receiving email notices when they are outbid. Embedded Videos - Provide streaming walk-through videos for auctions and show off auction items by easily embedding multiple YouTube videos. Also increases SEO.Document Vault - Allow users to download spreadsheets, documents, PDFs, and nearly all other file types. The vault can be configured to allow downloads by pre-qualified users only.Sales Tax Exemptions - Users can apply for reseller status and manage multiple certificates for each state or province where they qualify for sales tax exemptions.Questions & Comments - Anyone can ask a question about items. Comments by unconfirmed users are held for moderation. Administrators can reply publicly or privately.My Account - Users are able to edit contact information, monitor bid status, adjust proxy bids, make payments, access past invoices, control communication preferences and more.Simple Registration - A one-time registration is all that is needed for users to bid and buy. Administrators can optionally limit bidding to users on a whitelist of prequalified bidders.Secure Transactions - Registered users are able to manage multiple credit card profiles for identity verification, bid deposits, and payments using industry standard encryption and secure storage..Past Prices Page - Provide buyers and sellers with valuable information about previous auction results. Results can be searched and filtered by month.#Software Services for Auction WebsitesListing Types and Options (continued)Commission Scales & Rates - Assign a commission scale or commission rate to consignment auctions. Multiple scales are available and a minimum commission amount can be set for each auction.Bid Increments - Choose between using a scale for bid increments or assign a flat increment amount for each auction. Flat rates can be modified while auctions are in progress.Convenience Fee - Add a convenience fee to buyer invoices for online credit card payments.Premium Thresholds - When used, this option will not apply buyers premiums when the purchase price is above the threshold amount.Custom Bidding The custom bidding feature allows users to create and bid on their own custom lot configurations. The system keeps track of all bid combinations and determines the winners based upon the highest yield.Price Protection - When sales are not guaranteed, use a minimum bid, reserve bid, or house bidder to prevent sales below the stated price. Consignors can also be given the right to accept, reject, and submit counter-offers to bids received.Timezones - Multiple time zones are supported and can be set on a per auction basis.Deposit Requirement - Require users to Set a "Deposit Required" amount . The credit cards of all first-time bidders at the auction will receive an "authorization pending capture" hold for that amount. Multi-Part Terms Terms and conditions for individual auctions are composed of four sections of information: 1) Preview, 2) Payment, 3) Removal, and 4) Disclaimers.Collect for Charity - Allow buyers to make a donation to different charities of your choice when they pay for their purchases online.Preview Mode - Allow administrators to review listings and share direct links. Bidding and buying is disabled for listings that are in preview mode.Private Listings - Create invitation-only auctions or fixed-price listings that are not published to the website or syndicated elsewhere. #Software Services for Auction WebsitesListing Types and OptionsThe AuctionMethod bidding platform is a versatile system that offers auction managers a lot of flexibility when it comes to setting up a new storefront, online auction event, or custom listing.Listing TypesTimed Online Auctions Items can be sold one at a time or in online auction events with thousands of other items. Closing times can be set to hard-close or soft-close with multiple extended bidding options.Fixed Price Listings Create fixed-price listings for virtual stores and classified ads. Let users make offers. Includes inventory management for items with multiple units.Off-Line Auctions - Promote your upcoming live auction events by sharing pictures, videos, documents, catalogs with your online audience.

Custom Listing - Promote any message or event with flexible layouts, rich text, document downloads, image galleries, videos, and other content.Settings & OptionsStaggered Closings - Set closing intervals for auction items by assigning a time buffer between item closings. Close items quickly with just a few seconds between closings, or slow it down with longer buffers.

Closing Groups - Close all items in an auction at the same time or specify the number of items that should close at a time. Useful for auctions with a large number of items to be sold.

Grouped Soft-Closes - Create groups of items that all close at the same time. If a last-minute bid is received on any of the items in the group, then the end time for all items in the group is extended.White/Black Lists - Require users to get pre-approved for an auction whitelist to bid. Users can also be banned from logging in to the website by means of a blacklist.Categorization - Assign auctions and fixed price listings to different categories for easy site navigation. Items being sold can likewise be categorized.Item Quantities - Enable per-unit bidding for auction items by entering a quantity greater than 1. For example, if an item has a quantity of 10, and a user places a $5 bid, then they are actually bidding $10 x 5 = $50.

#Software Services for Auction WebsitesAuction Management (continued)Bid Retraction - Administrators have the option to delete bids that have been placed by users and can reset the bidding status for any item. Impacted users can be notified of changes by email.Fees - Create and manage a list of regularly-occurring fees that can be automatically or manually applied to buyer invoices and consignor statements. Can be set by amount or percentage.

Authorization Emails - Allow users to designate an agent for item removal. Administrators receive email notices and can view a list of all authorized parties.Removal Tracking - Keep track of items that have been retrieved by buyers by marking invoices for purchases that have been picked up.Advanced Filters - Lists of auctions, items, users, and invoices are searchable, sortable and feature powerful filters for retrieving the right results.Email Users - Communicate with one or more users at any time using custom HTML emails or simple text messages.Reporting - View and download reports with data about items, bidders, consignors, invoices, payments, and sales tax. Custom reports are also available.

Email Marketing - Integrate MailChimp or Constant Contact to manage email lists and contacts, send emails, and track results.Google Analytics Learn more about the number of people visiting your website and engaging your content with integrated reporting from Google Analytics.

Google Tag Manager Easily add or update website tags, such as Google Analytics, conversion tracking, remarketing codes, live chat clients and other data-driven programs.#Software Services for Auction WebsitesAuction ManagementTake control over your website marketplace through a powerful browser-based administration center. Manage your auctions, items, users, buyers, sellers, communications, and payments on any device with an internet connection.

Admin Dashboard - Simply log in to the website as an administrative user to quickly access auction statistics, admin options, invoices and payments, and a variety of reports from anywhere on the site. Catalog Creation - Add new items with online editors or by importing spreadsheets. Our mobile cataloging application allows new items to be created in the field using telephones and tablets.Image Uploads A robust HTML uploader makes it easy to select thousands of files at once for fast and reliable image uploads. Images can also be retrieved via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and from Google Drive.Image Processing - Automatically resize images, generate thumbnails, and apply copyright watermarks. Rotate, reorder, and reassign images. QR-code recognition assigns images to the correct item(s).Copy Auction - Create new auctions by copying previous previous entries or by using templates that contain default language, terms and conditions, and settings.Batch Item Editing - Edit item details for an entire auction or a selection of items using batch-editing. Also allows for moving and copying of items from one sale to another.Consignment Management - A comprehensive consignor management program allows you to share status updates for consignments, track or prevent buybacks, calculate fees and commissions, and generate statements.Consignor Privileges - Each consignor may be given their own privileges on the website. They can upload their own auction items, approve or reject bids, submit counter-offers, and track the status of their consignments.Category Specific Fields - Get granular control over item listings with data fields that are specific to each category of items. For example, a category for vehicles may include year, make, and model fields.Administrator Privileges - Assign different roles to administrative users. Each role is assigned a unique set of privileges that control the information displayed to the user and which features they can access.Data imports - Include customer and sales data from live auctions and sales conducted on other bidding platforms for reporting and user management. Sales Tax Exemptions - Grant reseller status to users, review documentation, and download sales tax exemption reports. Users apply and remove exemptions themselves or exemptions can be automatically applied to invoices.#Software Services for Auction WebsitesProductivity ToolsIncrease efficiency by automating regular tasks with time-saving productivity tools designed to reduce labor when cataloging auction items, uploading pictures, sharing videos, creating newsletters, marketing, invoicing and payments, reporting, and more.

Mobile Cataloging Application - Catalog auction items on Android mobile devices. Allows for voice transcription of item descriptions. Items are automatically linked to the right pictures using QR codes on item tags.Auto-Fill Documents - Use category specific fields and sales information to create pre-filled documents. The information in the documents can be edited before downloading or printing.Tax Lookup - The system allows you to look up the sales tax rates for auctions and provides detailed breakdowns of applicable tax zones.

VIN Lookup - The integrated Edmunds VIN number lookup tools allows for verification of VIN numbers and breakdown of original vehicle specifications.Newsletter Generator Professional HTML email newsletters can be created quickly and easily using information and pictures from auctions and fixed-price listings.Advertisement Generator Similar to the newsletter generator, this tool creates different versions of ads to post to Craigslist and other classified advertising websites using content from the website.Picture Catalogs - Administrators are able to download and print full-color catalogs with complete item descriptions and lead images. Great for removal staff.URL Detection - Item descriptions and other rich text fields include a feature that automatically detects URLs and generates hyperlinks.#Software Services for Auction WebsitesSEO & SyndicationIncrease website visibility and boost your marketing efforts with a website that is optimized for search engines, includes automatic content syndication, and allows users to share information with their social networks.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Unique page titles and meta data are dynamically created for all of your listings based upon the content of the page. Content is marked with microdata for rich display by other websites and search engines.Sitemap A new sitemap is submitted to major search engines (like Google, Yahoo, and Bing) as soon any new listing is published to the website. This helps search engines display the most relevant and up-to-date information from the website.

RSS Feeds Dynamic data feeds are available for active auctions and items. The feeds are updated as soon as content is published to the website. RSS feeds allow for syndication of content to advertising outlets such as AuctionGuy.com.Social Media Posts - Website RSS feeds can be connected to the companys social media accounts for automatic posting of new content to Facebook, Twitter, and other websites.AuctionMethod Gallery AuctionMethod maintains a referral website at AuctionMethodGallery.com that aggregates and broadcasts auction information from our clients to multiple social media accounts.EverySingleAuction.com AuctionMethod maintains a promotional website for auction announcements from thousands of auction companies, including our clients. Paid advertising services offer targeted marketing of auction news.YouTube By using YouTube to host and stream videos, websites gain additional exposure through the worlds second largest search engine. Every video is indexed for keywords that increase natural search results for your website content.Social Sharing Build a digital audience and engage visitors with easy-to-use sharing buttons like the Facebook button, Pinterest button, Twitter button, and Google+ button. Visitors have the option to share information about specific auctions and individual items.#Software Services for Auction WebsitesHosting & SupportAs part of our service, we provide and manage the critical infrastructure needed to host our clients websites. You can rest easy knowing that we are committed to maintaining the continuity of your business, the performance of your website, and the security of your data.

Training We provide all new clients with multiple training sessions for staff members prior to launch and for newly released features. A contextual help system is under development and is expected to be released by Fall of 2015 or earlier.Technical Support - No matter what your issue, you will be able to reach a knowledgeable representative that can provide assistance via phone, live chat, or email. Emergency support is available 24x7.Content Delivery Network - Website images are stored on a distributed network, ensuring optimal delivery and downloads.Website & Server Monitoring - We actively monitor websites and servers to ensure optimal performance. If theres a problem, we are the first to know and we will stay on top of it until the issue is resolved.Free Backup The entire website, include the database and all files, is automatically backed up at least once every 24 hours.Free Updates - Websites are updated regularly with the latest software as new versions pass testing and become available for production. There is no charge for updates.Feature Development Do you have idea for improving the AuctionMethod platform? Let us know how you would like it to work for you. In most cases, we will develop the design a solution and implement the feature at no extra cost to you.Security - Websites are secured with industry-standard data encryption. SSL certificates are provided by AuctionMethod at no additional cost. Certification of PCI compliance is available for an additional fee.#Software Services for Auction WebsitesOur clients represent a broad spectrum of companies employing the auction method of marketing to sell a variety of assets. They are auctioneers, business liquidators, estate sellers, remarketers, and real estate brokers. At any given time, thousands of their auction items are up for bid.

MAXSOLD.COM

North America's fastest-growing online auction company specializing in estate liquidations, downsizing sales, and more.

BIDRL.COM

Selling storage units, overstocks, closeouts, store returns, and other retail merchandise by online auction.

WESTAUCTION.COM

Bankruptcy auctions, business liquidations, real estate, machinery, equipment, vehicles, and much more.

HILCOREALESTATE

One of the most respected authorities on real estate disposition, Hilco helps clients maximize the value of their real estate assets.

SVNAUCTIONWORKS

AuctionWorks has a substantial network of brokers and investors to whom they market commercial and residential real estate properties by auction.

THEDIFFCHICO.COM

Focused primarily on estate sale liquidations on the internet, The Diff has been conducting online auctions and selling assets from their virtual storefront for many years now.To see more auctions by our clients, visit AuctionMethodGallery.com.

Our Clients#Software Service for Auction Websites- Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.Lets make magic together! Contact AuctionMethod today about building a high-performance auction website for your business.

1.413.489.1389P.O. Box 426Shelburne Falls, MA 01370U.S.Ainfo@auctionmethod.com#