Upload Settings in AuctionFlex 360

Below your auction details

On each lot’s detailed view

Preview and pickup dates/times

Payment methods and deadlines

Terms and conditions

Bid increments and auction alerts
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Authentication – Requires a credit card to register; $1 temporary authorization to validate card, CVV, and ZIP. Card token retained for post-auction invoicing.

Verification – Validates the card without retaining it for payment.

Contact Info Only – No card required.

No Registration – Listing only, no bidding.

Authentication Required Within X Days – Re-validates stored cards after a set time (common: 120–180 days).
​Note: $1 per revalidation, capped at $50 per event.

The card type check boxes allow you to choose which credit card payment methods you accept for registration and invoice payment.

In-person: Start at 1

Online default: Start at 7000

HiBid Starting Bid Card Number - In a webcast auction where you have a live in-person audience, as well as an online audience bidding in real time, you need to set ranges to avoid bid card number duplications. The in-person bidders for example, would start at 1 and increment up. The default bid card start for online is 7000. We chose this number since other webcast/simulcast software has fallen into common ranges. Proxibid for example, starts at 5000, Live Auctioneers starts at 500.

Maximum Amount a bidder can spend per item (USD) - This is the default bid permission that you are using for your bidders as they register. Keep in mind that you can log into myhibid.com and see your current auctions and the current registrations. You can make individual permission changes in there. Any bids placed outside of your permission amount will go into “pending”. You can approve or decline those bids in myhibid.com

Email Subject - This is your auction registration email. As each bidder registers, they will receive this email. The email subject should be short and concise, “Thank you for registering for the Winter Wonderland auction.”

Email Body - This is the body of the email where you can greet your customer, give them instructions on your auction policies, and make sure that you give them contact information in case they have any questions about your event or items within that event.

Bidding Notice - If you have any special instructions regarding bidding, “this is an auction without Reserve. The final bid WILL win the item.” Or “Bids are subject to seller confirmation,” where you are letting the bidders know that you need to get approval from the seller for final disposition. Common in real estate auctions.

No Internet Bidding – Catalog only.

Absentee Bidding – Accept bids online, then execute them against live bidders in person.

Internet Only Auction – Timed online auction with no in-person bidding.

Webcast – Live in-person bidding combined with online real-time bidding (audio/video optional).

Public Bidding – Show winning bid and up to 6 previous bids.

Sealed Bid – Bids are hidden; bidder enters their top price.

Maximum Bidding (Up To) – Proxy bidding up to bidder’s max.

Fixed/Flat Bidding – Entered bid is the actual bid (often paired with sealed bids).

Time Zone – Convert the auction "close" time from Eastern to your local time.

Open Bidding – When bids start being accepted.

Close Bidding – When lots begin closing.

Soft Close Seconds – Extend closing time if bids come in during the final seconds.

Auto Sync Grouped Lots – Any bid on a linked lot extends all lots in that group.

Public Bidding – Show winning bid and up to 6 previous bids.

Sealed Bid (Silent) - Bids are hidden; bidder enters their top price. The bidder enters the amount that they would be willing to own the item for, not the lowest bid they can get it for. This can add confusion in a standard auction, but when paired with Fixed/Flat bidding, where your max bid is your bid, it makes for a perfect solution to a real estate event where you are taking “bids” to be reviewed.

Bid Amount Type
- Maximum Bidding (Up To). This will bid on your behalf based on the previous bid and the increment. If you bid $500 on an item with a current bid of $150, then your bid would be put in at $175 (based on a $25 increment) and would move towards your $500 bid if more bidding is placed on that item.
- Fixed/Flat Bidding. If this setting is selected, there is no “proxi” bidding up to your max. Your maximum bid becomes the entered bid. Using the scenario above, if you bid $500 on a $150 item, the bid would be entered as your maximum of $500. This option is not commonly used, unless it is a sealed or silent auction.
- Timezones. HiBid auctions are all conducted in Eastern Standard Time. The timezone setting lets you change the entered close time to your timezone. We will do the math to make sure it closes at that time, taking into account our server's native use of EST.
- Open Bidding. The date and time you would like to start accepting bids. Generally, this is left to the moment you upload your sale.
- Close Bidding. The date and time you would want your auction to start closing. If, for example, you had Saturday 8 PM, then the first lot would start closing at 8 PM, and subsequent lots would close based on the stagger times.
- Soft Close Seconds. Unlike an eBay auction, where the clock is the determining factor in winning the item (think Sniping), HiBid is based on progressive bidding like a real, traditional auction. The soft close is the extension added to the close time if a bid is placed within the soft close time. In short, the bidding will keep extending as long as bids are being placed on an item. If there are no more bids to trigger the soft close, then the item closes, and the last bidder is in the winning position. The common setting for soft close is 30 to 120 seconds.
- Auto Sync Grouped Lots Stagger Time. If you have lots linked together by a common linking character, then the first linked lot is the trigger to extend the time on the rest of the lots linked in that group. This Sync option changes that behavior. When checked, ANY lot in that linked group will extend the close time on the ENTIRE group of linked lots. This emulates “choice” bidding. We advise you to keep the number of linked lots to 5 or fewer in any one group and give space between groups.

Show Immediate Bid Status (won or lost and winning amount) on Closed Lots. The default closed lot status is May have Won or May have Lost. Because reserves do not need to be disclosed to bidders by law, we do not want to make a definitive judgment on the winners and losers of the items. We defer to the auctioneer to do that. There are auctioneers who do not use reserves and like to check this option. At the end of time on an item, it will tell the bidder that they Won or Lost. Do not use this option if you have reserves.

Bidding is Times the Money on Lots with a Quantity Greater Than One. If an item has a quantity of 5 and the bid entered is $5, then the final bid amount would be $25 ($5 x 5 items)

Show Reserve Status (Reserve Met or Reserve Not Met). This option will show a reserve met or reserve not met indicator on the lots in the catalog. It will not display the amount of reserve, only that there is one. It also changes the behavior of bidding. Scenario. You have a Reserve on an item $500. You have a Start Bid on that item of $100. If the bidder enters a bid of $300, then the bid jumps to that max of $300 and displays “Reserve Not Met”. It does not follow the increment schedule for bids placed under reserve. This allows the bidder to “walk” their bid up to until they see the indicator change to “Reserve Met”.

Force Min Bid to Bid Increment Schedule - The entered bid must be able to fit into the increment schedule set. If you have a $5 increment up to $50 and the current bid is $25 then the next bid would need to be $30, $35, $40 on up. You would not be able to bid $26. If this is unchecked, then you could enter $26 as an accepted bid, but the bid after that would need to be on the schedule, which would be $35. It would not be able to go to $31 since that is not on the schedule.

Apply Increments by Each. The added bid increment is multiplied by the QTY of the item.

Min Bid Amount. Your starting bid amount as displayed on the lots. This can be bypassed on a lot-by-lot basis.

Bid Increment Schedule. Your bid increments are the amount the next asked-for bid goes up until a “breakover” into the next increment level. Commonly kept to a common structure as used by live traditional auctioneers during their bid calling. With software, however, you need to always remember to subtract one increment from the breakover point leading to the next increment. Example. You have $5 increments up until $50 and then want to go to $10 increments. To have this work accurately, you would have Up To $45 using $5 increments. This way, when a bid is hit at $45 and $5 is added, you are sitting at your current bid of $50, where the next level can take over. If you wanted to take this further and do a $25 increment from $100 on up, then you would have Up To $75 using $25 increment.

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