All Collections
Auctions
Finishing an Auction
How to manage winning bids and item fulfillment
How to manage winning bids and item fulfillment

All about completing your auction – after items have been won, it's time to deliver!

Alyssa avatar
Written by Alyssa
Updated this week

When auction items start selling, winning bid information will appear on the Winning Bids tab. You can view information about the payment status of the item, or offer a second chance bid. A record will also be created on the Item Fulfillment tab – this is where you can view the winner's shipping information and mark items as completed if they've been shipped, or picked up by the winner.

How do you close out an auction? With Givebutter, it's easy – wrapping up an auction is automatic! There isn't any additional action you need to take in order to complete or close out an auction.

Winning Bids 🏆

After auction items have closed with bids (above your reserve price, as applicable), you'll see records appear on your auction's Winning Bids tab. If a green check mark appears next to the sold price, this means that the reserve price for the item has been met successfully.

Looking for a specific winner? You can use the search bar to search for a winning bid using the item or winner's name.

There are a few different actions you can take from the Winning Bids tab.

  • To view details about the winning bidder (including name and contact information), click the grey drop-down arrow on the left side of the item name.

  • The status shown on the right side indicates whether the item has been paid for or not. If an item is paid, but not fulfilled, the status will be Pending Fulfillment. Once an item is paid and marked as fulfilled, the status will show as Complete.

  • Click the three dots [...] on the right side of the item to:

    • Resend invoice – Resends an emailed invoice to the winner with a prompt to complete payment.

    • Mark uncollectable – The item will be removed from the winning bidder's list of won items. You can send a second chance offer to the runner-up, or continue to mark the item as uncollectable, which will change the status to Unsold.

    • Charge bidder – Automatically charge a saved payment method on the bidder's account. This will incur a 5% fee.

In the event where two bidders input the same max bid amount, the individual who submitted the bid first will always be the top or winning bid.

Second chance bids 🥈

If you need to mark a winning bid as uncollectable, you'll be prompted to send a second chance offer to the runner-up bidder if you like.

  • The reserve price (if applicable) does not apply for second chance bids.

  • If you choose to send a second chance offer to the runner up, they will receive an email notification, and they will have 72 hours to complete the purchase.

  • You can continue to mark the item as uncollectable if you do not want to send a second chance offer for the item.

example second chance bid

Item Fulfillment 📮

Keep track of which items are paid for, and which items still need shipping on the Item Fulfillment tab. You can see winner names and info, payment date, or view the transaction in your dashboard.

Shipping information 📦

If you've sold an item that needs to be shipped, you'll need the winner's address to get it sent out! To locate the shipping address entered by the winner:

  • On the Auction tab in your campaign manager, click Item Fulfillment in the sub-menu on the left side of the page.

  • Click the dropdown arrow (V) on the left side of the relevant item, and a panel will open displaying the details of this auction item sale. Shipping information is shown in the lower right of this panel.

shipping address for an auction item

Fulfilling an item ✅

You can mark an item as fulfilled once it has been delivered, shipped, or picked up by the winner. Click the dropdown arrow on the right side of the item, and change the status to Fulfilled.

item fulfillment

Offline payments 💵

We don't yet support offline payments for auction items – please see the feature request for offline auction payments and add a vote!

To prevent payment request emails from being sent for an item that was paid for in person, you can mark the item as uncollectable. The item will be removed from the winning bidder's list of won items, and the status of the item will change to Unsold.

  • On your Auction tab, click Winning Bids in the sub-menu.

  • On the right side of the relevant item, click the three dots [...] and select Mark uncollectable.

mark uncollectable

FAQ 🤔

When do I receive the auction item I won?

Givebutter is the platform that the auction is hosted on, however Givebutter does not directly manage item fulfillment on behalf of the organization running the auction. You'll need to contact the organization operating the auction for more information about shipping, any items you've purchased, or delivery estimates.

Can I export Item Fulfillment data from this page?

Not yet – we hope to add this feature soon!

Are refunded auction items removed from Winning Bids? Are refunded auction items removed from the public auction page, or marked as refunded?

If an item has been marked as fulfilled in the dashboard, it will still show as complete in the Winning Bids tab, and the item will still show as sold on the auction page itself.


Related content 📚

Did this answer your question?