User Guide for CS-Cart Auction
Live Demo
CS-Cart Auction: Transform your CS-Cart eCommerce store into a fully functional auction platform with the powerful CS-Cart Auction Add-on.
By enabling the auction feature, both admins and vendors can create and manage auctions directly within the store.
Customers can participate by placing bids on auction products, while admins and vendors can monitor all bidding activity in real time for each auction item.
At the end of the auction, the highest bidder is automatically declared the winner and gains the opportunity to purchase the product.
In the video below check the brief overview of how it works:
Features of CS-Cart Auction
- Convert your CS-Cart store into a fully functional auction platform
- Allow both admin and vendors to create and manage auctions
- Enable customers to place real-time bids on products
- Automatic winner declaration based on highest bid
- Manual winner selection option for admin control
- Live countdown timer for active and scheduled auctions
- Real-time bid updates and monitoring
- Auto-refresh of bid price, timer, and bid history every 5 seconds
- Flexible bidding rules including starting price, reserve price, and bid increment settings
- Auto-increment system for competitive bidding experience
- Option to enable automatic bidding for users
- Auction scheduling with start and end time configuration
- Auto-start and auto-extend auction based on activity
- Stock-based auction activation and management
- Control product visibility during auction (hide price and add to cart button)
- Dedicated bid history and auction history views for users
- “My Auctions / My Bids” section for customers
- Email notifications for bids, outbids, auction start, end, and winner announcement
- Customizable email templates based on store configuration
- Wallet system integration for secure auction payments (optional)
- Admin and vendor support with full backend auction management
- Real-time bidder tracking and auction monitoring
- Automated auction lifecycle management using cron jobs
- Smart handling for unpaid winners (second bidder or restart options)
- Fully responsive and user-friendly frontend and backend UI
How To Upload And Install
When you download the CS-Cart Auction Add-on you’ll get one zip file, one install.txt file, and a relevant User Guide manual doc. Read it carefully for proper configuration.
Go to Manage Add-ons, and click on the Settings icon > Manual Installation as shown below in the snapshot.
Click on “Local” to browse the zip file and then click on “Upload & Install” as shown below in snapshot.
Addon Settings
Once the addon is installed successfully, we need to configure the settings of the addon.
General Settings (CS-Cart Auction Add-on)
- Bid History Limit: Sets how many bidding records are displayed per user in the auction product’s bid history tab.
- Max Auction Bid Limit: Defines the maximum number of auctions a user can participate in; set to 0 for unlimited bidding.
- Max Purchasing Days Limit: Sets the number of days a winner has to purchase the product after winning the auction; 0 means no limit.
- Mail to Last: Determines how many recent bidders receive email notifications after a new bid is placed.
- Show Auction Winner: Controls whether the auction winner is visible to other users in the auction history tab.
- Show Auction Products Price: Click on the check box to enable to show auction products price to bidder.
- Enable Automatic Bid: Allows users to enable automatic bidding to place bids without manual input.
- Enable Live Update for Auction: Automatically refreshes bid price, countdown timer, and bid history every 5 seconds on the product page.
- Display Message to Winner: Shows a custom winning message to the user after they win the auction.
- Auction Product Status (After Sale/Winner Declared): Automatically hides the auction product once it is purchased or a winner is declared.
- Show Bidder Name: Controls how bidder names are displayed in the auction history (first 3 characters, full name, or email if name is empty).
- Cron Job Setup Note: Ensure a cron job is configured properly to handle auction completion, winner declaration, and system automation tasks
Auction Intelligence Dashboard
The CS-Cart Auction Add-on provides an interactive analytics dashboard that gives a complete overview of auction performance, bidding activity, and revenue in real time.
It allows store owners to track total auctions, their status (running, scheduled, pending, completed, or disabled), and monitor live bidding activity including daily and weekly trends.
The dashboard also displays key financial insights such as live bid pool value and settled revenue from completed auctions, helping measure real-time engagement and actual earnings.
In addition, it highlights top-performing auctions, most active bidders, hourly bidding patterns, and a live activity feed showing recent bids with user details and timestamps for continuous auction monitoring.
When you click on the View Auction icon, you are redirected to a dedicated interactive auction management page that provides a complete overview of all auction activities in one place.
This page displays key auction statistics, including:
- Total Auctions
- Running Auctions
- Scheduled Auctions
- Pending Auctions
- Completed Auctions
- Disabled Auctions
It gives admins a clear, real-time snapshot of the entire auction system status for better monitoring and control.
Additionally, by clicking the “+” (Add Auction) icon, the admin can quickly create a new auction for any product directly from this interface, making auction setup fast and seamless.
General Auction Settings
- Auction Product: Select the product that will be listed for auction
- Starting Product Price: Set the initial bidding price for the auction
- Reserve Price: Define the minimum price at which the product will be sold
- Incremental Price: Set the minimum bid increase value
- Incremental Type: Choose how bid increments are applied (fixed amount or dynamic rule)
Auction Product Configuration
The CS-Cart Auction Add-on provides a flexible configuration panel that allows admins to define complete auction rules and behavior for each product.
Auction Timing Settings
- Starting Bidding Date: Define the date and time when the auction will begin
- Ending Bidding Date: Set the date and time when the auction will end
- Set Before Expire Time: Extend auction time if a bid is placed near expiry (auto-extension feature)
- End Bid Time: Controls final bidding cutoff behavior and extension logic
Quantity & Stock Control
- Max Quantity: Set the maximum quantity available for winning purchase
- If Product Is Out of Stock: Define auction behavior when product stock is unavailable
Reserve & Winner Control
- Enable Reserve Price: Activate reserve price condition for winning eligibility
- Not Purchasing Actions: Define action if winner does not complete purchase (e.g., assign second winner)
- Winner Not Declared Actions: Set system behavior if no winner is determined
- Restart Time: Schedule automatic auction restart if required
- Auto Restart: Enable automatic restart of auction based on configuration rules
- Status: Activate or disable the auction for the selected product
Email Templates Configuration
The Email Templates tab is available only when the store is using the Old Email Template Mode. In this mode, all auction-related email notifications can be managed and customized directly from the add-on settings.
If the store is switched to the New Email Template Mode, email templates are handled through the system’s updated email template framework, and will no longer be managed from this tab.
Wallet Integration Note
This feature works only if the CS-Cart Wallet System add-on is installed. The wallet system enables users to participate in auctions using their wallet balance for seamless and secure transactions.
Once an auction has started, the admin will not be able to enable or disable the wallet option, ensuring consistency and preventing transaction conflicts during active auctions.
Add Storefronts
Admins can assign specific storefronts for auction products. This enables targeted auction management, allowing auctions to be displayed only on selected storefronts based on business requirements.
Bid History
After creating an auction, the admin can view the complete bid history by clicking the Edit option on any auction product.
This section provides a detailed record of all bids placed on that product, allowing the admin to monitor bidding activity, track user participation, and analyze auction performance in real time.
Frontend Auction Experience
At the frontend, auction products are displayed in an engaging and visually appealing layout designed to enhance user interaction.
A dynamic countdown timer adds excitement to the product detail page, creating a real-time bidding atmosphere.
Bidders can clearly view the current highest bid and reserve price, allowing them to make informed decisions before placing their bids.
If the admin disables the Enable Live Update for Auction setting, users can still manually refresh the auction details using the refresh icon available within the auction box.
This allows bidders to view the latest bid updates and auction activity in real time whenever required.
Enable Automatic Bid
If you have enabled the automatic bid, then you will find a new button called “Automatic Bid,” as shown in the image.
Once you click on the automatic bid, it will automatically add your bid.
View Active Auctions on Products
To help users stay updated with ongoing bidding opportunities, the store includes a dedicated Auction Product section.
This feature allows you to easily browse all products that are currently part of an active auction.
By clicking on “Auction Product” from the store page, you can instantly view a curated list of items where live bidding is in progress.
Each listed product shows key auction details such as the current highest bid, remaining time, and bid status, making it simple to decide where you want to participate.
For scheduled auction as well, there will be a timer displaying the countdown to start the auction.
A separate tab is available for the bidding history as shown below. The bidder name in the history will be available as per the settings at admin end.
A bidder can view his bid history in the My bid Section provided in My Account as shown below.
The customer will be able to view the status of the Auctions he participated in. Win status will display the results after auction completion as shown in the below snapshots.
- If a customer is Winner, he will be able to view Add to Cart button for that particular auction.
- If he has purchased the product he will see the win status as Claimed along with the corresponding order id of purchase.
- On losing the auction, there will be a sorry message as shown below in the snapshot.
- For a running deal, the customer will be able to view his last bid amount with a Running status.
After participating in an auction, you can easily track your activity through the Bid History section.
Back End View
At the backend, there is an option to edit and delete the auction. Only the scheduled auctions can be edited. Also, Admin & vendor can view the bidders on particular auction as shown below.
Admin/Vendor will be able to view the bid history in the Edit mode of the auction.
A countdown timer will be available at the backend for running bid as shown below.
The auction will remain pending if the winner has not yet purchased the product. Only the winner will be able to view Add to Cart button for that particular auction product.
Admin has the functionality to change the winner manually as well. The winner will then be notified via email with the same email content as the automatically declared winner was notified.
Once the winner has purchased the product the Auction status will get changed to Completed and corresponding order id will be displayed as shown below.
Support
If you have any questions, suggestions, or customization requests, feel free to contact us at support@webkul.com or submit a ticket at webkul.uvdesk.com.
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