Some auction companies don’t display the bidding histories for the items they sell. We think it’s impossible to build trust in a no-reserve auction system without the transparency that bidding histories provide.

The example on the right shows the bidding information from an item’s details page. Here, at the time the image was captured, we see that the item has received 20 bids. The currently-winning bidder is 74708. Note that the bid count is a link. Clicking on that bid count link takes us to the bid history for the item where we see the following bid table.

bidding history

Each line represents a bid, and the table is sorted chronologically from the first bid submitted to the most recent. The left column shows the bidder submitting the bid. The right column shows the currently-winning bidder after that bid was calculated.

As you can see, 74708 placed the last two bids. The first bid he placed was less than the maximum bid placed earlier by 50211, which is why 50211 remained the currently-wining bidder after the first bid by 74708. After placing the first successful bid, 74708 was notified that his bid was less than or equal to a previously-submitted maximum bid by 50211. 74708 elected to place another bid, this time successfully becoming the winning bidder at $25,000. He may have a higher maximum bid, but a currently-winning bidder’s maximum bid is never displayed or disclosed.

Bidding histories tell us how many and which customers have placed bids on any item. They tell us the current price and currently-winning bidder after each bid. Bidding histories are available for all active items on purplewave.com and are a valuable resource for anyone who is curious to see how bids are recorded, calculated and displayed by Purple Wave.

Direct bid
Bidders may place a direct bid, a maximum bid, or both. By entering a direct bid in the “your bid” field, a bidder executes a bid directly at that price. It may be the next bid required or it may be higher than the next bid required, in either case the new current price will be equal to the bid placed.

While it’s rare that a bidder would place a direct bid that is greater than the next bid required, it is possible and it does happen. Those of us familiar with live auctions have seen a bidding war between two bidders where one of the bidders yells a number that’s greater than the price for which the auctioneer is asking in an effort to scare off the competition. This phenomenon also happens occasionally in the final, exciting minutes of Internet bidding on some items.

Maximum bid
Bidders who do not want to bid again every time they’re outbid on items utilize the maximum bid function. By submitting a maximum bid, a bidder authorizes the Internet bidding system to bid on his or her behalf up to that submitted amount. When someone else enters a bid that is less than or equal to this maximum bid, the price increases but the previous bidder remains the current winning bidder.

For example, if bidder 1 submits a maximum bid of $100 on an item, and bidder 2 later bids $50, bidder 1 is the current bidder and the price is $55. If bidder 3 then places a $100 bid, a bid equal to the current maximum bid, the system then looks at which bid came first. Bidder 1 remains the current winning bidder at $100 until another bid is placed by anyone.

Using the maximum bid function is very powerful. By entering her highest bid possible on an item, a bidder may watch other items more closely or us a “set it and forget it” approach, going about her day without the need to be in front of a computer at the time the auction is closing.

Anyone familiar with eBay knows how disparate the purchasing experiences are from one merchant to another. Different payment requirements and drastically varying qualities of item listings make it difficult to feel confident in making purchases. However, one constant aspect between all eBay’s auctions is that there is always a fixed ending time. It’s like an auctioneer who says sold after spending 30 seconds on an item, regardless of the current price at the time or how many hands are up in the crowd.

Because of this fixed ending time, an eBay buying strategy quickly developed known as sniping. Bidders attempt – and sometimes utilize specialized software – to wait until the very end of the auction and place one bid at the last possible moment, hoping to be the last bid accepted and, thus, the winning bidder. The other buyers are disappointed, if not disenchanted, and the item sells for less than it could have if those buyers had been allowed to place more bids.

Purple Wave’s Internet auctions differ from eBay in several important ways. We have consistent auction policies and payment terms. We do our best to provide the highest quality item listings and follow the same format for every item in every auction. We also utilize a feature on purplewave.com called automatic extension that ensures all bidders have an opportunity to bid before the bidding closes an an item.

Automatic extension prevents sniping
Purple Wave’s automatic extension feature prevents bidding from closing on an item until five minutes elapse without that item receiving bids. If no bids are received on an item in the last five minutes, it closes as originally scheduled. However, if a bid is placed when the item has two minutes remaining, the automatic extension feature will add three minutes to the closing time for the item. If bidding for an item is already extended, a newly-placed bid will reset the counter to five minutes.

Example of extended bidding caused by a bid submission in the last few minutes of an Internet only auction

Five minutes may not seem like a very long time, but it’s an eternity compared to the few seconds a bidder may have at a live auction to decide to place another bid. The automatic extension provides the excitement of the back-and-forth of a live auction without the pressure of being required to make split-second decisions.

Purple Wave’s Internet auction method ensures that the highest bidder will be the buyer. Because placing a bid in the final moments of bidding will add minutes to the scheduled closing time, sniping is impossible and bidding is both fun and fair for everyone who wants to bid.

Old website had large logo in upper left

New website puts auction content top left

Auction calendar
We know that the vast majority of the visitors to Purple Wave are potential bidders who are looking for items in auctions. With this understanding in mind, we’ve deemphasized the logo by moving it to the right in order to make more space for what our visitors want – auctions.

Auctions are still ordered chronologically and grouped by date, so it’s easy to tell at a glance which auctions are ending today, this week, next week and beyond.

We’ve also changed the way we display auctions in the auction calendar. Gone are the large purple boxes with the item count, leaving more room for thumbnail pictures. The first line now contains the auction title, while the second line displays the date, a list of states where items are located in this auction, and a direct link to the auction listing in the form of the item count.

The new calendar listing features easier-to-read auction titles, more room for thumbnail pictures and a list of states where items are located. The item count is a direct link to the auction listing pages.

Header and search
We’ve got a more functional header now, with permanent links to the auction calendar, our past auctions – called auction results – and a few other primary site functions that will always be available from every page.

Our old site had several different types of auctions – upcoming, past and archive – that required different search forms for each. Now the search box below our logo will search for items in all auctions, regardless of when they happened or will happen. The advanced search allows you to filter results by location or by price. We’ve got some exciting improvements planned for our item search system over the next few months.

Account block provides quick links to invoices and settlements

Sidebar
The new version of Purple Wave has a brand new sidebar. This sidebar includes much-improved account functionality. Logging in with your customer number and password will now provide direct access to the customer portal functions from the front page. You can quickly view invoices and settlements, as well as the current status of upcoming items on which you’ve bid or items your selling.

Logging in also affects the auction calendar. When you’ve logged in, the calendar will show the number of new items added to each auction so you can easily see which auctions have been updated since the last time you’ve logged in.

Below the account block is a subscription block, a mini-calendar feed for Purple Wave Sierra, links to testimonials, and a listing of our social networks. For the next few days, there will also be a feedback request block at the bottom of the sidebar that links to our feedback form and provides the option to revert to the old version.

Footer
The new footer provides a quick way to get to any page on our site from any other page. If you ever feel stuck or can’t find a specific page, or aren’t quite clear how the site is organized, you can always scroll to the footer to find your way wherever you want to go.

Content
Launching along with the new layout will be many new content changes and additions. New bidder resources will make it easy to understand the bidding process, while new seller information geared for specific sellers and asset types will provide relevant information for decision makers looking for asset management advice.

The new Purple Wave
We’re confident that you’ll find the new purplewave.com easier to use. We’ve been building it for quite some time now, and are excited to finally get to release it. Please tell us what you think about the new layout and features, or tell us what you’d like to see as our website evolves in the future. You can leave feedback for us at purplewave.com/feedback or contact me directly at aaron.traffas@purplewave.com.

The largest online, no-reserve auction firm in the country, Purple Wave provides sellers with the resources to quickly turn assets into cash, increasing their flexibility in managing their business. Purple Wave acts as an agent of the seller and markets the seller’s assets, while creating detailed asset listings, conducting the sale on the buyer’s behalf and collecting payment on purchases.

“There is a perception out there that the only time auction is used is when you are in trouble, but for us it was the exact opposite. We saw this as an opportunity to efficiently manage our used equipment inventory,” says Aaron Lee, partner at Ray Lee Equipment. Ray Lee is a family-owned John Deere dealership with six locations and is based in Plainfield, Tex.

Lee explained that using Purple Wave ultimately allows him to better meet the needs of his customers. “With Purple Wave we are able to move used inventory that we have a lot of dollars tied up in or has been on our lot for awhile. Because they offer such a vast community of buyers we can be assured the equipment will sell and we don’t even have to transport it to an auction site. And with the Purple Wave model we quickly get a solid return for our used equipment which we can in turn use to replenish our inventory with equipment that is more attractive to customers in our region.”

Purple Wave has built a registered community of 56,000 online buyers who are interested in equipment and vehicle assets. Every month Purple Wave holds regular auctions that ensure sellers will always have the opportunity to market their equipment to these buyers.

“Our mission is turn-key auction solutions that help our customers move equipment quickly and provide a fair return for the assets,” said Jerrod Westfahl, Purple Wave CEO. “From the minute you select Purple Wave we put our auction experience to work and handle all of the details. We take care of everything from listing the inventory of your equipment to marketing the event online and in your local community, all the way through handling the titles, equipment transactions and even collecting the money after the sale.”

According the Lee, the only thing his team had to worry about was quite literally handing over the keys to buyers.

The "zoom in" link is now available below each picture in the item details page

Historically, after all this picture processing is completed, our pictures have been reduced in size to fit within the container of our website and reduced slightly in quality to make them faster to download. Yesterday, we launched a new feature we’re calling “zoom” that offers higher quality and larger images.

Now, whenever you’re viewing the item details page, you’ll see a “zoom in” link below each picture, next to the existing “show all pictures” link that displays the all the pictures instead of the thumbnails for the item. This link will take you to a new picture viewer that displays a much larger and higher quality copy of the picture.

The header of the new zoom screen contains navigation links

The header of the picture viewer contains the auction title, date and time, as well as the item number and the first line of the item description. Clicking on the auction title or the auction details link takes you to the auction details page for the auction that contains the item. Clicking all items takes you to the listing view for all items in the auction. Clicking the item number takes you directly to the item details page for the item with the primary picture selected. You can click the next picture or previous picture links to look at other high quality pictures of the item, or you can click zoom out to return to the item details page with the picture selected that you were just viewing.

We hope that by offering you the option to view higher quality pictures, you’ll be able to have more information available to make better, more informed decisions about the bids you place and the assets you buy.

If you have questions about this new feature or have suggestions to improve it, please let me know by dropping an email to aaron.traffas@purplewave.com or use our feedback form.

Compressed listing view

Today we’ve launched a new compressed listing display format. This format is optional and will never be the default view for items in an auction. However, should you desire to hide some of the details for the items in the item list view, you now have the option to click the compressed listing link at the top of any bidding page. You can switch back at any time by clicking the expanded listing link. We’ve also added an all items link so that regardless of what item or page you’re viewing, you can always quickly return to the all items view for the event.

Compressed listing link at the top of each bidding page

If you have comments or suggestions regarding this new, optional display format, please let me know by emailing me at traffas@purplewave.com or by posting a message to our feedback form.