WooCommerce Simple Auctions

WooCommerce Simple Auctions is a plugin for a plugin :) Since WooCommerce is popular we decided that it would be neat to extend it with auction features. We wanted to make it easy to use but also to include all auction features so you get a powerful auction solution which is easily setup and customized.

With our auction plugin you can setup WordPress auction website and start auctions in less than 30 minutes (assuming you have payment processor account ready). Plugin integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce and no special knowledge is needed (same level like for standard WooCommerce usage).

Overview and Features

• Role based bidding (via extension) – enable specific user role (for example “customer” role) to bid
• Ability to verify credit card / payment details before user can place a bid (via extension)
• Allow only users who purchased bid credits to be able to place bid for an auction. Can be used for example in building penny bidding website or for user payment method verification. (via extension)
• Seamless integration into WooCommerce via its hooks
• Elementor support (from version 2.0) - view tutorial
• You get new type of WooCommerce product type - auction
• Normal, reverse and sealed (silent) auctions
• Proxy / auto bidding (learn more about auto bidding here)
• Define start price, price increment, reserve price, buy it now price
• Set start and end time for auction
• User's auction watchlist
• Easily control how you want to display auctions - along with other items or on separate page
• Widgets with ending soon, future, recent / latest, featured, recently viewed acutions, my auctions, random auctions, auction search, my auction watchlist
• Email notifications (with editable email templates) for outbid note, auction won, payment reminder, auction fail, reserve fail, auction buy now, auction finish, administrator bid notification (bid not), customer bid notification, auction relist admin notice, auction relist user notice, auctions ending soon notification (two timers available)
• SMS notifications (via 3rd party plugin)
• Auction product has auction icon (label) on thumbnail
• If user is logged in and winning in auction, auction item has winning badge on thumbnail
• Product single page has new tab "Auction History"
• User has "My Auctions" option where auctions in which user placed a bid are listed (for both active and won auctions)
• Auction activity (shortcode), auction watchlist feature (shortcode and widget)
• Auction filtering in product list (wp-admin)
• Auction product has icon which describes different auction status: active, finished, finished and paid, failed (wp-admin)
• Plenty of shortcodes including shortcode to show my auctions for logged in user
• Make auction from any type of WooCommerce product - simple, virtual or downloadable products
• Manually delete any bid
• Frontend auction sorting by current bid, date, buy now price, activity, ending date (ending soonest), start date (recently started) - available in WordPress 4.2 and higher
• Manually or automatically relist auctions
• Auctions Winners report tool in wp-admin - with CSV export
• Auctions Activity report tool in wp-admin - with CSV export
• Auction History in wp-admin edit auction page - with CSV and Excel export for single auction history with sortable columns
• Ajax live current bid and auction history updating
• Compact or extended countdown format
• Anti Snipping - if a bid is placed during the final moments of an auction then the auction can be extended for a specified amount of time
• WPML compatible
• works with WooCommerce API - read tutorial
• Dokan integration available

More details about cronjobs can be found by googling "how to add cronjob in cPanel / DirectAdmin". If you don't know how to add cronjob the best and the easiest way is to email your hosting support to do it for you (purpose of hosting support are tasks like helping you with cronjobs, our support helps you with plugin issues - cronjobs are hosting related problem / issue).

Why do we use and suggest real server cronjobs? Plugin will work with WP cron but disadvantage of WP Cron is that it will trigger only when someone visits your website, if there is no site activity for say 3 days, the cron will not be triggered for 3 days but next time you have visit on your website. Real server cronjobs do not depend on website activity and are run in fixed defined intervals as set in cronjob config.

Install WooCommerce Sample Data:

Source: https://woocommerce.com/document/importing-woocommerce-sample-data/

WooCommerce comes with sample data which you can import, dummy data file is /wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/dummy_data.xml Steps to import demo data to your WordPress WooCommerce site:

1. Go to Tools > Import
2. Select XML dummy content file from /wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/dummy_data.xml
3. Click Upload file and import
4. Assign posts to an exitsting account
5. Check Download and import file attachments
6. Click Submit and wait until WordPress finish downloading attachments and importing content

Setting up new auction is easy:

• make sure all steps from Installation section are done (WooCommerce installed, plugin enabled, cronjobs set)
• go to Products => Add Products
• add title, description, images, featured image, select category - all things you do when adding regular product
• in Product Data dropdown menu select Auction
• you will see new tab in left menu named Auction, see screenshot:
  
• fill all details (inputs are self explainable)
• set options like item condition, auction type, proxy bidding, sealed bids and auction extend end time (anti snipping feature)
• set auction duration time by setting start and end date
• publish product (auction)

When you refresh your home page or page where you publish your WooCommerce products you should see new product with auction badge - these are your auctions you just setup.

Advanced usage usually means setting up proxy bidding (auto bidding) and reverse auctions (for example you post a coding project and want to get lowest possible price for it). If you set reserve price for proxy auction, first proxy bid will be automatically raised to that (reserve price) value.

If you enabled "Sealed Bid" checkbox, you will not see "Current Bid" value but text message "This is sealed bid auction" and input form to enter your own bid value for sealed auction. When there are two bids of same value in sealed auction winner will be bidder that placed the bid first. Sealed auctions can be setup as reverse too, meaning lowest bid will be winning bid.

Quick overview of the auction workflow / process

You setup new auctions which are visible on your website. User bids on auction and is either outbidded or wins auction. User / customer now needs to pay for the auction won. There is no way to force user to pay for auction so you need to take that into consideration. Auctions that are sold (finished but not paid) and failed can be relisted (auto relist option called "relist if not paid after n hours").

Order is created when winner clicks pay now button. If user does not click on pay now button order will not be created. Once order is created users will see it under My account -> Orders. Before order is created user will see auction on pages where you display my auctions shortcode with pay now button. All winners will also receive email notification pay for auction reminder (how often depends on cronjob setting for cron named mails). In that reminder to pay notification winner will receive pay now link. Along that administrator will receive email notification when auction is finished or failed with info who won auction or why auction failed.

After you activate WooCommerce Group Buy plugin couple new options will appear:

1. WooCommerce product has new tab in Product data block called Auction
2. Product list has column with auction status icons
3. Product list filter has auction filtering
4. Single product page in wp-admin has new block named "Auction" where you can see auction history and number of different email notifications sent
5. Orders list has column with auction icon to easily see which order is from auction
6. WooCommerce settings have new tab called Auctions
7. WooCommerce email settings have new items: outbid note, auction won, payment reminder, auction fail, reserve fail, auction buy now, auction finish, administrator bid notification (bid not), customer bid notification, auction relist admin notice, auction relist user notice, auction closing soon email reminder
8. New widgets: future auctions, ending soon auctions, featured auctions, latest auctions, recently viewed auctions, my auctions, recent auctions, random auctions, search for auctions only, my auction watchlist
9. WooCommerce front end has new sorting types for auctions (sort by buy now price, current bid, by ending soonest, by start date and activity)
10. New shortcodes

Auctions listed along WooCommerce products on home page:

New WooCommerce product type auction:

To see and filter auctions that are active or have been finished, failed (no bids), sold (has winning bid but not paid), paid (has winner and order for it has been completed) you can use filter option in WooCommerce product list, please check screenshot below:

Once you find for example unpaid auctions, you can click edit auction to find winner in auction history block and then you can for exampe contact winning user.

Here are settings that you can turn on and off. Settings are self explainable. You can enable or disable showing past and future auctions. Another useful setting is whether to mix regular products with auctions or just show auctions on separate page (defined via Auctions Base Page dropdown, see screenshot).

On screenshot below you can see how product list with auctions looks like. Auction status icons are explained on the screenshot.

Please note that newer versions of WooCommerce do not have icons in product list so you need to implement workaround with plugin explained in FAQ item no 56.

On screenshot below you can see how to enable live ajax updating of current bid price (feature introduced in version 1.1.x). To minize number of requests, ajax request is done only if you have bid tab in focus otherwise ajax is not running. This is done like this to make it easy on server and hosting resources.

Automatic relist feature is available from v1.1.16. It enables you to automatically relist expired / finished / failed auctions if user still has not paid for won auction. You need to setup cronjob /usr/local/bin/curl --silent http://www.your-domain.com/?auction-cron=relist every hour.

Simple Auction plugin supports bids up to 4 decimal places (for example $0.0001) but in order to work properly you need to set under WooCommerce Settings -> Currency Options -> Number of Decimals to 4.

Plugin has option to overview complete auction activity from wp-admin (there is option for CSV export), you need to click on Auctions Activity link inside WooCommerce menu in wp-admin and you will get list with all auction data. See screenshot below.

From v2.0.15 Simple Auctions come with auctions winners report tool (also option to do CSV export), you need to click on Auctions Winners link inside WooCommerce menu in wp-admin and you will get list with auctions winner data. See screenshot below.

Here is screenshot of available widgets:

Here is screenshot of available Elementor widgets:

Latest (recent) bids Elementor widget:

From version v1.2.18 new feature "Auction closing soon email reminder" is availabe. This allows users who placed a bid or added auction to whishlist to get email notification that auction is closing soon. There are two timers which enable you to send for example email reminder when 1hr and 30 mins is left till auction closing. You can use one or both timers.

Here is screenshot:

If you need to customize plugin templates first thing to do is to copy content of plugin_dir/templates to your_theme/woocommerce so you do not overwrite changes when you update plugin. All changes and modifications should be done on files located in your_theme/woocommerce/.

How templates are loaded?

Function auctions_page_template() first checks if you have your own archive-product-auctions.php template and loads it. If it doesn't find that template plugin loads default WooCommerce archive-product.php template.

What is archive-product-auctions.php file? It is default auction archive template (template with list of all auctions similar as shop template in WooCommerce) \woocommerce\templates\archive-product.php or \your_theme\woocommerce\archive-product.php - in order to create custom archive page for our plugin just copy \woocommerce\templates\archive-product.php or \your_theme\woocommerce\archive-product.php and renamed it to archive-product-auctions.php then you can make your custom archive page / template which will be loaded by Simple Auction plugin.

Here is a list of all available plugin shortcodes. Some shortcodes accept optional orderby and order attributes. Our shortcode implement WooCommerce [products] attributes

• shows user's auction watchlist - [auctions_watchlist], [auctions_watchlist per_page="12" columns="4" order="desc" orderby="meta_value" order="desc"]
• shows my auctions activity as log entries - [my_auctions_activity], [my_auctions_activity limit="100"] shows activity in all auctions that user placed a bid, limit to 100 auction log entries
• shows ending soon auctions - [ending_soon_auctions], [ending_soon_auctions per_page="12" columns="4" order="desc" orderby="meta_value" future="no"], option with paging [ending_soon_auctions limit="3" columns="1" order="asc" orderby="rand" future="no" paginate="true"]
• shows recently added auctions - [recent_auctions], [recent_auctions per_page="12" columns="4" orderby="date" order="desc"]
• shows featured auctions - [featured_auctions], [featured_auctions per_page="12" columns="4" orderby="date" order="desc"]
• shows auctions with specific product ID - [auctions ids="1,2,3,4,5" columns="4" orderby="title" order="asc"]
• shows auctions with specific SKU code - [products skus="foo, bar, baz" orderby="date" order="desc"] - SKU for auction can be changed using quick edit in products list
• shows user's auctions - [woocommerce_simple_auctions_my_auctions] shortcode shows active auctions in which user participates along with won auctions
• shows future auctions - [future_auctions], [future_auctions per_page="12" columns="4" orderby="date" order="desc"]
• shows past / finished auctions - [past_auctions], [past_auctions per_page="12" columns="4" orderby="date" order="desc"]
• shows all auctions in which user participates - [all_user_auctions], [all_user_auctions limit="100"]
• shows all auctions in which user participates and are active - [my_active_auctions], [my_active_auctions limit="100"]
• shows all won auctions for logged in user - [won_auctions], [won_auctions per_page="12" columns="4" orderby="date" order="desc"]

Here you can find answers to frequently asked questions. Feel free to contact us if you can't find answer to your question.

1. Do you have list of hooks and filters? - Yes, hook list is below:

   woocommerce_simple_auctions_before_place_bid
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_outbid
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_proxy_outbid
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_place_bid
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_log_bid
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_place_sealedbid
   woocommerce_simple_auction_started
   woocommerce_simple_auction_finished
   woocommerce_simple_auction_close
   woocommerce_simple_auction_fail
   woocommerce_simple_auction_reserve_fail
   woocommerce_simple_auction_won
   pre_get_auction_search_form
   woocommerce_before_bid_form
   woocommerce_before_bid_button
   woocommerce_after_bid_button
   woocommerce_after_bid_form
   woocommerce_product_options_auction
   woocommerce_simple_auction_do_relist
   woocomerce_before_relist_failed_auction
   woocomerce_after_relist_failed_auction
   woocomerce_before_relist_not_paid_auction
   woocomerce_after_relist_not_paid_auction
   woocommerce_simple_auction_pay_reminder
   woocommerce_simple_auction_close_buynow
   woocommerce_simple_auction_delete_bid
   woocommerce_simple_auction_admin_history_header
   woocommerce_simple_auction_admin_history_row
   woocommerce_simple_auction_end_auctions_meta_callback
   woocommerce_simple_auction_after_delete_fom_watchlist
   woocommerce_simple_auction_after_add_to_watchlist
   woocommerce_simple_auction_closing_soon
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_changed_max_bid
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_changed_min_bid
   			

   Example:

   <?php add_action( 'woocommerce_simple_auctions_before_place_bid, 'custom_function' );  ?>
   			

   Here is list of all filters:

   woocommerce_simple_auctions_before_place_bid
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_proxy_curent_bid_value
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_proxy_bid_value
   simple_auction_item_condition
   simple_auction_type
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_get_current_bid
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_get_increase_bid_value
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_get_condition
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_get_auction_end_time
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_get_auction_start_time
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_get_seconds_remaining
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_get_seconds_to_auction
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_bid_value
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_is_user_biding
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_get_user_max_bid
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_is_sealed
   wsa_default_auction_orderby
   wsa_default_auction_orderby_options
   woocommerce_simple_auction_auction_bage
   woocommerce_simple_auction_pay_now_button
   woocommerce_auction_history_heading
   woocommerce__auction_history_data
   auction_history_started_text
   auction_history_starting_text
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_placed_bid_message
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_winning_bid_message
   woocommerce_simple_auction_empty_cart
   simple_auctions_relist_date_from
   simple_auctions_relist_date_to
   woocommerce_place_bid_product_id
   woocommerce_place_bid_bid
   woocommerce_place_bid_handler
   remove_auctions_from_woocommerce_product_query
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_displayname
   simple_auction_ajax_finish_auction
   simple_auction_get_price_for_auctions
   reserve_bid_text
   reserve_met_bid_text
   sealed_bid_text
   sealed_min_text
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_activity_query
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_place_bid_value
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_before_place_bid_filter
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_minimal_bid_value
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_proxy_bid_to_reserve
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_proxy_curent_bid_value
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_proxy_bid_value
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_is_user_watching
   woocommerce_shortcode_auctions_query
   woocommerce_product_query_max_rand_cache_count
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_activity_column_default
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_activity_row_class
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_activity_columns
   woocommerce_simple_auctions_activity_sortable_columns
   get_auction_search_form
   time_text
   bid_text
   woocommerce_simple_auction_winning_bage
   

2. How to use simple_auction_item_condition filter? - In functions.php add:

   add_filter('simple_auction_item_condition', 'my_example_filter_1' );
   function my_example_filter_1( $array ){
   
   	$array['old']='Old';
   
   	return $array;
   }
   

   and in product data you will get new product condition option available to select named "Old".
3. How to increase bid step for bid increment value to be more than 1? Bidding increment is done so you can bid in increments of 1, because otherwise if you set bid step of say 5, you would be able to bid 5, 10, 15... instead you can bid 7, 13, 22, etc. If you insist on different behaviour, you need to edit template woocommerce-simple-auctions\templates\single-product\auction-bid-form.php line 50 and change:

   step="any"
   
   becomes
   
   step="<?php echo ($product->get_increase_bid_value()) ? $product->get_increase_bid_value() : '1' ?>"
   

   Please check template on pastebin.
4. Can I delete fake bid? - Yes, go to item details, section Auction where auction log is and click on delete.
5. Can users create their own auctions like on eBay? Can I charge fee for auctions published by users? - Yes but you need 3rd party plugin for implementing WooCommerce multivendor / marketplace. Then your users will be able to post auctions and you can charge fee for their sales. You can use Dokan multivendor plugin which has frontend auction submissions (you need Business version or Free, Starter, Professional with Auction module) or Woo Product Vendors. There is also free plugin which allows you to charge a fee on checkout.
6. Do you use cronjobs? - Yes. Please check installation instructions. Cronjobs are used to finish auctions consistently for all users and at right time, send email notifications and automatically relist expired / failed auctions (optional). Auction check cron has to be run every minute, script will be loading for almost 1 minute, then it stops with HTTP 200 response code - there should be no output just blank page.
7. Where can I edit email templates? - Go to WooCommerce > Settings and click on Emails tab.
8. Does this plugin work with caching plugins? - Yes, WP Super Cache and W3TC work fine with our plugin but we advise no caching for logged in users. For example if page cache is enabled widget recently viewed auctions will not work properly. Once user is logged in and there is no caching anymore all widgets work. You can use CDN and browser caching. Our plugin demo website uses WP Super Cache with page and browser cache. All of our plugins have same requirements for caching as WooCommerce - check it here https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/configuring-caching-plugins/
9. What is auto bidding / proxy bidding? - Ebay has nice explanation here.
10. What is reserve price? - A reserve price is the lowest price at which you are willing to sell your item. If you do not want to sell your item below a certain price, you can a set a reserve price. The amount of your reserve price is not disclosed to your bidders, but they will see that your auction has a reserve price and whether or not the reserve has been met. If a bidder does not meet that price, you are not obligated to sell your item.
11. I want auction end timer everywhere, what should I do? - Add this code to functions.php: for WooCommerce ver > 2.7 please use this code https://pastebin.com/BWiswYec for other (lower ver than 2.7) versions use https://pastebin.com/5dg3BTf7 code in your functions.php
12. I want to increase / extend auction end time after bid was placed? - Add this code to functions.php (this particular code extends auction for 30 sec - note PT30S) https://pastebin.com/gv8WaNDq
13. I want to extended auction finish time after a bid is placed so that it only extends the auction if a bid is placed when the auction is within 5 min of closing? Auction anti snipping feature. - From version v2.1.0 this feature is integrated in plugin and no need to use code snippet for this.
14. Bidder beat another bidder with same amount? - When Proxy Bidding is in effect, it can appear as if one bidder has beat another bidder with the same bid amount. This is normal and occurs when a bidder has a proxy bid in effect and a second bidder comes along and makes their bid at the exact same amount the current proxy bid is at. Since the proxy bid was placed earlier, that is the bid that will succeed. For the second bidder to succeed in placing a bid, they must bid higher than the proxy bid that is in effect.
15. How can I show only finished auctions? - You need custom page template with custom query:

    
    $args = array(
     'post_type'   => 'product',
     'tax_query' => array(array('taxonomy' => 'product_type' , 'field' => 'slug', 'terms' => 'auction')),
     'meta_query' => array(
    	array(
    		'key' => '_auction_closed',
    		'operator' => 'EXISTS',
    	)
        ),
    'auction_arhive' => TRUE,
    'show_past_auctions' => TRUE
    );
    
    $the_query  = new WP_Query( $args );
    

    You can download here page template which shows only finished auctions. From version 1.2 there is shortcode show past / finished auctions. Here is custom page template that shows finished but not paid auctions download here.
16. Can I make theme with WooCommerce Simple Auctions and sell it on ThemeForest? - Sure, just purchase extended licence and you're good to go. Since the current licenses do not deal with re-selling Items, Envato lets authors to decide whether they grant permission for bundling Items or not. We have the following conditions, and you need to follow them:
    • You cannot redistribute the item "as-is", even if you modify it or you make a derivative version for another platform
    • You cannot offer the plugin as a stand-alone item
    • You cannot include the plugin separately from your theme in the download package
    • You cannot provide an Item Purchase Code for your customers - Since Envato doesn't have a "multi-use" or transferable license, your customers are not entitled to receive an Item Purchase Code with your theme and use the plugin separately from your work.
    • Updating the plugin is your own responsibility
    • Since your customers cannot receive updates from us, you need to handle this on your own
    • You need to handle related support requests after your customers or you can instruct them to buy regular licence and ask us for support directly via our CodeCanyon profile (we cannot provide free support for your customers)
17. I can't do anything because I get "out of stock message"? - Simple Auctions plugin needs inventory / stock to be enabled. If you have problems all issues should be fixed by upgrading to WooCommerce Simple Auctions v1.1.6
18. I want to enable users to bid even if they are allready highest bidder? - In update v1.1.25 we have added setting option "Allow highest bidder to outbid himself", please use that setting to allow outbidding.
19. I have installed WC Vendors and I do not see auction product type? - We have noticed that WC Vendors due to some problematic handling of product types (they are hardcoded into plugin!) has problems with auction product type. We do not recommend WC Vendors anymore but this multi vendor plugin.
20. How can I update plugin with new version? Is auto updating possible? - We suggest you to install Envato Marketplace (installation instructions can be found on plugin's url) plugin for auto update plugin and themes purchased on Envato. Setup is easy. Manual updating can be done by downloading new version of plugin and overwrite old files with new ones or deleting old plugin and installing new one.
    
    
    Note:

    If you have modified plugin files (templates) then you need to be careful when updating so you don't overwrite changes you made and that templates are inside child theme or theme woocommerce/ template folder.

21. How to change max bid for proxy bidding? - There is setting in WooCommerce Settings - Auction that needs to be enabled which allows users to change their max bid value.
22. Is it possible when a customer wins 2 or more auctions they all appear in the cart at the same time and than check-out all items at once? I want more than one auction in cart! - In file woocommerce-simple-auctions\woocommerce-simple-auctions.php find:
    
    

    $woocommerce->cart->empty_cart();
    

    
    and comment that line:
    
    

    // $woocommerce->cart->empty_cart();
    

    
    
    From version 1.2.7 that line is a bit different and it looks like this:
    
    

    WC()->cart->empty_cart();
    

    
    
    You might want to change this line:
    
    

    wp_safe_redirect( remove_query_arg( array( 'pay-auction', 'quantity', 'product_id' ), WC()->cart->get_checkout_url() ) );

    
    
    to
    
    

    wp_safe_redirect( remove_query_arg( array( 'pay-auction', 'quantity', 'product_id' ), WC()->cart->get_cart_url() ) );

    
    
    so auction Pay Now button leads to cart instead going directly to checkout.
    
    
23. How to increase bid input field? - Easiest way is by using custom CSS:
    
    

    You can use this CSS to add it to your theme's custom CSS:

    input[name=bid_value] { width: 195px !important; }
    
    Note:

    You may noticed double plus and minus near bid input field on screenshot above. This is known issue with some themes. For solution see FAQ item no 25.

24. The Sort by price does not work. Is it posible to sort the auctions based on what has the highest or lowest bid? - Yes, we have added auction specific sorting. Frontend auction sorting is availabe, you can sort auctions by current bid, date, buy now price, activity, ending date (ending soonest) and start date (recently started). Feature is available from version 1.2 of Simple Auction plugin.
25. I see two plus and minus buttons near bid input field? - This is known issue with some themes, due to their JS, solution is simple you need to comment out last line (173) in file woocommerce-simple-auctions\js\simple-auction-frontend.js (example of that problem can be seen on screenshot in FAQ no 23):
    
    

    // jQuery(function($){$(".auction_form div.quantity:not(.buttons_added)
    

    
    Fix for Enfold theme is modified bid.php template file which you need to copy to your_child_theme/wooocommerce/single-product/bid.php to remove double plus / minus buttons.
    
26. I want to remove automatic relist option for users (for example when using multi vendor / sellers plugin)? Update plugin to v1.1.25. From version 1.1.25 you can use this code to do that (add code to your theme's functions.php file):
    
    

    function remove_post_custom_fields() {
    	remove_meta_box( 'Automatic_relist_auction' , 'product' , 'normal' );
    }
    add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'remove_post_custom_fields', 20);
    

27. Is there a way to enable confirmation before placing a bid? Yes, you can use this code (http://pastebin.com/pKZurFsB):
    
    

    function print_my_inline_script() {
      if ( is_product()) {
    	?>
    	<script type="text/javascript">
    		jQuery('.auction_form.cart').submit(function() {
    			var c = confirm("Click OK to continue?");
    			return c; //you can just return c because it will be true or false
    		});
    	</script>
    	<?php
      }
    }
    add_action( 'wp_footer', 'print_my_inline_script' );
    

28. Does WooCommerce Simple Auctions work with WordPress import / export tools? - Yes, you can export and import auctions with standard WordPress import / export tools that are located in Admin -> Tools menu.
29. I want to add bid button everywhere not only on single auction page? - You can add following code to your functions.php but you will need to style it properly using CSS - https://pastebin.com/fV33s8Gr
30. How can I enable user registration on login page? - You need to enable that feature in WooCommerce settings.
31. I have installed your plugin but images are not aligned, buttons are too small / big, input fields needs to be smaller / bigger, can you help? - In short no.

    It's your duty to modify plugin template to match your style and theme. Themes can implement different ways how they customize pages and parts of WooCommerce. We cannot guarantee that our plugin will look same as in our demo for every possible theme out there. Web developing is more than getting a theme and couple plugins, enabling them and deliver web site. Our templates are coded by standards and they adhere to WordPress and WooCommerce template structure. That means that minimal intervention is needed from client side, but sometimes there is no way to avoid template changes. Some themes use similar structure and have minimal interventions in structure and our plugin looks good out of the box and some do not. It's your task as web developer and client who purchased plugin to modify and customize plugin templates to match your own (or client's) needs and styles. This is part of developing a web site. You cannot expect that everything will be perfect for every possible theme and plugin comibation out there or that we will do your job for you as part of support. We support plugin - we do not style and customize client's sites. Thanks for understanding.

    Note:

    Right way to customize plugin's templates is to copy contest of plugin_dir/woocommerce-simple-auctions/templates/ directory to your_theme/woocommerce/ directory and do modifications there.

    When you ask us for support make sure it's not related to tasks we don't do as part of support:
    
    - style or customize your theme to do this or that
    - provide support for bugs caused by 3rd party plugins or themes (we can pinpoint that some plugin is problematic)
    - send you CSS or HTML code for modifying html elements

32. What are custom meta fields for auction product type (useful for CSV Product Import)?

    _auction_item_condition
    _auction_type
    _auction_proxy
    _auction_start_price
    _auction_bid_increment
    _auction_reserved_price
    _auction_dates_from
    _auction_dates_to
    _auction_current_bid
    _auction_current_bider
    _auction_max_bid
    _auction_max_current_bider
    _auction_bid_count
    _auction_closed
    _auction_has_started
    _auction_fail_reason
    _order_id
    _stop_mails
    _auction_wpml_language
    _auction_automatic_relist
    _auction_relist_fail_time
    _auction_relist_not_paid_time
    _auction_relist_duration
    _regular_price (for buy now price!)
    

    Sample CSV file can be downloaded here. You can use Tools -> Import -> WooCommerce products (CSV) importer which imports products to your store via a CSV file.

    _auction_closed values explained:
    
    	
    1 - Auction failed (because there were no bids or auction failed because item did not make it to reserve price)
    
    2 - Normal Auction end - closed with highest bidder winning the auction
    
    3 - Product sold for buy now price
    
    

33. Is it possible to set proxy auctions on by default for all auctions? - Since version v1.2 there is option in Auction settings to enable this by default. Please check plugin options part of this documentation.
34. How to remove Simple Auction history tab or any WooCommerce tab in single product (auction) page? - Add code below to your_theme/functions.php (on the bottom):
    
    

    add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_tabs', 'woo_remove_product_tabs', 98 );
    
    function woo_remove_product_tabs( $tabs ) {
    
        unset( $tabs['simle_auction_history'] );  // Remove auction history tab, typo is ok otherwise code doesn't work
        return $tabs;
    }
    

    
    
    To remove other WooCommerce tab(s) code is:
    
    

    add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_tabs', 'woo_remove_product_tabs', 98 );
    
    function woo_remove_product_tabs( $tabs ) {
    
        unset( $tabs['tab_name'] );      	// list of tabs can be found in WooCommerce documentation
        return $tabs;
    }
    

35. I can't see auctions on shop page? I have defined auction base page and I still don't see anything?
    
    If you want auctions on shop page in auctions settings make sure that you have not checked settings "do not mix auctions and regular products".
    
    Stock management has to be enabled otherwise you won't see auctions.
    
    If you use WPML you need to define auction base page and make its translation in order to see auctions.
    
    Some rouge plugin that modifies WP query in some weird way. Try disabling all plugins and leave only WooCommerce and Simple auction.
    
    Poorly coded theme that modifies WP query. Change theme to default one which comes with WordPress to test if that's the problem.
36. I want to limit only bid increment not whole bid value? You can limit absolute bid value in Simple Auctions settings. To limit single max bid input you can use this code https://pastebin.com/6SLf3rM5 in your functions.php file.
37. How can I get refund if I'm not satisfied?
    
    If you have problem with our items we require that you first get in touch with us so we can try to solve your problem. Our items are extensively tested and we will do everything to help you with problems you might encounter.
    
    More about how to get refund on Envato can be found here and here.
38. How can I translate plugin to my language? Do you have translations?

    We only maintain english translation. We do not have resources to quality maintain other translations. If you have trasnlation, you can submit one to us and we will post it here for download if someone wants it, but those will be unofficial.

    Here are steps which can help you to traslate plugin yourself:

    • POT lang file that you will edit is located in:

      plugins/woocommerce-simple-auctions/lang/wc_simple_auctions.pot

    • you need to download and install Poedit https://poedit.net/download
    • download wc_simple_auctions.pot and open it with Poedit
    • do your translations with Poedit and create po/mo files
    • when done save lang file with suffix for your language for example wc_simple_auctions-en_GB.po, saving wc_simple_auctions-en_GB.po will create wc_simple_auctions-en_GB.mo
    • you need to upload both files to /wp-content/languages/plugins/ and not to plugin directory because translations will be lost if you update plugin by deleting old one
    Note:

    In filename wc_simple_auctions-en_GB.po suffix en_GB must match your language settings in WordPress, otherwise language will not be loaded. So for example you can have wc_simple_auctions-en_AU.mo, wc_simple_auctions-af.mo or wc_simple_auctions-en_CA.mo, complete list of available suffixes are here https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/

39. Where can I find max proxy bid for auction? In wp-admin -> product details here is screenshot.
40. Does the user have to be logged in to be able to bid? Why? User has to be logged in because we don't have reliable way to track its bid(s) otherwise. If you have real auction site at one moment user(s) will have to enter details for shipping, payment etc, it's also a way to filter serious bidders and block fake accounts.
41. 3rd party plugin is causing problems? Its developers tell you that we need to fix our plugin? WooCommerce extensions should be transparent - meaning one extension should work with another without introduction of special code that makes them compatible. Imagine what would happen and how much time we would need to spend if we would have to add a bit of compatibility code for every WooCommerce extension that's out there - we would end up in huge plugin with tons of problems which would be problem to test and debug. That's why we think every plugin developer should stick to WooCommerce coding standards and APIs (they're there for that reason) and not require 3rd party developers to code something into their extensions / plugins so that it could work with theirs.
42. How can I include winner user info in admin auction finished email notification? You would need to copy template \woocommerce-simple-auctions\templates\emails\auction_finish.php to your_theme\woocommerce\emails\auction_finish.php and then add something like this:
    
    

    $wining_user_id = get_post_meta( $product_id, '_auction_current_bider', true );
    $user = get_userdata ( $wining_user_id );
    

    
    you will then have all user info available in that template - https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_userdata
    Please note that auction finished email notification is sent if auction has winner and is success otherwise auction failed notification is sent.
43. Does it work with currency switching plugins? - We decided to skip currency switching support because each currency switching plugin uses its own hooks which we would have to implement into plugin and maintain through updates. We did some testing and found out that free version of Currency Switcher displays different currecies fine, while paid does not for some reason, Aelia Currency switcher does not work at all and fails with fatal error. It would require significant changes and modifications for us to bid in different currencies (possibly introducing new bugs and problems) so we decided to skip multi currency support for auctions completely because it complicates a lot whole process of bidding and can confuse bidders (for example someone bids $100 another bids 105.55 eur etc). If you need different currency auctions we think it is better to setup whole new auction site for different market / country with its own currency.
44. Winning badge is hidden behind auction / product thumbnail. What can I do? You need to change z-index for winning badge:
    
    

    span.winning {z-index: 1000}
    

45. Do you offer customization for buyers fee on auctions? - Yes, you can use this code snippet for that https://pastebin.com/rZeRGPU2.
46. Auction ended but user (bidder) still can see countdown timer? Noticed that time left was out of sync on some computers? - Auctions use server time which is then translated to local time via JavaScript and considering computer's local time. So auction will be finished on exact time set, however if client (bidder) has wrong clock set (which is rare nowadays since all computers are automatically synced to Internet time) they can see that auction has ended (but it didn't in fact) or that auction has still going on but in fact has ended). They will try to bid but they will get error message. You need to instruct them to sort their clock issue and set aucto sync to Internet time.
    
    If we would check server time each second that would be huge performance problem for busy sites and auctions which have a lot of participants and pages would not be cacheable.
47. How can I show buy now price on category / archive pages? - You can use this code https://pastebin.com/yqvGCrjB in your functions.php
48. How can I hide usernames in auction history list? - You need to edit template. First copy template woocommerce-simple-auctions\templates\single-product\tabs\auction-history.php to your_theme\woocommerce\single-product\tabs\auction-history.php and edit file in that directory so update doesn't override your changes.
    
    Then find and remove lines (or comment them out) 46 and 62-66.
    
    If you use ajax bid refresh you will need to do one more thing - in \plugins\woocommerce-simple-auctions\classes\class-wc-product-auction.php find and replace get_userdata($history_value->userid)->display_name with preg_replace("/(?!^).(?!$)/", "*", get_userdata($history_value->userid)->display_name) otherwise when ajax update line you will get full username.
49. I see products out of stock in related products? Why? I want to hide out of stock products from related products! - This is WooCommerce related and not WSA. You have to change WooCommerce setting called "Out of stock visibility" which is located in WooCommerce Settings -> Products -> Inventory tab.
50. How can I place "add to watchlist" link to product archive page for all auctions? - You can add this code (thx Mike) to your functions.php:
    
    

    // display "add to watchlist" on all product archive pages
    add_action( 'woocommerce_shop_loop_item_title', 'add_to_watchlist', 50 );
    function add_to_watchlist() {
        global $product;
        if (isset($product) && $product == true) {
            wc_get_template('single-product/watchlist-link.php');
        }
    }
    
    

51. I want auction details on product archive page? - You can use this snippet to add for example starting bid, current bid and max bid https://pastebin.com/Jt4DRcXp
52. I do not use reminder email notification, how can I remove Auction Settings from My Account? - You can do that via custom CSS:

    .woocommerce-MyAccount-navigation-link--auctions-endpoint {display:none}

    or by adding this snippet to functions.php:

    
    add_filter ( 'woocommerce_account_menu_items', 'wpgenieorg_remove_my_account_links', 90);
    function wpgenieorg_remove_my_account_links( $menu_links ){
    	unset( $menu_links['auctions-endpoint'] );
    	return $menu_links;
    }
    

53. I see two drop down sort boxes? How can I remove one? - You need to find appropriate action and remove it with code something like this:

    remove_action('woocommerce_before_shop_loop', 'woocommerce_catalog_ordering', 30, 0);

    Note that this action could have custom name because it was usually added by theme devs.
54. Why orders are not automatically created when user wins auction? - Order is created when winner clicks pay now button. If user does not click on pay now button order will not be created. Once order is created users will see it under My account -> Orders. Before order is created user will see auction on pages where you display my auctions shortcode with pay now button. All winners will also receive email notification pay for auction reminder (how often depends on cronjob setting for cron named mails). In that reminder to pay notification winner will receive pay now link. Along that administrator will receive email notification when auction is finished or failed with info who won auction or why auction failed.
55. What happens if winner does not want to pay for auction? - You can delete that winning bid and next highest bidder will be winner and will see pay now button for auction. There is auto relist option that can relist auction: "Relist if not paid after n hours".
    
    What happens when you manually delete winner (winning bid) and want next highest bidder to become winner? Is email automatically sent? When current highest bidder does not pay and you delete winning bid, mails are not sent automatically to the next highest bidder / winner. You would have to manually contact next higest bidder / winner and send auction url where they can see pay now button and make payment.
56. Product type column vanished in Woo product list, how can I get it back? - From WooCommerce 3.4.0 update, Woo developers removed that column in product list (as a result of users' feedback). There is way to restore it back using this plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-product-type-column/
57. When I click on bid button page loads slowly. Is there anything that can be done to speed up bid button request? - Sluggish website response (high TTFB times) on bid requests are 99% caused by slow mail server. When you click on bid button two mail notifications are sent (unless you have disabled them) - bid notification for administrator and for customer (and in some cases outbid note). If your mail server is slow, this can be a problem. Another cause might be slow server but in that case all requests will be slow. Email notifications are: outbid note, bid note, Customer bid notification. They can be disabled in WooCommerce Settings -> Emails.
58. I'm missing sealed bid checkbox in edit product details page but sealed auctions are enabled? - This happens when you have enabled proxy bidding by default for all auctions - then sealed bid option is disabled in product details.
59. I want to auto refresh page when future auction starts. What should I do? - You will need to modify plugin's public JS. So in file \woocommerce-simple-auctions\public\js\woocommerce-simple-auctions-public.js find line 124:

    jQuery( document.body).trigger('sa-action-closed',[auctionid]);

    and after that line add this:

    if ( future ) { location.reload(); }

    reload with CTRL+F5 to make sure new JS is loaded and it should auto refresh page.
60. I want to validate payment method for users / bidders and have role based bidding. What should I do? - We have released WooCommere Simple Auction Role Based Bidding and Payment Method Verification extension for these features you can purchase it here and check its documentation here. Default role should be in above case 'subscriber' which then is changed to say 'customer'. You can create also custom role say 'bidder' using some plugin for WordPress role management (like this one User Role Editor). To validate payment and enable user to bid create product with price say $0.01 and set its ID in WooCommere Simple Auction Role Based Bidding and Payment Method Verification extension config.
61. I want to export order(s) data. How can I do that? - There are plugins that allow exporting of various order data as CSV file which you can then import to some other software you use for order management. We can suggest you to use WooCommerce Customer / Order CSV Export or Advanced Order Export For WooCommerce. These plugins work with custom product types which are used in this plugin.
    
    There is export for auction activity (CSV) and single auction history (CSV and Excel with sortable columns) in wp-admin to.
62. Do you recommend any credit / wallet plugin for WooCommerce that works with this plugin? - Yes, you can use TeraWallet plugin which adds new credit payment gateway and works with our plugin just fine. Users or admins can top up wallet credit balance with regular payment gateways or manually.
63. How can I show "Outbidded" message / badge to users who participated in auction? - You can use modified winning-badge.php template to accomplish that. See screenshot.
64. Is it possible to have proxy and normal bidding on same page? - Yes, we have simple modification for that. Open ticket and we will send you small plugin which allows this behaviour in Simple Auctions plugin.
65. How can I customize email notification? How can I add auction name to email notification subject? - You can do that using WooCommerce email notification filters. To add content in subject you can use following filter:

    woocommerce_email_subject_ID

    where ID is ID of the email notification. Check https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/change-email-subject-lines/ for complete reference. For example woocommerce_email_subject_auction_finished.
    
    List of all WooCommerce Simple Auctions email IDs:
    
    

    bid_note
    auction_buy_now
    auction_closing_soon
    auction_fail
    auction_finished
    auction_relist_user
    auction_relist
    remind_to_pay
    auction_win
    customer_bid_note
    reserve_fail
    outbid_note
    	

66. I can't find sealed / silent auction option? - In order to enable sealed auctions please go to WooCommerce Settings > Auctions and first enable setting called "Enable sealed auctions". After that you can go and publish auction, in new product screen you will have option to set auction as silent.