How to Build Your Own WordPress Auction Site With WooCommerce

Want to build your own WordPress auction site like eBay? Thanks to WooCommerce and some add-ons, its surprisingly easy to start running WordPress auctions.Now, you might not become quite as large as eBay, but you can still do some pretty cool things for surprisingly cheap!In this post, Im going to share a step-by-step guide for how you can easily create your own WordPress auction site using WooCommerce and another plugin. First of all, youll need to find a WordPress hosting account and a domain name. Quite often you find a hosting provider with free domain names provided. In addition, its not a bad idea to consider a hosting account that has specialized WooCommerce hosting.After that, here are the essentials for running WordPress auctions:The WooCommerce pluginThe YITH WooCommerce Auctions pluginAn SSL certificate for accepting payments securely. Many hosts offer free, easy-to-use Lets Encrypt certificates, nowadays.How to create a WordPress auction site like eBayOnce youve installed WordPress on a host with an SSL certificate, youre ready to install WooCommerce and create your WordPress auction site.Heres the step-by-step guide to everything youll need to doStep 1: Install WooCommerceWooCommerce is the plugin that turns your website into an eCommerce website. Its your eCommerce base that youll later turn into a custom auction site with a WooCommerce extension.To get started, download and install the WooCommerce plugin. Check out our WooCommerce tutorial if you need help configuring the basic WooCommerce settings. WooCommerce Author(s): AutomatticCurrent Version: 3.7.1Last Updated: October 9, 2019woocommerce.3.7.1.zip 92%Ratings 77,312,503Downloads WP 4.9+Requires Thats pretty much all you  have to do. After the activation, youll find the WooCommerce tab in your dashboard, along with extra tabs for products and other items.The only problem is that your current eCommerce site doesnt support auctions. To fix that, youll install the YITH WooCommerce plug in.Step 2: Install YITH WooCommerce AuctionsThe majority of the reputable auction plugins are paid. You can find a few on CodeCanyon, but one of the most popular is called YITH WooCommerce Auctions. It costs 81 Euro, or around $95 USD at the time of this article.Add the plugin to your shopping cart and walk through the process of paying for and downloading the plugin.Once you have it installed and activated  in your dashboard, youll need to locate your license activation information in your YITH account. Navigate to the YITH Plugins tab in your dashboard and click on License Activation. Here, you paste in your license key. Make sure you click on the Activate button to complete the process.Step 3: Configure the YITH settingsBefore getting started with adding products and running auctions, its essential to make sure all settings are correct.The options that are already  checked off work pretty well for getting a basic  auction site up and running.For instance, youll most likely want to show your auctions on the Shop page.I recommend scrolling through these settings to see which are the most important for your business.In addition to the defaults, the settings I would personally  select include the following:Hiding out-of-stock auctions A customer wouldnt be too happy to win an auction and realize that the product isnt in stock.Hiding closed options This reasoning is the same as hiding out-of-stock auctions.Show buttons in product page This makes it easier for people to increase and decrease their bids.Adjust the date format to fit your countrys norm.I would also want to have emails sent out before an auction ends. It might only be a few hours or minutes, but it gets people excited.Allow subscribe auction Of course you want users to subscribe to certain auctions.Automatic auction rescheduling You can automatically set an auction to reschedule if it has no bids.Once again, all of these settings are completely up to you. I simply want you to realize wh ere they are located and the purposes of each one. Finally, make sure you save the changes.Step 4: Create your first auctionManaging WordPress auctions is rather fun once you get the hang of it. YITH makes it easy to add your first product and get the auction rolling for your current users. You can even test it out beforehand with some friends to see how it works.In order to launch your first auction product, you utilize the WooCommerce portion of the equation. Go to Products Add New in the dashboard.Many of these settings are identical to the normal WooCommerce product options. But to specify that this is an auction product, you need to scroll down to the Product Data section.Use the drop-down menu to make this product an Auction item.Fill in information like the starting price, bid up, minimum increment amount, and the reserve price. You also have settings for auction dates, overtime, and tax status.This section may take you a few minutes to complete. Make sure to finish the rest of the product page as welllike the product name, description, and category before publishing your product.Step 5: Test out your WordPress auction site on the frontendYour WordPress auctions are now live on the WooCommerce Shop page. If you also have regular products, they are combined in the same gallery but differentiated with auction icons.Another way to include auctions on your website is by taking advantage of the YITH Auctions shortcode.All you have to do is go to any page on your website and paste in the  [yith_auction_products] shortcode. After publication, youll see the gallery of auctions.Finally, each product page with the auction categorization shows the time left in the auction, the current bid, and a field for the users to type in their bids. Its a simple and intuitive design that you have the opportunity to customize yourself with CSS.Step 6: Handling WordPress auctions and the resultsDuring and after an auction, the admin has to keep tabs on whats going on and ful fill the products as they sell.In order to do so, go to any product you currently have in an auction. Towards the very bottom of the dashboard product page there is a module with all of the bids currently made.If needed, you have the option to delete any bid. As for the orders, those are found in the Orders area of WooCommerce.At this point, you should have a working WordPress auction site!  Have any other questions about WordPress auctions? Leave a comment and well try to help out! Here's how to build your own #WordPress auction #website using @WooCommerce step by step