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Synergy Advantage takes auction hosting well beyond other auction hosting services. For starters,
numerous Auction types are supported by Synergy that are not supported by other services:
Reverse Auctions where a Buyer (or a pooled group of buyers, more on that later) provides a specific detailed list of
goods or services they intend to puchase. Instead of a single seller and multiple buyers, there is a single buyer and multiple sellers.
Once the Auction has been created, the buyer then invites
suppliers to participate in the auction. During the auction the suppliers bid against each other for the opportunity
to provide the goods or service being auctioned to the buyer(s). The Reverse Auction has an obvious benefit to the buyer,
the final award goes not to the highest bidder, but to the lowest.
Traditional Forward Auctions where Sellers offer items for sale and buyers bid as the price of the good or service continues to
increase.
A Forward-Declining Auction is similar to a traditional forward auction except the Seller offers goods or services for sale
at a given price. Once the auction begins the offered price declines to a minimum price (which remains hidden) over the period
of the auction until a buyer jumps in to buy or the Seller cancels the auction. In this auction type, the gamble is waiting too
long before making the leap to purchase.
The Sealed Bid auction isn't really an auction at all. A Sealed Bid auction works either as a forward or reverse auction
in the sense that only one bid is allowed, and it is hidden until the auction time expires.
Synergy Advantage provides a rich, easily accessible, set of options to refine the behavior of an auction to the exact specifications
you require:
Private Auctions limit participation only to those organizations or individuals invited to attend the auction. The
invitation process is simple, elegant, and, as long as each participant is registered in the Synergy system (which is free),
is managed by the Synergy site.
Flexible start dates and times. This includes support for any time zone around the globe.
Multiple Currencies are supported which allow you to host an auction in any one of 85 different currencies.
The Duration of an auction can last for any number of days, hours, or minutes.
Bid Increments control the dollar difference between bids so an auction doesn't get bogged down by materially
insignficant bidding. Bid Increments can be anywhere from 0.01 to thousands or millions of the currency used in the auction.
Proxy Bidding allows a bidder to specify a maximum bid, and then allow the Synergy system to bid only what's needed,
up to the maximum bid, while honoring bid increments.
Maximized Bidding, the opposite of Proxy Bidding, takes all of the bid entered by the supplier and makes that amount the current bid for that supplier.
You can have the Synergy service Accept All Bids from the suppliers even if they don't beat the current best bid. This
features allows suppliers to jockey for a particular rank. For example, a supplier may decide that winning the current auction is impossible, but would very much
like to be the second lowest bidder in case something happens to the first lowest bidder.
Pause an auction for any reason and resume when all issues are resolved.
Live Chat. Every Auction has a separate live chat area where you, as auction host, can communicate in real-time with a single or all
bidders, and they can communicate back to you.
File and Document Attachments. Auctions can have multiple documents associated with them that are available throughout the
bidding as well as before and after the auction has opened. Access to the attachments are easily seen and are available through web links.
Auction pooling, used during Reverse Auctions, is the process where an auction is created, and allied organizations are
invited to participate in pooling purchases together. This allows organizations with similar purchasing needs to pool their efforts,
increase quantities purchased, offer the chance to bid on these pooled goods to qualified vendors, and gain in economies
of scale which would have been previously unattainable.
Variable Discretion Levels during the bidding process allows you to control what bidders see during the bidding process.
For example, you may want bidders to have a complete picture of who else is bidding, amounts being bid, and what the next minimum
bid is (based on the Bid Increment). On the other hand, you may desire that the bidder know only how their bid stacks up against
the other bidders (high bid, 3rd place, etc.) but otherwise don't know who they are bidding against, or the specific amounts
being bid.
To avoid manipulation of the auction, the Synergy system also allows for the use of Automatic Time Extensions where
the auction close time is extended as bids are placed very late in the auction. For example, you might set up your auction to
close after 30 minutes. Joe Clever may place a bid 8 seconds prior to the auction closing, thinking he's removing the opportunity for competing bids.
If you set your auction to automatically extend time, more time is added, and others will have an opportunity to place their
bids. The upshot is a more true auction.
The fee structure for Synergy Advantage Auctions is fairly simple. For each auction, there is a baseline fee of US$250.
This fee includes the use of the service to host an auction of any value, for any number of days, for an unlimited number
of bidders. We will get your confirmation that an auction is live before any invoices for payment are generated.
Because the success of any auction rests on the participation of bidders, Synergy also offers Auction Administrative
Services where we handle your list of invitees, make sure they are twice contacted and informed of the auction(s), make sure they're
registered both as an Organization and as users. Then, at auction time we are available one hour before the auction begins for bidder support and
instruction. For every group of seven bidders, our Administrative fee is US$250.
For example, say you want to host a reverse auction for a particular type of product. You have seven bidders you would like to invite
to participate in the auction, and you'd like Synergy to provide Administrative services for the auction.
Our fee would break down as follows:
Auction Baseline Fee: US$250.00
Administrative/Support Services for 7 bidders: US$250.00
Total Auction fee: US$500.00
So you want to move forward and create your own auction? Simple, follow these instructions:
Register your organization. During registration you will be asked
to agree to our terms and conditions which include your agreement to pay the fees described above. (Currently we receive
payment only through Paypal.)
After you have registered your organization and created an Organization Administrator, the system will automatically log
you in.
You are now ready to create your auction. Move your mouse to the Auctions menu choice at the top of the page and click
on the Manage or Create Auctions (if you are currently logged in, click here).
Fill out the blanks regarding the configuration of the auction, then click the Next button.
Fill out the information regarding the auction detail and any associated quantities.
The process is complete, invite your bidders, and the auction will begin according to the time you provided
Note that the Adminstrator will receive an e-mailed invoice from Synergy after the bid has been created and scheduled. Paypal
payment for the bid is required prior to the bid opening.
Now you've seen how easy it is to host an auction of your own. We invite you to begin the process by registering your company and configuring your own auction (remember there is no charge for anything until we've confirmed with you that an auction you set up is not simply for testing purposes).
Or, you can use our contact form to request a personal, informative,
introduction and demonstration of our service.
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