FAQ-025-OPPORTUNITIES-Stock auctions PriceBack-Distributor

Preamble

• To ensure fairness and facilitate swift communication between the various distributor partners, the stock auction policy will apply to both dealers and bidders on the OpenFlex platform.
• Consequently, they will be referred to under a single designation, 'Professional', within our systems. 
• A single set of parameters will govern the rules and procedures for handling sales to professionals. 
• This operating model ensures that no one type of automotive professional is favoured over another. 
• Distributors will benefit from increased competition among automotive professionals, which will generate greater profits from this type of transaction. 
• In the context of both trade-ins and sales from stock, all participants will be invited to take part in auctions, during which they will be asked to bid on the vehicles offered. 
• Thanks to the standardised process, all participants will have an equal chance of winning the auctions. 
• To ensure real-time tracking of transactions, emails and in-system notifications will keep the various parties informed of the auctions' progress.
• Professionals will have access to the dedicated PriceBack OpenFlex platform for managing auctions with distributors.

Contents

Prerequisites: Match the used car to the reference database before starting the stock auction.

1. Sending the connection link to the car trader 

1) Sending the connection link to the car trader 

2) Creation of a PriceBack account

2.Presentation and management of the different types of PriceBack stock auctions 

1) Creation of mailing list(s) 

2) How to launch a stock auction 

3) Special case 

4) Processes used to create the different types of stock auction: 

5) Tracking a unit auction 

6) Follow-up of an auction for a lot 

7) Managing the release of UVs from a stock auction:

Prerequisites

OpenFlex : 

• You must have access to the Opportunities, Customers and Vehicles modules in OpenFlex. 
• Have a seller or a sales manager user account.
• Have customers of the "Automotive Professional" type.
• The response time for car professionals has to be set in Settings / Pricing policy / Sales value / Automatic destination / Setting the response time for automotive professionals.

PriceBack : 

• To have a PriceBack account. 
• Have a single-use email address for account creation.

1) Sending the connection link to the car trader & Creation of a PriceBack account

1/ Sending the connection link to the car trader

-Create a customer file for an automotive professional in the "Customers" menu by entering their e-mail address. If the professional is a bidder, enter the following address: 

• Auto1 : apisupport@auto1.com 

-Then click on the 'Connect with the professional' button at the top of the page to send the connection link.(image 1). 

-Then, the professional will receive the necessary instructions by e-mail to connect to their OpenFlex – PriceBack space. 

-Once the connection has been established, the information will be displayed on the car trader's file (image 2). They will then be able to take part in the auctions on the used car stock. 

-At any time, the distributor can modify or delete the merchant's connection with certain entities in a group by clicking on the 'Manage connections' button. There, the user can see which mailing lists the professional is included in.

Reminder:

• To save you time, you can establish the connection between a merchant and the various entities in a group in a single action. 
• Clicking on 'Connect with the professional' will display a drop-down menu showing all entities that can work with this professional. 
• Select them and click on “Connect with the professional” button. 
• The list of distributors who will be partnering with the merchant will be included in the invitation e-mail that the merchant receives.

First connection with the merchant:

Manage the merchant's connections with the various entities in a group:

2/ Creation of a PriceBack account

-As soon as the distributor has sent a connection request, the trader will receive an e-mail inviting them to create their PriceBack account. 

-Simply follow the instructions and complete the mandatory fields. 

-The single-use interface key will be automatically reused.

2)Presentation and management of different types of stock auctions

1/ Creation of mailing list(s)

-Before creating stock auctions, the fleet manager can create one or more mailing lists. This will allow them to target some car traders according to the lots made available during the stock auctions. 

-To be added to a mailing list, the connection with the car trader must already have been established (see Chapter 1). 

-You can create as many mailing lists as you like.

-Please note: if no mailing list is set up or selected when an auction is created, all professionals connected to the distributor will receive the invitation without exception.

-When creating a list, add a title and then select in the left column 1 the professionals to whom you wish to send invitations to the stock auctions. The professionals selected will be listed in the right column 2. 

-To remove a professional from the list, simply uncheck the box in front of the professional's name. 

-Once the list has been created, the distributor must validate it by using the button at the bottom of the window.

They will also be able to make changes afterwards by modifying the list of their choice. To do this, they will have four buttons at their disposal:

• "Save" to save the changes.
• "Reset" to go back to the changes they made
• "Delete" to delete the list. 
• "Cancel" to return to the mailing list selection/creation screen.

2/ How to launch a stock auction

There is a tile on the home page for creating and tracking stock auctions.

There are two types of auction:

• Lot auction: auction of a batch of vehicles that cannot be split up and for which an overall price is quoted. 
• Unit auction: automotive professionals can select the vehicles of their choice from among those offered in the auction. They will have to make a commitment by setting a price for each of the vehicles in which they are interested.

3/ Special case

A UV intended for private individuals can be added to a stock auction under the following three conditions:

1) The UV concerned must be in "Sales stock" status or it must be "Saleable".

2) You will need to "Authorise its sale to professionals" by ticking the appropriate box on its file before saving your changes.

Vehicle/Individual/Sales stock/Modify/Authorise the sale of the vehicle to professionals/Register

3) You will also need to enter a "Professional selling price" by clicking on the pencil icon on the vehicle details page and then on ‘Save’ at the bottom of the side panel.

4/ Processes used to create the different types of stock auction:

To create a vehicle auction, first select the vehicles that will be presented to the car traders. Tick the boxes to the left of their picture (see image 1). 

When the auction is created, open the « Auction transmitted to » drop-down menu and select the appropriate mailing list (see image 2). 

Once a list has been selected from the available options, the number of professionals to be contacted will be indicated. This list can still be modified at this stage (see image 3).

-If none of the mailing lists set up beforahand are suitable, you can always create a new one by clicking on the "Selecting professionals" button.

-Then, you can create a new list.

-If you wish to schedule the auction for a later date, tick the « I would like to plan the start of the auction sale » box and enter the date on which it will start 1. Next, indicate the deadline given to professionals to bid 2 and the minimum amount they will have to add to outbid a price 3. 

-When setting up an auction for a lot, you will be able to enter a reserve price 4. This price will cover the minimum amount required to bid on the entire lot. 

-The settings will be similar in the case of a unit auction. The only difference will be the reserve prices, which will be set individually 5.

5/ Create a unit auction

-Distributors can follow the progress of the auction by consulting its synthesis. 

-For unit auctions, the amounts committed by the professionals will be visible both individually (1) and globally (2) as well as the gains on the commercial margin generated by all the vehicles that received a bid in this auction, compared to the initial margin (3).

-Each UV allocated to an auction will have a lot number for identification purposes by both the distributor and the automotive professional.

-If the reserve price set by the distributor for one of the vehicles has not been reached by the end of the auction, the vehicle will remain in the sales stock. 

-If a participant places a bid 3 minutes before the end of the auction, the auction will be extended by the same amount of time. As long as a participant continues to bid, the end of the extension will be postponed by three minutes. 

-Each extension will be recorded in the auction history. 

-At the end of the countdown, the professional with the highest bid will automatically win the auction. It is not possible to award the auction manually in this context.

-The distributor will be notified of the auction result by email. Offers will be generated automatically on behalf of the professionals who won the auction. 

-The only thing left to do is for the distributor to finalise the order and complete the transaction.

6/Follow-up on the auction for a lot

-Distributors can track the progress of the auction by referring to the synthesis.

-In the case of an auction for a lot, the amount committed by the professionals will be based on the lot's reserve price (1). The additional sales margin generated by the amount auctioned will be displayed (2), as will the profits generated by the last bid received (3).

-If the reserve price (4) set by the distributor is not reached, all vehicles put up for auction will remain in stock.

-If a participant overbids 3 minutes before the end of the auction, the auction will be extended by the same amount of time (5). As long as a participant continues to bid, the end of the extension will be postponed by 3 minutes.

-Each extension will be recorded in the auction history (6).

-Once the auction has ended, the distributor will be notified of the result by email and via a notification.

Case of electric vehicles

If an electric vehicle is put up for auction, automotive professionals will be able to access a section in PriceBack entitled “Battery”, which will include the SOH score, the certificate, its date and its expiry date.

-At the end of the auction, the name of the automotive professional who won the auction (1), the final commercial margin (2) and the price (3) at which the lot was sold will be updated in the auction results. 

-An offer will be generated automatically on behalf of this professional. A button (4) to switch directly from the auction to the offer will also be available. 

-If necessary, there is a button to cancel sale (5).

7/ Managing the release of UVs from a stock auction:

-For the two types of auctions mentioned above, the delivery process will be identical. 

-Consult the offers generated after auctions have been awarded and validated and then place orders. 

-Then, on the home page, schedule and declare the delivery of the used vehicles.