Auto-assign winner to the next bidder if the winner doesn’t pay

When running an auction, sometimes the winning bidder fails to complete payment. To prevent the item from remaining unsold, Tipo Auction allows you to automatically assign the next-highest bidder as the winner if the original winner does not pay within a set timeframe.

The conditions to become the next winner:

• The bidder who have the second highest price when the auction ends.

• In case the admin enable the Amount limit of price, the current price of the bidder needs must be bigger than the reserve price.

• In case admin set the limit of “possible winners”, only certain number people who have highest price are considered as one of the winners.

Steps

Step 1: Set a payment deadline

1. Open the app > go to Settings > General > scroll down to Waterfall winner

2. In the Time limit for the winner to process the payment field, enter the time amount by hours/minutes you want

3. Click Save

Step 2: Enable Auto-Assign feature

• Within the same Waterfall Winner settings, enable the option Auto-assign winner to next one if he/she does not pay

• Tick on the checkbox Amount limit (based on the Reserve price of the auction) – optional if you want the current price of next winner to be bigger than the Reserve price of the auction

• Click Save

Payment timeout behavior

• If the original winner does not pay before the deadline, they will forfeit the item.

• The app will delete the first winner’s draft order automatically. docs.tipo.io

• The system then checks the bid list and picks the next-highest bidder as the new winner.

Optional: Allow late payment

You can also choose to allow the first winner to still pay even after their payment window has closed. To do this, tick the Allowed to process payment when timeout checkbox in the same settings.

Note: This option is not recommended when using Auto-assign feature

Learn more

Example scenario

If “Allowed to process payment when timeout” were enabled, Bidder 1 could still try to pay even after losing — which is why we do not recommend enabling both options together.

• Auction ends at 6:00 PM.

• Payment deadline: 24 hours.

• Bidder 1 wins but does not pay by 6:00 PM next day.

• Auto-Assign triggers:

  • Bidder 1’s draft order is deleted.

  • Bidder 2 becomes the new winner.

  • Bidder 2 receives the winning email and completes checkout.