Penny Auctions

ℹ️ What is Penny products?

A Penny product (also known as bidding fee) is a non-refundable product that customers must purchase in order to place bids in a penny auction.

Instead of bidding for free, customers use bidding turns. Each bid consumes one turn.

Simply put:

• Customers buy Penny products

• Penny products give them a number of bidding turns

• Each bid = 1 turn

• When turns run out, customers must buy more to continue bidding

Why use Penny products?

Using Penny products helps you:

• Prevent fake or spam bids

• Ensure bidders are serious and committed

• Earn revenue from:

  • bidding fees and

  • the final winning bid

In many cases, the total revenue from bidding fees + winning bid can exceed the product’s original price.

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🛠️ Admin: Set up Penny products

Step 1: Create Penny products in Shopify Products

Create penny products in Shopify Products

Example:

Penny product	Bids included	Price
Basic	10 bids	$5
Advanced	30 bids	$10

Step 2: Add penny products in Tipo app

1. Go to the app > click Penny products > click Create new penny button

2. Enter product detail

In General session, enter the penny product Name and Number of bid

1. In Product session, click Select product to link button to link to the penny product created in the step

For example: link the penny products "Basic - 10 bids" with Shopify product "Basic - 10 bids"

1. Click Save

Admin can create multiple penny products and each one costs a certain amount of money and a certain number of bidding turn.

Step 3: Activate penny auction

1. Go to the app > click Auctions > open an auction you want to set up

2. Find Advanced settings > enable Penny auction

3. Click Save

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✅ How penny products work?

When a customer tries to bid without enough turns:

• A message appears asking them to buy Penny products

• A popup shows available Penny product options

• Customer selects a product and clicks Buyout

Example:

Scenario:

• Customer buys Basic – 5 bids – $5

What happens:

• Customer now has 5 bidding turns

• Each time they click Place bid, 1 turn is used

• After 5 bids → turns = 0

• Customer must buy another Penny product to continue bidding

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▶️ Tutorial video

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🙋 Still need support?

If you still need help, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We’ll be happy to assist you further.