Paid Participation

A seated auction requires an eligible seat record for the logged-in customer before bidding. Buying participation and paying for the auction item are separate transactions.

Configure a seated auction

1. Create a separate WooCommerce product and select Simple product as its product type. Enable Virtual, as participation does not require shipping. This is recommended but is not required for seated-auction eligibility.
2. Set its price to the participation fee. Under Inventory, enable Manage stock (stock quantity tracking) and set Stock quantity to the number of available places. For example, a quantity of 50 makes 50 seats available. Disable backorders to prevent purchases beyond this limit, then publish the product.
3. For an independent auction, enable Seated auction? under Participation.
4. Select the participation product in Seated product.
5. Use a separate participation product for each auction; a seat product may be assigned to only one auction.
6. Complete a test purchase as a customer and confirm that the customer can then bid.

User-supplied screenshot of the Participation settings. Each seat product can be assigned to only one auction.

The bidding handler checks the customer’s seat before accepting a bid. Merely adding the participation product to the cart is not a complete participation test.

The Participation controls are hidden on auctions assigned to a lot. Configure this workflow on an independent auction rather than assuming a shared lot-wide participation fee.

Stock and display

Available seats are derived from the participation product’s stock. Enable seated auction progress bar controls its progress display.

Duplicating a seated auction

Duplicating an auction keeps its seated requirement but clears the linked Seated product. The original auction retains its participation product.

Before publishing the copy, create a separate Simple product for its participation fee, configure its price and seat stock, and select it under Participation → Seated product. A participation product already assigned to another auction cannot be reused. Save the copy and complete a test participation purchase before accepting bids.

Customer cannot bid after purchasing

Check the purchasing account, linked seat product, order state, and seat registration. A purchase made under another account does not identify the current customer as the seat holder. Review the store’s order-processing workflow before manually changing records.