Problem
A significant number of valuable lots remained unsold because they didn’t meet the auction house’s reserve price or lacked last-minute competitive bidding. However, analytics showed that many bidders had expressed strong interest in these lots through actions such as:
- Frequent visits to the lot details page
- Adding the item to their favorites
- Placing bids that were below the reserve price
Auction houses lacked an efficient way to re-engage these potential buyers, leading to missed post-auction sales opportunities.
Solution
Developed a Post-Auction Sales Admin Panel to automatically identify unsold lots and match them with high-intent bidders based on behavior signals. Implemented smart email campaign features with the possibility to automate make-offer emails after a certain elapsed time for each auction.
- Notifies interested users that their desired lot is still available.
- Allows auction houses to adjust the reserve price to encourage post-auction offers.
- Provides a one-click “Make an Offer” feature for bidders to submit a new bid directly from the email.
Between 5% and 15% previously unsold lots were successfully sold through post-auction negotiations.
Some auction houses experienced over time a higher bidder retention, as users appreciated the second-chance offer.
Auction houses gained a new revenue stream without additional auction setup costs and appreciated the possible automation.
