Guide to Item and Auction Categories

BidWrangler Categories provide auction companies with the ability to categorize their auctions, listings, and items to allow users another layer of filtering for items or auctions that they are personally interested in.

For BidWrangler Website customers, their users can filter auctions and listings by category. With item categories {and added subcategories}, bidders can filter items by the variety of categories assigned by the auction company on their BidWrangler bidding platform.

All item, auction, and listing categories are created and managed from their own dedicated page entitled, "Categories" under the "AUCTIONS" category of the Admin Portal:

From this page, you can view, export, edit, and create new categories and corresponding subcategories. Click "Create" to create a new category {and item subcategories} to assign auctions, listings, or items to.

The Category Creation screen has fields for the main category's name and optional subcategories. When saving, the system will check that there isn't a duplicate category name already in the system and notify you if there is.

Click on the "i" or "pencil" icon to view or edit any existing category. The "i" info button will present a screen with the category's ID number and table of subcategory ID numbers so they can be used for item imports.

Clicking on the "X" to delete any category will notify you if it has been assigned to any auction or lot.

Please note the the items associated with the category or subcategory will NOT be deleted - only the category.

Auction Categories have moved from Company settings to the Categories page. All main category names are now available from the Auction Category dropdown. Categories appear in alphabetical order and can be quickly searched for and selected:

For those using item-only listings, listing categories work the same and have moved to the item's "Suggested Fields" section of the item settings:

Categories and subcategories can be assigned to items via the BW Catalog App, Admin Portal item creation screen, auction review screen, lot bulk actions, and items import. Auction companies may set up categories so that bidders can filter for items they are interested. They can find items with categories via the filter button as shown below:

With subcategories being assigned to a main category via Categories page, they become available after assigning a main category on an item. Up to 5 subcategories can be added to any individual item. Below is an example of what this selection looks via the Admin Portal:

You can even assign categories in bulk via Lot Bulk Actions:

For an import, can use the Category Name or Category ID Number. The name will need to match exactly with the name created in the Admin Portal. If using the Category ID Number, you will need to know the corresponding category and subcategory ID numbers. You can find these in the Categories page via the "i" button or by exporting the categories you need. Click here for a full article on this topic.

Below is an example of what a spreadsheet would look like in order to assign 2 items the same category, but different subcategories for name or ID number {you can use a mix of both if you wish}:

Importing item categories via Category Name

Importing item categories via Category ID Number

When importing, the CSV mapping should look like the following:

If you have any questions, please reach out to helpdesk@bidwrangler.com.