Registering Bidders in BidWrangler: The Complete Guide

A registration in BidWrangler connects a bidder's account to one specific auction, along with any card verification and approval your auction terms require. Bidders normally register themselves on your bidding platform, but as an admin you can also register a bidder manually one at a time, register bidders in bulk with an import, check bidders in on-site through the Live Registrations panel, or let returning bidders register automatically. This guide covers how each path works, what the registration statuses mean, and how to fix the registrations that stall.

Distinction between User Accounts and Registrations

User Account

A user account is unique to each bidder - bidders must be logged into their account in your platform in order to register and participate in auctions. The unique identifier in a user account is the bidder's email address - each account must have an email address, and they must be unique. The minimum information needed to create an account is typically First Name, Last Name, and email.

First-time bidders must create an account before they are able to register for any auctions.

Admin users must also have a user account in the platform, but once assigned permissions, these accounts can not be used to bid in auctions.

Registration

A registration is needed to participate in a particular auction. One user account can be used to register for multiple auctions. There are several ways to register a user account to a specific auction.

How Bidders Register Themselves

Self-registration happens on your bidding platform or app, not on your website. A bidder on your website typically reaches the platform through the Bid Online Now! button. From there the flow is:

The bidder creates an account or signs in. An account needs at minimum name, and email address. Email is the unique identifier for a BidWrangler account.
The bidder finds your auction and selects VIEW AUCTION.
The bidder clicks REGISTER and either confirms (if a returning bidder) or provides (if a new bidder) their phone number and address.
The bidder then accepts the privacy policy, and your auction's terms and conditions. The privacy policy is available by adding "/terms" to the end of your bidding platform's URL.
If the terms and conditions attached to the auction have Credit Card Check set to ALWAYS, the bidder enters a credit or debit card to verify funds before the registration completes.

Screenshots of this process are provided in this article.

If your terms require manual approval, either for everyone or for first-time bidders only, the bidder lands in Pending Approval after these steps and cannot bid until an admin accepts them.

If you want to collect any other information from your bidders during this online registration process, you can include Custom User Fields.

What Each Registration Status Means

Online Completed and Approved. The registration is complete and the bidder can bid in that auction. To the bidder, the button they used to register will now prompt them to bid the next increment.
Online Completed - Pending Approval. The bidder finished registering, but the auction terms require manual approval ('Require manual approval' for everyone, or 'New bidder approval' for first-time bidders only). The bidder's bid button shows Pending Approval until an admin accepts the registration.
Online Incomplete. The bidder created an account, clicked register on the auction, and stopped before finishing, often because of a card decline or abandoning the card verification step. Contact details like phone and address are only saved when verification completes, so these records are usually missing them.
Separately from per-auction statuses, each user account has a default registration setting. A user set to be automatically registered joins your future auctions without going through the steps above, while a user set to Must Register completes registration for each auction individually.

For more information about Online Complete and Online Incomplete, please review this article.

Four Ways an Admin Can Register a Bidder

I. Manually, one at a time, in the admin portal

Create the user under Users, then create the registration under Registration, selecting the user and the auction and checking the Approved box. Send the bidder their login info afterward. Full steps: How do I manually register a bidder for my auction?

II. From the clerking panel during a sale

Click the plus button in the top right of the clerking panel to open the Register new bidder popup, then search for an existing user or enter a new bidder's information. This is the fastest path when an auction is live or closing.

III. In bulk, with an import

Use the Registration Import to register many bidders at once, including registering all of your permanent bidders in one pass. See How to Register All Permanent Bidders in Bulk via the Registration Import and, if you are moving from another platform, How do I import registrations from other platforms?

IV. At the door, for live and simulcast sales

The Live Registrations panel is the check-in screen where staff assign live paddle numbers, look up online registrants, and register walk-ins. Reserve it for in-person paddles: accounts your staff create for online bidders are left unclaimed with no password, and the bidder cannot log in to bid.

A note on Creating User Accounts

If you are creating user accounts for bidders as you register them, and you are not creating or providing them with a password, if they later wish to log into their account online they will have to set their own password. This article outlines a couple of options for them to access their account.

When a Registration Fails or Stalls

Most stalled registrations trace to a small set of causes: a card decline, a typo in the email on the profile, an unsupported character (such as '&') in a name or address field, a missing phone number, the bidder registering on the wrong site, or a pending approval nobody has accepted. Work through the admin checks in order rather than guessing.

One pattern deserves special mention because it looks confusing from the outside. When a registration or card verification fails, the bidder's address does not save or update, so the profile shows missing address fields. The decline itself is often address-related. If you run your own payment gateway, the declined attempt and its reason are visible in your gateway account; in Authorize.net, recent declines appear under Unsettled Transactions. The fix that usually works: confirm the bidder's address with them directly, update it on their account in the admin portal, have the bidder log out and back in, and then have them register again.

Frequently Asked Questions About Bidder Registration

Where should my bidders go to register?

To your bidding platform, not your marketing website. From your website they click Bid Online Now! to reach the platform, and registration happens there. This is the single most common point of confusion for new bidders.

Why does a bidder show as Pending Approval?

The terms and conditions on that auction require manual approval, either for every bidder or for first-time bidders only. Review the auction's pending registrations and accept the bidder, or adjust the approval setting on the terms if it was not intentional. Returning bidders with a prior completed registration are approved automatically when only 'New bidder approval' is checked.

What does Online Incomplete mean?

The bidder created an account and started registering for the auction but stopped before finishing, commonly because of expired or mismatched payment information. These registrations usually lack phone and address details, because contact details save only when verification completes. The bidder cannot bid until the registration is finished.

A bidder's card was declined at registration. Where do I see why?

In your own payment gateway account, since the decline message comes from the gateway rather than from BidWrangler. In Authorize.net, check Unsettled Transactions for the declined attempt and its reason. Also check the bidder's address: failed verifications do not save the address, and correcting it on the account often resolves the decline.

Can I register a bidder who is standing in front of me at a live sale?

Yes. Use the Live Registrations panel to check them in and assign a paddle number, or the clerking panel's Register new bidder popup during the sale. For bidders who plan to bid online, have them self-register instead, since a staff-created account has no password attached.

Can I make my regular bidders skip registration for every auction?

Yes. Set the bidder to be automatically registered for future auctions, or register your permanent bidders in bulk before each sale with the Registration Import. See How do I set a bidder to be automatically registered for future auctions?

Still stuck on a registration? Email helpdesk@bidwrangler.com with the bidder's email address and the auction name and we will take a look.