Can Bidders Be Required to Verify Their Email When They Create an Account?

BidWrangler includes an feature that can require each new bidder to confirm their email address before they can use their account. When email verification is on, a new bidder receives an email with a confirmation link after they sign up. The bidder must click that link before they can sign in and register for your auctions.

This feature can only be enabled by BidWrangler. To turn it on, please reach out to helpdesk@bidwrangler.com.

For most auction companies, we recommend leaving email verification off. It solves a narrow problem, and it adds friction that can stop some real bidders from getting into your auctions. Weigh these points before you ask us to turn it on.

• Every new account has a confirmed email address that the bidder can access

• Invoices, outbid notifications, and other emails go to the right person, not to someone whose address was mistyped

• Bidders can’t create accounts with fake addresses or that they don't own, which adds a small barrier against throwaway accounts

• Some bidders won’t finish signing up. The bidder has to leave your site, find the email, and click the link. Some bidders don’t, and they never get back to register

• Confirmation emails can be delayed or land in spam. Until the bidder finds the email, they can’t sign in. This hurts most right before an auction closes, when a bidder is trying to sign up and bid in the same few minutes

• Bidders will contact you when they’re stuck. Expect more calls and emails from bidders who say they can’t sign in or register. In many cases, you’ll need to confirm their accounts yourself in the Admin Portal

• It doesn’t confirm who the bidder is. A fake bidder can still confirm a real email address that they control. Card verification and new bidder approval do more to protect you from bidders who don’t pay

If you’re concerned about fake or non-paying bidders, start with credit card verification at registration and/or manual approval of new bidders. Consider email verification only if wrong email addresses are a repeated problem for you, and you’re ready to help bidders who don’t get the confirmation email. If you turn it on and the extra bidder questions outweigh the benefit, email helpdesk@bidwrangler.com and we’ll turn it back off.

Email helpdesk@bidwrangler.com and ask us to turn on email verification for your bidding platform. This setting isn't in your Company Settings, so our team turns it on for you. You can also ask us to turn it off at any time.

1. The bidder signs up with their name, email address, and password

2. BidWrangler sends a confirmation email to the address they entered

3. The bidder clicks the link in that email to confirm their address

4. The bidder can now sign in and register for your auctions

Until the bidder confirms their address, they can't sign in

First, ask the bidder to check their spam or junk folder. Then check that the email address on their account is spelled correctly. If the address is wrong, the bidder should create a new account with the correct address.

If the address is correct and the email still hasn't arrived, you can confirm the bidder's account yourself:

1. Go to Admin Portal > Users

2. Find the bidder's account click the pencil icon to edit

3. In the Confirmed at field, enter any date and time in the past

4. Save

The bidder can now sign in without clicking the confirmation link. Only do this when you're sure the email address belongs to the bidder, because a manual confirmation skips the check that email verification exists to do.

• Administer Terms and Conditions

• Manual Approval

• New Bidder Approval

• Bidder Cap

• Blocking Bidders

• Block Threshold

• Administer Registrations