When creating an auction event in CalUsource, there are two different auction methods available to leverage, Reverse and Forward. This guide will help you to understand the difference between the two auction methods and how to best leverage them.
You can learn about auction types by reviewing our Auction Types Support Article.
Forward Auction
In a forward auction, UC will be the seller. External buyers compete against one another to obtain goods or services by offering increasingly higher bids.
The forward auction method has a similar experience to eBay, where you post an item to sell and external buyers place bids on your item causing it's value to increase by each bid. Once your auction event ends, it is then awarded to the bidder who placed the highest dollar amount bid on your item.
Forward auctions are ideal to use if you are looking to sell off surplus items and generate revenue for your campus.
A few use cases of a forward auction method are the following:
- A campus acquires new microscopes for their laboratories and decide to sell their old microscopes that they will no longer be using by leveraging a forward auction.
- A campus is remodeling a building and will be acquiring new office furniture for it and no longer have a need for the old office furniture that they had been using prior. They decide to create various forward auctions for the different types of furniture they wish to sell.
Reverse Auction
In a reverse auction event, suppliers compete against one another by underbidding each other.
With the reverse auction method, the goal is to try and reach a final bid where a campus can save money on a good or service. This means that the value of the auction will start at the highest amount that a campus is willing to spend on goods and services and then suppliers place bids where that value decreases. The supplier who can provide goods and services for the least amount of money will win the auction once it closes.
Reverse auctions are ideal to use if you are looking to buy goods or services and are wanting a quick turnaround while focusing on cost only. Also, the reverse auction events can be hosted post Request for Proposal (RFP) in order to obtain the lowest cost after suppliers are down selected based on the initial qualification RFP round.
A few use cases of a reverse auction method are the following:
- A campus needs to obtain updated audio/visual equipment for conference rooms and decide to run a reverse auction to find a supplier who can provide the equipment at the lowest cost possible for the exact specification.
- A campus needs more procedure trays for medical staff, but have discovered that the supplier they usually order the trays from have increased the price of the product. They decide to run a reverse auction to find a supplier who can provide the trays at a lower cost.
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