Go to Admin > Site Settings > Online Auction > General

1.  Set the dates you want your Online Auction items to open for public VIEWING and when to close.  Note: these controls only affect catalog items which are marked for sale in the online auction only.   Bidding on items is controlled by the open and closing times on each item so it is possible to have some or all items visible, but not available for bidding.

2.  The "friendly" name to appear as the Sender in the recipient's inbox (ie name or title rather than formatted email address) for auto-generated messages triggered by online auction events or transactions.

3.  The email address to receive messages if the recipient "replies to" the original message.

4.  You can override the friendly "from" address and use the "reply to" address for both fields to make it appear as though the email is coming from the specified address, but doing so will increase the chance of  the message bouncing or being placed in your guests' spam folders.

5.  Set the default opening and closing times to auto-fill on New Donation Item form.  These defaults can be overridden on the New Item form or by editing items later (either individually or using the bulk edit feature).  

6. Setting controls for Online Auction Options:

• Send Outbid Notifications?
• Enable Automatic Closeout?  Bidding will close as scheduled on each item - but the winners will not be notified via email until items close AND this box is checked/saved.  Note:  once your auction ends and winners are notified, the automatic notification should be turned off.  Otherwise, changes or edits to shopping carts may trigger a new round of notifications which can confuse unaffected parties.
• Send Daily Payment Reminders?  Note:  Buyers of Sellable and Signup items will begin receiving reminders immediately, even if silent items aren't closing soon.  If you're okay with buyers waiting and paying for all their purchases at once, wait until your online closing date before enabling the reminders.
• Transfer Online items to the Gala Auction?  Check this box to prevent online items (that are ALSO marked for sale at gala auction) from being awarded to the high bidder.
• Allow Guest to Place Maximum Bids?  Changes bid form to allow either single bid or to specify a maximum bid, with bids automatically being placed for you as needed.

7.  Select payments methods you will accept.  "Custom" can be anything you define (Ie:  Please mail check to:  Our Wonderful School, 123 Main St.)  Instructions for defining your Custom Payment.

8.  Edit, as desired, the message that displays when existing users attempt to create a new online bidding account using the same email address.

9.  Check the box to enable Extended Bidding, if desired.  This setting applies globally to all Online/Mobile items.   Items that have not received bids within the specified time will close as scheduled; only items with active bidding will be extended.

10.  Specify the amount of time bidding should be extended.  This setting also determines the window prior to closing which will trigger an extension (eg.  items receiving a bid within 3 minutes of the stated closing time will automatically trigger a 3 minute extension of the bidding window.)

11.  Specify the maximum time to allow bidding to continue.

12.  Edit, as desired, the "About" page.  Visitors to your homepage can click on an About link to learn more about your Online Auction.

13.  Edit, as desired, the instructions for the Signup pages for creating an online bidding account.

14.  Edit, as desired, the Welcome page, which users land on after Signing up for an online bidding account.

15.  Save your work.