Status: In Production 

Expected Release: April 6th, 2023 

In this User Story, we are adding a highly-requested feature that allows Organizers to bulk import items into Experience Setup for the Auction Activity type.   

Users that run Auctions with many items feel that uploading more than 25 items with our current processes is time-consuming. Therefore, we are adding bulk import functionality for Auction items to support more enterprise customers and help alleviate this burden from Organizations.   

This functionality will work similarly to other import processes in the application, where users will fill out a templated CSV file, then upload the completed file in Experience Setup. 

Users will find a new “Import multiple items” button during the Auction setup process. When this button is clicked, it will open a new modal (see screenshot below) that explains how the user can utilize our new import functionality for Auction items. In that modal, users will download a new CSV template that they can use to bulk import their Auction items. We will discuss the CSV template in detail later. If the user needs help filling out the template, the user can click the “Learn more” button to view a new help article explaining how the CSV file works. 

Once the user fills out the template, they will use the “Upload spreadsheet” button to upload their completed Auction items CSV file to the platform. Before the platform uploads the Auction items, the user will receive an overview of what the platform will upload (see screenshot below). This overview tells the user how many items will be uploaded, how many images were successfully matched to items, and how many categories were created in the CSV file (described later). It also alerts the user of any errors that may be present. By clicking the “see errors” button, the user will download a new CSV file that details where the errors exist in their uploaded CSV file. From there, the user can choose to continue uploading the CSV file with the mistakes or cancel and fix them before proceeding. 

Once the “Start import” button is clicked, the Auction items will be imported. The user can leave the page, and the platform will send the user a notification email when the import process is complete.  

CSV File Details 

In this section, we will describe the CSV file template in detail. Each CSV file column represents each setting for an Auction item in Experience Setup. We will discuss each setting below. For your convenience, here is a link to the CSV file template.  

• Title  

  • This is the title of the Auction item. It is the same as if you were filling out the “Item title” option in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 

• Image URL (optional) 

  • Here the user can add the URL of a hosted image. It is the same as if you were adding an image in Experience Setup, except since CSV files can only contain text, this column will take an image URL. See screenshot. 

• Starting Bid 

  • This is the starting bid of the Auction item. It is the same as if you were filling out the “Starting bid” option in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 

• Bid Increment 

  • This is the bid increment for the Auction item. It is the same as if you were filling out the “Bid increment” option in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 

• Category 

  • This is the category for the Auction item. It is the same as if you were selecting a category from the dropdown in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 
  • If the user enters a category here that does not exist in Experience Setup, then the system will automatically create a new category on behalf of the user. 
  • This column will only show if Categories are enabled for the Auction items in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 

• Buy it now price (optional) 

  • This is the buy-it-now price for the Auction item. This is an optional field. It is the same as the “Buy it now” option in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 
  • If the user adds a value to this column, the buy it now option will be automatically enabled and offered at the price entered in the column.  
  • This column should be left blank if the user does not want to enable buy it now for a specific item.  

• Item description (optional) 

  • This is the description for the Auction item. It is the same as adding a description in Experience Setup. See screenshot.  
  • Please note that a CSV file can only contain text values. Therefore only text is accepted here. 

• Custom sharing link (optional) 

  • This is the custom-sharing link for the Auction item. It is the same as if you were adding a custom link for the Auction item in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 

• Fair market value (optional) 

  • This is the fair market value of the Auction item. It is the same as if you were adding a fair market value in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 

• Quantity available (optional) 

  • This is the quantity available for the Auction item. It is the same as if you were telling the system there was more than one item available in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 
  • If this option is left blank, then the application will assume there is only one item available. 

• Hide this item from the Experience Page 

  • This option takes a “Yes” or “No” value. If set to “Yes,” then the Auction item will be hidden from the Experience Page. It is the same as if you checked the “Hide this item from the Auction Page” checkbox in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 

• Item donated by (optional) 

  • This is the same as adding an “Item donated by” value in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 

• Item reference number (optional) 

  • This is the same as adding an item reference number for the Auction item in Experience Setup. See screenshot. 

Additionally, the very first row of the CSV file is an example row that will help the user learn how to use the template. It contains example information. However, the user can use the example row to test the import process by uploading it to their Experience. If the user does not want to upload the example item, they must delete it before uploading the CSV file to the platform.