What does it mean?
For the Vinfolio Marketplace, Bid Fulfillment is a required parameter of a bid which specifies whether the bid quantity sought may be achieved through multiple purchases. The initial design of Marketplace assumed that each bid would only ever be fulfilled by a single seller. Therefore, if the seller didn’t have the required quantity to supply the full bid quantity, the seller would not be able to accept the bid (nor would they be notified of the bid as they weren’t eligible to accept it). The original approach also had consequences if even a single bottle failed to pass inspection as it resulted in the entire transaction being cancelled instead of completing the sale of the accepted bottles.
Based on user feedback, bidders didn’t understand the initial approach and, in fact, assumed the opposite, where the bid quantity is really a maximum only and not also the minimum. For example, if a bidder wanted to purchase 60 bottles of a given wine for a particular price, bidders currently seem to assume we are notifying any and all sellers (even those with 1-2 bottles) and permitting them to accept bids for lesser quantities until the total of 60 bottles is reached. The advantages of bidders specifying “Fill to max quantity” (multiple purchases) as their Bid Fulfillment method are compelling, including:
- Bids are processed as bidders intuitively expect.
- Sellers of any quantity are eligible to accept bids so more selling opportunities are presented. With each seller acceptance, the bidder's maximum bid quantity is just revised downward by the quantity accepted (until it reaches 0).
- Sellers can complete the sale of wine that passes inspection even when another bottle that is part of the accepted bid quantity is rejected. The bidder's remaining quantity to buy is just increased by the number of rejected bottles.
- Vinfolio's aggregation of incoming supply in the bidder's name in our storage facility (including six months of free storage) enables the bidder to wait until the full quantity of his/her bid is completed (or expired/canceled) before transferring or shipping his/her purchase.
As a bidder, Bid Fulfillment enables multiple sellers to accept your bid and sell you wine. However, it will also result in separate charges to your credit card for each accepted bid transaction that occurs towards satisfying the total quantity of wine you specified in your bid. You may also obtain only a portion of the total quantity you were seeking.
Sellers will see an increase in the number of bids received and more opportunities to accept bids. This will have the fortunate effect of making it easier for you to sell your wine.
So how do you use Bid Fulfillment to maximize your buying options?
It’s easy. When you’re bidding on a given wine, simply click the choice labeled ”Fill to max quantity (multiple purchases).”
We take care of the rest. We’ll notify all owners of the wine on which you’ve bid.
Sellers can then accept the bid for either the entire quantity you’ve specified, or only as much as they can or wish to accept.
After the seller has accepted the portion of the bid that they choose, Vinfolio Marketplace’s standard processes ensue. Both the seller and the bidder will receive email notices, along with notices in their Vincellar or CellarTracker My Account.
