Reliable online auctions with correct end times and live bid prices

The challenge

A US business selling goods through online auctions wanted to add bidding to its existing online store. The store already used a catalogue-mode extension and a customised theme, so an auction feature would have to work alongside both rather than assume a standard installation.

Auctions also depend on timing being exactly right. Once the store was running auctions, several problems surfaced: some auctions did not close when their timer reached zero, a bid could still be placed after an auction had ended, auctions set to run for less than three days closed immediately, and auctions did not end correctly when a maximum price was reached. Each of these undermined buyers' trust in the bidding process. Visitors arriving on the home page also had no way of seeing how bidding was progressing.

What we did

• Installation. The client licensed our auction module, and we installed it on the store's hosting.
• Compatibility customisation. We adapted the module to work with the client's theme and catalogue-mode extension, so auction products display and behave correctly within the existing store.
• Auction-ending fixes. We corrected the closing logic so auctions expire when their timer reaches zero, no further bids are accepted after the end, short auctions of under three days run their full length, and auctions end correctly when the maximum price is reached.
• Current bid on the home page. We added the current bid price to auction products shown on the home page, so visitors can see live activity at a glance.

Tech stack

PHP, MySQL, OpenCart, vQmod