Automatic suspension
In the case of Japanese and Dutch auctions, there is a built-in safety feature: if a server outage occurs, all (Japanese and Dutch) auctions that are already in progress (or their practice is in progress) are suspended automatically as well as ones that would start during the outage. Since these types of auctions are highly time-sensitive, it is critical in such situations to have the auction preserved in its last valid state until it can be resumed.
If such an event occurs, participants and the auction's owner are notified of the suspension on the bidding screen as well as in system messages (in Fluenta Mailbox, by email, or any other channel enabled by the user). The auction’s status becomes Suspended. It is also recorded in the audit log and in the auction report.
Once the system resumes and is working properly again, the auction's owner may decide whether to resume the auction or not. They will probably contact you and let you know how they wish to proceed. If they resume the auction, they should let you know when that will happen and what you should expect.
What happens to bids?
- Japanese auctions: Bids submitted during the suspended round will be deleted. While the auction is suspended, bids are still visible. However, as soon as the auction is resumed, these bids will disappear. If you have submitted a bid in the suspended round, you will have to repeat it when the auction is resumed, then continue with further rounds as usual. This is necessary because there might be participants who have not yet submitted their bid when the auction has been suspended. This way (by deleting the bids of the suspended round) all participants have an equal chance of resuming the auction.
An example: We have 3 participants: A, B, C. They are in the 20th round of a Japanese auction, and Participant A and B have already bid. Then the system automatically suspends the auction (for technical reasons, as described above). When you resume the auction, the 20th round will start again, and all 3 participants will have to bid (if they wish to continue participating) – even A and B who already bid just before the suspension occurred.
- Dutch auctions: Since Dutch auctions go on until someone submits a bid, the suspension works differently. If no bid has been submitted in the suspended round, when the auction is resumed, the round will just go on as usual, and the auction will end when a valid bid is submitted. If a bid was submitted right before suspension, the auction is suspended, but it ends when it is resumed, as this is how Dutch auctions work: they end when a bid is submitted.
What happens to an auction practice?
If there is time for at least one round until the set practice end, the practice will be resumed automatically once the system is up. However, if there is less time, it will be closed. (For example, if a round lasts 5 minutes, and there is less than 5 minutes until the practice end, it will not be resumed when the system is up again.)
Actions
If the auction's owner decides to resume the auction, you should enter the auction (by clicking the Enter auction icon) before the auction is resumed. When the auction is resumed, bidding continues just like before the suspension. Attention! If you have submitted a bid in the suspended round, that bid is deleted when the auction is resumed, and you will have to resubmit it.
If the owner does not wish to resume the auction, you have nothing else to do.