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Getting Started

This guide covers installation and takes you to your first live auction. It assumes WooCommerce is already set up with at least one payment method — auction winners pay through your normal WooCommerce checkout.

Requirements

  • WordPress 6.2 or later
  • WooCommerce 7.0 or later
  • PHP 7.4 or later
  • Working WP-Cron — a background task starts and closes auctions every minute. On low-traffic sites, consider a real cron job so auctions close punctually. (Visitors always see the correct state anyway — see How auctions start and close.)

Installing the free plugin

From your dashboard (recommended):

  1. Go to Plugins → Add New.
  2. Search for "Bidra Auctions for WooCommerce".
  3. Click Install Now, then Activate.

Manual upload:

  1. Download the ZIP from WordPress.org.
  2. Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the ZIP, and click Install Now.
  3. Activate the plugin.

If WooCommerce is missing or too old, the plugin shows an admin notice and stays inactive instead of breaking your site. Once active you’ll find a new Auctions item under the WooCommerce menu, and Auction becomes a product type in the product editor.

Installing Bidra Auctions Pro

Pro is an add-on that extends the free plugin — you need both active:

  1. Make sure the free Bidra Auctions for WooCommerce plugin (v1.0.1 or later) is installed and active.
  2. Download the Pro ZIP from your BeautifulPlugins account.
  3. Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, upload the ZIP, and activate it.
  4. Activate your license — Pro features switch on only with a valid license.

Creating your first auction

  1. Go to Products → Add New and give the product a title, description, and image, exactly as you would for any WooCommerce product.
  2. In the Product data dropdown, choose Auction.
  3. Open the Auction tab and fill in:
    • Start price — the lowest amount the first bid may be.
    • Bid increment — how much each new bid must add (defaults to 1).
    • Auction ends — when bidding closes. Leave Auction starts empty to open bidding immediately.
    • Optionally a Reserve price, a Buy It Now price, and an Item condition.
  4. Publish.

The auction is live: the product page shows a countdown, the current bid, and the bid form. Every field is explained on Creating & Managing Auctions.

Tip: auction dates use your site timezone (Settings → General). Check it’s correct before scheduling auctions, or they’ll open and close at unexpected times.

Adding an auctions page

Give your auctions a home of their own:

  1. Create a page — for example "Auctions" — and add the [bafw_auctions] shortcode (a Shortcode block works fine).
  2. Publish the page.
  3. Select it under WooCommerce → Auctions → Settings → Auctions page.

Want auctions to appear only there? Tick Shop page → Do not mix auctions with regular products in the same settings tab. See Storefront, My Account & Shortcodes for the other six shortcodes.

What happens next

  1. Logged-in customers bid; each bid must meet the minimum next bid shown on the page.
  2. Outbid customers get an email; you get a "new bid" email.
  3. When the end time passes, the highest bidder wins (if the reserve was met) and is emailed a pay now link.
  4. The winner checks out normally — nobody else can buy the item — and the auction is marked paid when the order is processing or completed.

Updating

The free plugin updates through WordPress.org like any other plugin. Pro updates appear on your Plugins screen once your license is active. Keep both plugins on their latest versions — Pro releases are built against the matching free release (Pro 1.0.0 requires free 1.0.1+). If the free plugin is too old, Pro shows a notice and stays switched off until you update it.

Next steps

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