Online Premiums – Wavebid

This article describes what Online Premiums are, how they are applied at the company level vs. the auction level, and how to override the Online Premium on an invoice.

This article contains the following sections:

What are Online Premiums?
How are Online Premiums Applied?
Company Level vs. Auction Level
Applying an Online Premium at Company Level
Applying an Online Premium at Auction Level
Editing an Online Premium on an Invoice
Taxes
Troubleshooting

What are Online Premiums?

Online Premiums (Internet Premiums) are a fee charged to winning bidders who participated in an event via an online bidding platform. This fee can be applied on its own, or in addition to a Buyer's Premium.

How are Online Premiums Applied?

By Bidder

If an Online Premium has been applied to an auction, it will automatically be applied added to invoices for bidders that are flagged as being "Online" during bidder check-in.

Bidders that are auto-imported post sale are also automatically marked as being "Online".
If bidder/sale data is being manually imported after a sale, the spreadsheet will need to be updated to indicate that the bidder is "Online". For more information, see the 'Formatting a Spreadsheet' section of the Importing Post Sale Data help article.

If the Online Premium needs to be waived for an online bidder, the premium can be edited directly on the bidder's invoice.

Please note, once the Online box is checked and saved, it cannot be unchecked. To have the Online box unchecked, please contact Wavebid Support.

By Lot

Just as a bidder can be flagged as being "Online", individual lots can be flagged as being "Online" as well. If a lot is marked as being "Online" and an Online Premium has been applied to the auction, the bidder who wins that lot will be charged the Online Premium, regardless of whether or not that bidder was flagged as being "Online" during check-in.

The Auction's Attributes will need to be updated before a lot can be flagged as being "Online":

Navigate to the applicable auction from the Dashboard, then select Auction > Edit Settings.
Under the Auction Attributes tab (or Adv. Attribute Settings tab), check the Show Clerking Attributes box.
Click the Disk icon in the top right corner of the screen to save the changes.

Once the Auction's Attributes have been updated, an Online checkbox will appear under the Lot Details tab for each lot in Lot Builder.

Once this box is checked and the lot is saved, the lot will be considered "Online" and any Online Premiums applied to the auction will apply to the bidder who purchases the lot.

If the lot is copied or moved to another auction, the lot will still be considered "Online" until the box is unchecked. The Online box can be checked or unchecked in bulk via Lot Bulk Actions, as long as the Show Clerking Attributes box has been checked under the auction's Edit Settings page.

Company Level vs. Auction Level

Online Premium fees can be applied at the company level or the auction level. The Online Premium selected at the company level will be applied to all auctions, unless a different Online Premium is chosen at the auction level.

Changes made to the Online Premium at the company level will not impact auctions that have already been created. Only new auctions created after the changes have been made will be impacted.

Changes made to the Online Premium at the auction level will not flow back to the company level, meaning they will only impact that specific event. The auction level Online Premium will override company level the Online Premium.

Changes can be made to an active auction, however saved changes will only impact unpaid invoices. Invoices that have full or partial payments applied are locked and will not be impacted by premium changes.

Applying an Online Premium at Company Level

Online Premiums can be set to default to a specific amount for every new auction made, saving time from having to set it per auction.

Navigate to My Links > Company > Profile.
Click on the Preferences tab.
Enter a percentage into the Default Online Premium for new auctions field.
If a cap to the Online Premium is desired, enter that dollar amount into the Default Online Premium Cap field.
Click the Disk icon in the top right corner of the page to Save.
- Changes made to the Online Premium at the company level will only affect auctions created after changes are made.
- Existing auctions will remain unchanged unless changes are made to the Online Premium at the auction level.

Applying an Online Premium at Auction Level

Navigate to the appropriate auction on the dashboard and then select Auction > Edit Settings.
Click on the Accounting tab.
Enter a percentage into the Online Premium field.
If a cap to the Online Premium is desired, enter that dollar amount into the Online Premium Cap field.
- For example, if the Online Premium is set to 3% with a $100 cap in place, items selling for $5,000 will be charged $100 even though that is less than 3% of the hammer price.
Click the Disk icon in the top right to Save.
- Changes made to the Online Premium at the auction level will not flow back to the company level, meaning they will only impact that specific event.
- The auction level Online Premium will override company level the Online Premium.
- Changes can be made to an active auction, however saved changes will only impact unpaid invoices. Invoices that have full or partial payments applied are locked and will not be impacted by premium changes.

Editing an Online Premium on an Invoice

Wavebid provides users with the option to override the Online Premium that was applied at the company or auction level. Online Premiums can be altered for a specific lot or the whole invoice. This option is only available for unpaid invoices. Changes cannot be made to the Online Premium after a payment (partial or full) has been applied to an invoice.

Please note, for Online bidders, the amount displayed in the 'Premium' column on the invoice will reflect the total of both the Buyer's Premium and the Online Premium combined (assuming a Buyer's Premium has been set for the auction).

Navigate to the applicable auction from the Dashboard, then select Accounting > Invoices.
Click on the applicable invoice to open it.
Click on any of the individual blue premium values to change the Online Premium for that specific lot.
- To change the Online Premium for every lot on the invoice, click on the word Premium.
The Confirm Premium Override window appears. Enter a new percentage into the Online Premium Percentage field.
- The percentage entered will override the previously applied Online premium, regardless of whether it was applied at the auction or company level.
- If either of the fields below are left blank, the value will revert back to whatever was set at the auction level. This means that if changes are being made to both the Online Premium and the Buyer's Premium, both of the values need to be entered into these fields every time an edit is made.
- For information on editing the Buyer's Premium Rate, see Buyer's Premiums.
Click the Ok button. The Online Premium will be adjusted on the invoice.
- Altered Premiums will have an asterisk (*) located to the right of the new fee to indicate that it is a variation from the auction default. This asterisk will be removed if the Online Premium and Buyer's Premium are returned to the default auction rate.
- To return the Online Premium to the default auction rate, click on the blue Premium amount again, leave the Percentage field blank, and click the Ok button.

Taxes

The Online Premium will be taxable if the Buyer's Premium is also set up to be taxable for the auction. There is not a way to make the Online Premium taxable while removing the Buyer's Premium tax. For information on Buyer's Premium tax, see Buyer's Premiums.

Troubleshooting

Premium Links on the Invoice are Not Blue (Cannot be Edited)

If any payments have been applied to an invoice, edits to premiums cannot be made.

All payments will need to be deleted/removed from the invoice before edits can be made. For information on removing payments from an invoice, see Payments.

Please note, issuing a refund on the invoice will not remove the payment. For more information on making edits to invoices, see Invoices.

Additionally, if the invoice template is using advanced customization of the "Details" tab, additional updates may need to be made to that customization to ensure that edits can be made to the premiums directly on the invoice. For more information on invoice options, see Invoice Settings.

Online Checkbox is Grayed Out

If the Online box is checked for a bidder during check-in, the auction house will not have the ability to uncheck that box. Instead, it will be grayed out. To have the Online box unchecked for a bidder, please contact Wavebid Support.

Online Premium Has Been Applied to a Bidder That's Not "Online"

If the bidder check-in page does not show that the Online box was checked for the bidder, it is likely that the lot has been flagged as being "Online". First, ensure that the Show Clerking Attributes box is checked under the auction's Edit Settings page (see above). Then navigate to the lot in Lot Builder and scroll down to the Lot Details tab. If the Online box there is checked, uncheck it and then click the Disk icon in the top right corner of the page to save the changes. This will remove the Online Premium from the bidder's invoice. However, if any payments have already been applied to the invoice, they will first need to be removed before the Online Premium will be removed.

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