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Importing Customers (Bidders and Sellers)

This article describes the process for importing customer (bidders and sellers) data into Wavebid from an outside source. For information on editing or deleting customers, see Managing Customers.

This article contains the following sections:

 

About Importing Customers


Wavebid considers both bidders and sellers as customers. Each customer has a profile that can contain their contact information, tax information, personal identification information, etc. Auction companies new to Wavebid may wish to import all of their customers into Wavebid from another source.

Importing customers does not check them into an event, instead it adds them to the customer database for that auction company. Once customers are imported, their profiles can be edited and they can be checked into events.

When a new or existing personal record (ex. bidders or sellers) is being saved, Wavebid automatically checks the database for matching persons. If two personal records match, Wavebid will merge them into one record to avoid duplicates. For more information, see the 'Duplicate Customer Records' section under the Managing Customers help article.

Please note that once customer data is imported, the import cannot be reversed. 

 

Preparing to Import


Even though importing does not add customers to an auction event, an event still needs to exist in order to perform the import action. As such, the auction company should use one of the three auction types for customer imports:

  1. A new auction, created specifically for the purpose of importing customers.
  2. An old auction that is no longer active.
  3. The training sale that was created during Wavebid training sessions.

Preparing a Spreadsheet

Customer data is imported via spreadsheet. Spreadsheets must contain a First Name column and a separate Last Name column. The spreadsheet must be saved a Comma-Separated Values (.CSV) file type.

The following columns are recommended, but not required:

  • Billing Address
  • Billing City
  • Billing State
  • Billing Postal Code (zip code)
  • Phone Number
  • Email

If the customer being imported should be assigned a Permanent Bidder Number, then a Permanent Bidder # column must be added to the spreadsheet containing that information.

If the customer being imported should be assigned a Permanent Seller Number, then a Permanent Seller Code column must be added to the spreadsheet containing that information.

If the customer should always be tax exempt, then a Tax Exempt column must be added to the spreadsheet. Each tax exempt customer should have a "1" in the Tax Exempt column.

 

Importing International Customers

Wavebid supports the ISO 3166 standard. Any of the following country code methods can be used within the file.

  1. 2-letter Code
  2. 3-letter code
  3. Numeric code
  4. Full Name

Customer Segments/Person Attributes

Wavebid allows for users to place customers in different groups (segments) which then allow companies to generate various customer lists based on those groups.

Customer Segments are created by applying various Person Attributes to the customers in Wavebid, and then filtering those attributes to generate groups. For more information, see Customer Segments.

 

Importing


  1. Navigate to applicable auction from the Dashboard, then select Accounting > Import Buyers.
  2. If the file does not contain a header row, uncheck the Has Header Row? box.
  3. Click the Choose File button and select the spreadsheet created above
  4. Click the Upload button.
  5. Confirm columns were mapped.

    • Mapping determines what spreadsheet column will be pulled into which Wavebid field.

    • Columns that are not mapped will not be imported.

    • Mapping can be done by dragging and dropping any of the blue Wavebid headers (on the right side of the page) to the applicable Mapped to field.

    • The customer's First Name and Last Name must be mapped. The First Name and Last Name must be separate columns. ImportingCustomers1.jpg
  6. Once all desired columns are mapped, click the Import button at the bottom of the page.
    • Columns that are not mapped will not be imported. 
    • Once the import process is complete, a Person Import Results page will appear to confirm success.
    • The imported customer information should now be available for Bidder Check-In or Seller Check-In.

Customer lists can be generated by navigating to My Links > Company > Customers > List. For more information, see Reports and Lists.

For information on editing or deleting customers, see Managing Customers.

 

 

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