Webkul Product Auction

I've been using this app for just about four years and have run over 1,800 auctions. When it works, it does work really, really well. Auctions are relatively easy to set up, I typically add three daily and will have as many as nine running at any given time. But when, something goes wrong, it's a real challenge especially when I have items that are generating a lot of interest and bidding. This app is one of the better options at the moment, but just be prepared that outages will occur. Here's a brief list of what you can expect from time to time.

1. Most commonly, the app will simply just stop working. This seems to happen about once a month or so. Bidders will not be able to make bids nor will I be able to access the admin. This seems to happen at the worst time, when auctions are nearly ending and when most of the bidding action happens. This occurs enough where I added to my product descriptions that "in the even of confirmed app failure, auctions can be cancelled/voided at any time, even after completion of auction". That being said, I don't recommend auto-approving the winner since the the app can fail and then declare a winner anyways. This equals lost revenue and unhappy customers.

2. E-mails to bidders may fail. I've received a few instances where bidders were not notified via e-mail that they were outbid. It simply was not sent as all sent messages are in my sent items.

3. Bidding may or may not auto update from the bidders view. I recommend adding "PLEASE REFRESH OFTEN" in the product description as a reminder.

Again, I do like the app. But I just am prepared for the occasions where this app will just randomly stop or become unresponsive. These outages create the most headaches for me. When it works like it should, it's very good.

We have been using this auction app for a couple of years, and when it works, it works great, but when it fails, it fails miserably. One important factor to consider is that this company is based in India, and they do not offer 24-hour tech support. We hold our auctions on Sunday nights in the USA, and we have encountered the following issues:

Once, the app crashed just as the auction was beginning to close. We auction 100-200 gemstones and minerals every two weeks, with items closing one minute apart. The app crashed after the first two or three items closed, and customers were unable to place those all-important last-minute bids. Despite the crash, the app STILL sent invoices to customers for the bids they had placed before the crash, resulting in us losing thousands of dollars in last-minute bids. Their excuse? They said they had forgotten to renew their security certificate

The app frequently goes down, typically for a few hours, but it’s unpredictable when it will crash. For instance, I am writing this review on a Sunday morning, with an auction closing tonight, and the app has already crashed. Customers are currently unable to place bids. We are receiving many emails from confused customers and of course we have no real explanation to give them. Of course it is Sunday night in India, I’ve sent three emails with no response—there seems to be no one in their office.
Use this app at your own risk.
We are looking at alternative auction apps apps

Dev support has been very responsive and helpful.