A Reserve Bidder places bids on behalf of someone not online. This can be used in scenarios such as:
Phone bidding
Commission bids
Marking a reserve price
How it works (on Webcasts)
If the clerk presses ‘Sell’ when a Reserve Bidder is the highest bidder:
The item will show as SOLD in the webcast interface.
However, the system will automatically treat it as UNSOLD on the admin page — this is intentional, as the bidding could just be a reserve that wasn't met.
Invoicing
If the bid was placed for an absentee bidder, the item can still be added to an invoice manually as a line item.
If the bid was only a reserve that wasn’t met, the item will stay marked as SOLD in the console, but it won’t be invoiced.
What’s the difference?
Public bidder wins → Item is marked as SOLD and is available for invoicing.
Reserve bidder wins → Item appears SOLD on the console and front end, but is automatically set to UNSOLD in the admin page.