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EN - Participate in a Dutch Auction

Learn how to join, follow, and submit your bid in a Dutch Auction hosted through Archlet. This step-by-step guide walks you through acceptance of bidder agreements, previewing the auction, bidding live, and understanding auction outcomes.

Updated over 3 weeks ago

Step-by-step guide

Respond to the bidder agreement

When you enter the project for the first time, you may be asked to review and accept a bidder agreement. This agreement contains the terms, requirements, or conditions set by the buyer.
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If you accept:

  • You legally acknowledge and agree to the terms.

  • You gain full access to the auction.

If you decline:

  • You cannot participate in the auction.
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Chat with the buyer


You can use the Chat panel at any time, during the bidder agreement review or throughout the auction, to ask clarifying questions or contact the buyer.

Preview the auction

After accepting the bidder agreement (if enabled for the respective auction), you will enter the Preview stage.


Here, you can review:

  • The auction start time

  • The auction rules

  • The items being auctioned

Bid in the live auction

When the auction starts, the interface displays:

  • The current bid

  • A countdown timer showing how long you have to accept the current bid

To submit your bid:

  1. Click Accept bid.

  2. A confirmation dialog will appear asking you to confirm your choice.

  3. Once confirmed, your offer becomes binding and cannot be withdrawn.

  4. The status changes to Offer pending until the current time step ends.

Important: Accepting a bid is legally binding and you must honor the accepted price.

After the auction

If you win

You will see a success message confirming that your bid was the winning offer. The procurement team will contact you with next steps.

If you do not win

If another supplier accepts the bid before you do, you will receive a message indicating that you did not win the auction.

How do ties work

In case that another bidder accepts the same price, we have a tie. Depending on the configuration of the buyer, the following will happen:

  • The bidder that accepted the price first, wins the auction.

  • There is a sealed bidding round of 30min during which you and the other bidder have time to once again improve your current offer.

Screenshot to be added

Paused auction

Buyers may pause the auction, for example, if some suppliers experience connectivity issues.


While paused:

  • You cannot accept bids.

  • A message informs you that the auction is temporarily suspended until the buyer resumes it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I access technical support during the auction?

Click on the message bubble on the bottom right corner of the screen and select Ask a question.

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