Has anyone here actually learned e-auctions properly through a course or was it mostly trial and error?
Our team recently started using them for a few sourcing events and honestly, we underestimated how different they are from normal RFQs. We thought suppliers would just log in and start bidding, but there was way more handholding involved than expected. Some suppliers kept asking basic questions during the event itself, and internally we were also figuring things out as we went.
Now leadership wants us to use e-auctions more often, especially for competitive categories, so I’m trying to learn the right way to run them before the next round.
I’m mainly looking for practical resources that cover:
- setting up the auction properly
- supplier communication/preparation
- common mistakes
- bidding strategies
- when e-auctions actually work well and when they don’t
Would appreciate any recommendations for courses, videos, or even people/content worth following. Most of what I’ve found so far feels very sales-y or too theoretical.