E-Auctions

Drive competition and maximize savings live.

Run English, Dutch and Japanese auctions to discover market prices and optimize spend through transparent competition among pre-qualified suppliers.

● Live Reverse Auction
Ethyl Acetate · 320 MT · DDP DE
Current Best
€0.68/kg
Bid movement · Last 4 min −12.4%
Live Leaderboard
1
ChemTrade AG
€0.68
−0.02
2
Nordic Solvents
€0.70
−0.01
3
EuroChem Group
€0.72
−0.00
−€8.4K
Savings this session
The old way

RFQ round, wait, argue on price.

One quote per supplier, no reaction to the market.
Suppliers submit once, then wait. Nobody knows if the price is competitive until awarding.
Weeks of email negotiation on complex items.
Every landed-cost adjustment — duties, malus, quality — reopens the conversation in a spreadsheet.
Non-digital suppliers get left out.
Incumbents on Excel and PDF quotes can't join a live event, so the pool shrinks.
The PINPOOLS way

One live event replaces the whole back-and-forth.

Pre-qualified suppliers compete in the same window, in the format that fits the category — English, Dutch or Japanese. Landed cost is computed live via formulas; Email to Quote pulls in non-digital suppliers; awarding happens the same day.
Up to 10%
cost reduction per event
engagement
from the pre-qualified pool
Hours, not weeks
from live event to award
Landed cost
ranked live via formulas
Three auction types

One engine, three competition mechanics.

Pick the format that matches the category: continuous under-bidding, price ticking down from a ceiling, or timed offers accepted round by round.

RankSupplierYour bidTime
1 ASupplier A $98,500 ↑ 02:15
2 BSupplier B $99,200 ↓ 02:15
3 CSupplier C $100,000 02:15
AvailableReverse / Forward

English auction

Suppliers keep under-bidding each other in real time. Best price wins. The default for well-defined materials.

Supplier coefficientTime extension
$1,000 $950 $900 $850
Next step in00:18
AvailableDescending price

Dutch auction

Price ticks down from a ceiling; the first supplier to accept wins the lot. Fast, decisive, great for higher-complexity items.

Stop & Go multi-itemFormula-ranked
AvailableTimed rounds · accept or drop

Japanese auction

Every round a new target price is offered; suppliers accept or exit. The last supplier still in wins.

Round-basedSignals commitment
Benefits

What buyers get out of it.

Five outcomes, one engine — transparent competition among pre-qualified suppliers.

Higher supplier engagement

Pre-qualified pool competes in the same window.

Significant cost reduction

Reported across awarded categories per event.

Fast and compliant process

Award within a single session, not weeks.

Adaptable to any spend type

Commodities, packaging, indirect, CAPEX.

Key capabilities

Auction logic tuned to every category.

Reverse, forward, Dutch or Japanese — configured with the safeguards, transparency levels and business rules your buyers and suppliers actually need.

1236900:47+2:00

Time-extended bidding

A last-second bid extends the clock automatically, so no supplier can win by sniping the deadline.

Item A · SolventLive
Item B · ResinPaused
Item C · AdditiveQueued

"Stop & Go" multi-item mode

Run many items in one event, one at a time — pause, release the next, and keep suppliers focused on the lot in play.

Your position01:12
#2of 5 bidders
Gap to best+€0.02

Live supplier feedback

Suppliers see position, gap to best and time remaining in real time — enough signal to react, not enough to game the room.

Rank only
#3
€ • • • •
Active
Gap to best
+€0.04
rank hidden
Best bid
€0.68
full price

Transparency levels

Configure exactly what suppliers see — position, gap to best, ranks or full best bid — and set it per category.

Bid€0.68+Duties4.5%+Malus+€0.02=Landed€0.734

Formulas for any complexity

Import duties, malus, quality adjustments — auction logic ranks by landed cost, not headline price, and honors your business rules.

How it works

From Request to awarded winner.

Six steps that live in one Request — General tab to final award, no side-tools, no re-keying between systems.

Step 01

Activate auctioning

Open a Request, flip Activate auctioning on the General tab, and pick the format that fits the category — English (Reverse or Forward), Dutch or Japanese (coming soon).

01
Activate auctioning
* Auction type
English
Dutch
JapaneseSoon
Reverse direction Forward direction
More settings:
0.10%
02
Step 02

Configure the bidding rules

Set the safeguards for the room — prolonging time, minimum decrement, ranking visibility, ceiling quote, no tie bids. Every toggle maps to a real supplier-side behaviour.

Step 03

Add items and formulas

On the Add items tab, load your line items. For bonus/malus per supplier, add a Suppliers Coefficient column and mark a formula column as Main Price — ranking uses that.

03
RFQ / RFP / RFI / E-Auction
General InfoAdd itemsAdd SupplierPreview
#Item NameQuantitySupplier PriceSuppliers Coeff.
1Ethyl acetate100 pcs€0.68+0.02
2Methanol200 pcs€0.42−0.01
3Toluene150 pcs€1.10+0.03
Invite further supplierDraftUpload list
Total invited 3 · Active 2 · Confirmed 2
Company / UserLast activityScoreProfile
ChemTrade AG• Online86%100%
Nordic Solvents• Offline62%78%
EuroChem Group• Offline38%55%
04
Step 04

Invite suppliers

Pick vendors from your directory, invite further suppliers one by one, or upload an Excel draft. Set line-item visibility and qualification per invitee, then preview and publish.

Step 05

Run the auction live

A live countdown, Running badge and Bid history table update as bids arrive — pause the room any time. Japanese auctions show a rounds-and-confirmations grid instead of a bid chart.

English · Bid historyJapanese · Rounds
05
RunningBidding• Online
Time remaining: 07:31:19
Bid history · test item 1
RankParticipantPriceSubmitted
1Labadie, Morar & Emmerich78,50 €15:16:07
2AutoCompanySupplierA95,50 €15:14:37
3West Group99,70 €15:15:15
Bid historyPivot tableSupplier AnalysisScenariosStatistics
BEST
Magna Metálicos
Total sum: 85 €
Savings: −14 €
Offer/unit: 85,00 €
final: 85 (main)
PERSTORP Oxo AB
Total sum: 95 €
Savings: −4 €
Offer/unit: 95,00 €
final: 95 (main)
Manserv Facilities
Total sum: 99 €
Savings: 0 €
Offer/unit: 99,00 €
final: 99 (main)
06
Step 06

Analyse and award

Work through Bid History, Pivot table, Supplier Analysis, Scenarios and Statistics. Award the offer with the best final price (main price).

Extended case · Category spend

A chemicals producer digitized four strategic categories.

The producer used PINPOOLS to digitize and centralize its category spend — introducing e-auctions, formula-based pricing and SAP-linked Series requests. Incumbent suppliers reluctant to use digital tools were handled with Email to Quote, letting traditional quoting be parsed automatically.

Formula updates drove monthly pricing; benchmarking added transparency. Tenders became repeatable and insights measurable.

Suppliers engaged
160+
Across 4 strategic categories
Average savings
12.4%
Across awarded categories
Process duration
Weeks → days
Tenders now repeatable
Non-digital suppliers
Email-to-Quote
Kept incumbents in the room
SAP outline agreements
Generated automatically
Formula‑based updates
Reduced manual entry
Benchmarks
Embedded into pricing reviews

“Formula updates now drive monthly pricing, and every tender is repeatable — the first time our category reviews started from data instead of email threads.”

Category Lead, chemicals · 4 strategic categories digitized on PINPOOLS
Trusted by industry leaders

Procurement teams in chemicals, pharma, and coatings
build with PINPOOLS.

Frequently asked

E-Auctions questions, answered.

Which auction types are supported?

Three: English (both reverse and forward, on the same engine), Dutch, and Japanese.

What is time-extended bidding?

When a bid arrives near the end of the auction, the clock is extended to ensure fair competition. This is native auction logic in PINPOOLS.

Can I run auctions on many items at once?

Yes — the "Stop & Go" mode handles multi-item auctions.

Can I combine auctions with formulas (duties, mali, etc.)?

Yes — formulas cover complexity like import duties, malus points, quality adjustments, and more.

Award within hours.

Run your first e-auction with our team on your own category.

Trusted by industry leaders · Enterprise security · Onboarding in days