Hide Maximum Bid Amount in Auctions

-- HikaShop version -- : 6.5.1
-- HikaAuction version -- : 6.0.2
-- Joomla version -- : 6.1.2
-- PHP version -- : 8.4
-- Browser(s) name and version -- : all

Hello Team,

At the moment HikaAuction provides the option to hide or display several auction details, such as:

* Minimum bidding price
* Current winning price
* Reserve price amount
* Price in listing
And other info
(see attachment)

I would like to request the addition of another configurable option that allows the maximum bid amount to remain hidden from all users while the auction is active.

For auctions that use proxy bidding or a Vickrey-style bidding model, the maximum bid should remain confidential until the auction has ended. Keeping the maximum bid hidden encourages bidders to submit their true maximum bid without influencing the bidding behaviour of others and results in a fairer auction process.

Any chance you can implement this feature too please?

Thank you

Hi,

Thank you for the suggestion.

One thing worth clarifying : the maximum bid amount is already kept private between bidders. HikaAuction only ever shows a bidder their own "previous max bid", and never displays it to anyone else, so during an active auction no bidder can see another bidder's maximum bid. The proxy/Vickrey confidentiality you describe is therefore already in place.

The only spot where a maximum bid appears is that "your previous max bid" line, shown to the bidder himself. If you also want to hide it from the bidder's own view, you can do it right now with a bit of CSS in your template, for example:

Hi Nicolas, and thanks for your answer

Sorry I did not specify before, the maximum bid is still visible to anyone in the bidding history
Although the current auction price stands at 50,000, "buyer7" is currently able to view the maximum bid of 60,000 placed by "buyer4" within the bidding history. see screenshot


Regarding 'The only spot where a maximum bid appears is that "your previous max bid" line, shown to the bidder himself', I gently suggest adding a clarifying note next to it stating something like 'This is your max bid, it is hidden to others' please

Thank you
Luca

Hi Luca,

You are right, thanks for the screenshot and sorry for the confusion. My previous answer was about the bid form, not the history. In proxy / Vickrey bidding the value stored for each bid is the bidder's entered maximum, and the history table shows that value, so other bidders can indeed read it there.

Good news : there is already an option for exactly this. In the HikaAuction configuration, in the display settings, turn on "Hide bid amounts in history". Once enabled, other bidders no longer see the amounts in the auction history, while each user still sees their own rows, so the maximum bids stay secret. Its tooltip even recommends it for the Vickrey auction mode.

About your second point, adding a short note next to the bidder's own "previous max bid" line to say it is only visible to them is a good idea and we will look into adding it in a future version.

Thank you Nicolas for your response,

yes the 'Hide bid amounts in history' is useful for that scope but unfortunately hides all other bids

In observing some Vickrey auction sites, they display the bidding history while keeping the maximum bid hidden.

Would be nice to leave 'Hide bid amounts in history' and have another option 'Hide max bid amount'.
Implementing this feature would provide a more complete and transparent experience for auctioneers, ultimately increasing trust in the platform.

If it is not a big task, I hope you can add that too in the next version

However, thank you for your continued assistance and responses

Luca

Hi,

Thanks for the extra details. We'll look at improving this for the next version of HikaAuction.

That's absolutely great, thank you Nicolas!