MetaBid Factors

MetaBid factors are an advanced feature of Iasta SmartSource for reverse auctions where you can assess arbitrary nominal (monetary) and percentage discounts or penalties on bidders, affecting the competitive action by bringing in non-price factors and leading to a level playing field.

Since MetaBid factors can cause noticeable changes in displayed project prices (such as the start price, original price, etc.), it is recommended to set up MetaBid factors before the Live Event begins. This way, the bidder with an applied factor is not alarmed by these changes during an actual bidding project. For example, a bidder with an applied factor will see the start price as minus, plus their penalty or discount. However, they will only be alerted to this discrepancy if they were able to see the actual start price before the factor was applied. (You can define this on the Project Settings window.)

NOTE: To avoid all chance that a bidder will notice that MetaBid factors have been applied, you do not absolutely need to publish or enter pricing information for the lots and items.

MetaBid Penalty and Discount Calculations

Question: If "Bidder A" must receive a 5% MetaBid penalty, and "Bidder A" bids $10.00, what is his or her adjusted bid?

Answer: The formula for determining a bid with a MetaBid penalty is:

Bid + (Bid * (MetaBid / 100)) = Adjusted Bid

Therefore, the calculation would be:

$10 + ($10 * (5 /100) = $10.50

Question: If "Bidder B" must receive a 5% MetaBid discount, and "Bidder B" bids $10.00, what is his or her adjusted bid?

Answer: The formula for determining a bid with a MetaBid discount is:

Bid + (Bid * (-MetaBid / 100)) = Adjusted Bid

Therefore, the calculation would be:

$10 + ($10 * (-5 / 100)) = $9.50

NOTE: Nominal MetaBid factors can only be applied to Standard lots.

Additional Information

Nominal MetaBid factors are NOT supported for ItemBid lots due to the inability to automatically and accurately break down the nominal MetaBid amount into the several items needed within an ItemBid lot.
MetaBid factors CANNOT be applied to an RFx document as the RFx is a static PDF document applicable to ALL bidders.
Bidders need not know a MetaBid factor is in place, although the application of a MetaBid factor usually hints of its existence through non-rounded values in the bid. For example, a $100.00 minimum bid decrement may appear to MetaBid affected bidders as a $132.43 minimum bid decrement which may indicate the existence of an arbitrary factor.
You can assign MetaBid factors to all lots and, once created in a project, they can be applied to multiple bidders by accessing their attendee properties and enabling the newly created factor.
In a reverse Dutch auction, the meta bid adjustment modifies the ranges that are displayed to bidders to accommodate