@AuctionUA_bot - Auction Bot on Telegram
Development
Bot development lead time: March 2017 - April 2017 (1 month)
AuctionUA lot illustration
BEFORE
“Having friends on social media is a phenomenon of 2010. Everyone you need has used messaging apps for a long time now.”
We’ve started using Telegram as a corporate messaging app from its launch. It was fast, easy to navigate and full of convenient features, which made it the main tool of online communication.
Telegram features provide an opportunity to create channels. We took our chance to form useful and interesting platforms to communicate with customers. We divided them by interests and one of them was @skaybu.
Skay.ua employees share used electronic devices in good condition on this channel under the Trade-in program, where you can exchange an old gadget for a new one. All the stuff is expertly handled and provided with warranty, that’s why it is sold immediately once they post an offer.
It was really disappointing for those people who requested the device 10-20 minutes after the offer was posted. That’s how the idea of the auction was born. We wanted people to have equal opportunities to get electronic devices at the best price.
COMPLETED TASKS
We decided to run auctions on the same platform clients were engaged on the offer - Telegram. To handle the auction process, we needed a bot. We examined ready-made solutions, but didn’t find the one with the functions we were looking for. That’s why we created our own auction bot.
1. Scheme
We schematically described the logic of the bot:
- illustrated how it would process the actions of pressing buttons “Make a Bid” and “Indicate your price”;
- clarified how the bot would react when the auction was over.
2. Functions
To set up an auction, all the information about the lot needs to be transferred to the bot. We decided to upload it through the website with an admin panel included.
You can create an auction lot, description and add some photos. Besides that, you can also set initial cost, bidding step and currency. After you fill in all the necessary fields, the information is transferred to your bot. Whenever you are ready, just send the bot a request to run your auction. The admin panel also provides you with statistics.
Here are a few more functions of the admin panel: you can add your Telegram channel and ban bidders. The last one is especially useful if a user breaks the auction rules, for example, by refusing to purchase a lot that he won.
3. Implementation
We built the logic of the bot using Ruby on Rails, and the admin panel is hosted on web.auctionua.com. The interaction between bot logic and its firmware on messenger occurs with the help of Telegram API.
AFTER
- Elaborate bot functions and the ability to purchase electronic devices without leaving Telegram made the channel @auctionua famous. There are around 900 active buyers.
- People share interesting auction lots, that’s how the number of channel followers grows organically.
- The auction is run twice a week.
- The total number of auctions held is more than 200.
- The average number of participants is 50 for each lot.
- Best offers of used electronic devices are provided in each auction.
- From time to time, there are new goods with an initial cost of $1.
