Email Notifications
21 transactional emails ship with the plugin. All editable from WooCommerce → Settings → Emails.
All 21 emails
| Trigger | Recipients | |
|---|---|---|
| Bid placed | Bidder successfully places a bid | Bidder, admin, seller |
| Outbid | Another bid beats the user's | Previous high bidder |
| Auction starting | A scheduled auction goes live | Watchers + registered bidders |
| Auction started | (optional admin announcement) | All registered users |
| Auction ending soon | A configurable interval before close | Active bidders + watchers |
| Auction won | User wins | Winner |
| Auction lost | User bid but didn't win | Non-winning bidders |
| Payment reminder | A configurable interval after win, unpaid | Winner |
| Payment confirmation | Payment completed | Winner, seller, admin |
| Payment overdue | Past the payment deadline | Winner, admin |
| Auction failed | Reserve not met | Seller, bidders |
| Auction relisted | Auto-relist triggers | Previous bidders + watchers |
| Watchlist activity | Configured trigger on a watched lot | Watcher |
| Registration | New user signup | New user |
| New auction from seller | Vendor publishes a lot | Seller-followers |
| Lot approved | Admin approves vendor lot | Vendor |
| Lot rejected | Admin rejects vendor lot | Vendor |
| Seller application received | (legacy — vendor onboarding moved to multi-vendor plugin) | Applicant |
| Seller approved | (legacy) | Applicant |
| Seller rejected | (legacy) | Applicant |
Where to edit them
WooCommerce → Settings → Emails lists every email. Click one to:
- Enable / disable
- Override the recipient (admin emails)
- Override the subject line
- Override the heading
- Override the email body (HTML / plain text)
- Tweak the template via WooCommerce's standard email customiser
Localisation
Email text is fully translatable. Use:
- WordPress's built-in translation tooling
- Loco Translate plugin
- WPML / Polylang for multi-language sites
Emails respect the recipient's user locale.
Email digest
For low-priority notifications, customers can opt into a daily digest:
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Digest enabled (per user) | Bundles non-urgent notifications |
| Digest send time | User's preferred hour |
| Digest frequency | Daily / Weekly |
Time-sensitive notifications (outbid, won, ending soon) always fire individually regardless of the digest setting.
Plain-text versions
Each HTML template ships with a plain-text counterpart. WooCommerce automatically attaches the plain-text version as a fallback for email clients that prefer it.
Sending mechanics
The plugin uses WooCommerce's email engine — same as standard WC emails. This means it respects WC's "from" address and name, works with any standard SMTP plugin, and shows up in any SMTP plugin's send log.
For high-volume sites, queued sends (digests, bulk "ending soon" blasts) go through Action Scheduler so they never block a bid request.
Specific email reference
Bid placed
Sent immediately after a bid is accepted:
| Recipient | Subject | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Bidder | "Bid placed — {title}" | Confirms the bid, shows amount |
| Admin | "New bid: {title}" | Admin awareness, especially on high-value lots |
| Seller | "New bid on your auction" | Vendor awareness |
Configurable per-recipient.
Outbid
Sent when another bid beats the user's current high.
Subject: "You've been outbid on {title}"
The body includes the new high amount, a one-click rebid button (jumps to the auction with the minimum increment pre-filled) and the time remaining.
Auction won
Subject: "🎉 You won {title}!"
The body includes the winning amount, a Pay Now button (or "paid via wallet" confirmation if auto-charged), the payment deadline and seller contact info.
Watchlist activity
A watcher can opt in or out of each of these sub-triggers:
| Sub-trigger | Default |
|---|---|
| Auction starting (24 hr) | yes |
| Auction starting (1 hr) | yes |
| Reserve met for the first time | yes |
| Auction ending soon (1 hr) | yes |
| Auction ending soon (5 min) | optional |
| First bid placed | optional |
| Auction ended (won by another) | optional |
Performance
Email sending is queued in the background — never blocks a bid request. Even on a slow SMTP server, bid placement remains fast.
For very high bid volume, consider a dedicated email service (Postmark, SendGrid, Amazon SES), enabling digest mode for non-critical events, or batching the "auction ending soon" blast as one mass send instead of per-user.
Common questions
"Email isn't arriving?"
Standard WordPress email troubleshooting:
- Check WP → Tools → Site Health for "PHP mail" issues.
- Use an SMTP plugin (WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP).
- Check the spam folder.
- Verify the recipient's email is verified.
- Check your domain's SPF / DKIM / DMARC records.
"Why is my email going to spam?"
The most common cause is missing DKIM / SPF records. Configure your domain DNS per your SMTP provider's instructions.