About
Handshake Hold lets your auction automatically suspend a dealer's membership when your Auction Management System (AMS) or AuctionACCESS indicates there's a problem with their account. Instead of manually monitoring each dealer and blocking them one by one, the system watches their account status for you and puts the brakes on automatically.
When a handshake is on hold, that dealer cannot place proxy bids, make Buy Now requests, register for online sales, or view any dealer reports under that membership — on your site or any affiliated site using the same handshake.
Solution
Why Turn It On?
By default, all three hold settings are **off**. Dealers with barred or restricted AMS accounts can still transact until you enable them. Turning these settings on means:
- You're protected from unauthorized transactions the moment your AMS flags a dealer
- Your staff doesn't have to manually track down and block individual memberships
- Dealers are told to call you to resolve the issue — keeping communication in your hands
---
The Three Settings
Each setting is a simple on/off switch configured per auction company. They are independent, so you can enable whichever combination matches your policy.
1. Handshake Hold: Barred Dealerships
Puts a membership on hold when your AMS has the dealership marked as barred.
Enable this if you want the system to automatically block a dealer the moment your AMS marks their account as barred — without any manual intervention required.
2. Handshake Hold: No Selling Permission
Puts a membership on hold when your AMS shows the dealership does not have permission to sell.
Enable this if you want to prevent dealers without active selling privileges from listing or consigning vehicles through your sites.
3. Handshake Hold: No Buying Permission
Puts a membership on hold when your AMS shows the dealership does not have permission to buy.
Enable this if you want to prevent dealers without active buying privileges from bidding or purchasing through your sites.
---
AuctionACCESS Barring (Always Active)
One hold condition does **not** require any setting to be turned on: if a representative is barred in AuctionACCESS, their handshake is automatically placed on hold. This happens regardless of your AMS hold settings — it cannot be disabled at the company level.
---
What the Dealer Sees
When a dealer's handshake is on hold:
- Their account page shows the membership marked as **on hold**
- If the hold is driven by an AMS condition, they see: **"Please call Auction to resolve issues."**
- They cannot proceed with any bids, Buy Now requests, or online sale registrations under that membership
- When attempting to view a dealer report, they see a warning that they have no dealerships associated with their account
- They will not see a specific reason for the hold — just prompts to contact your auction
This is intentional. The resolution needs to happen through you and your AMS, not through self-service.
---
Reports Affected
While a handshake is on hold, the dealer cannot view any reports that are tied to their dealership. This includes:
- Dealers Lot Report
- Inspection Report
- Inventory Report
- Purchased Report
- Run List Report
- Sold Report
- Title Absent Purchased Report
- Title Absent Sold Report
If a dealer contacts you saying they can't see their reports, a handshake hold is one of the first things worth checking. The override described below restores report access for the day along with everything else.
---
What Your Staff Sees in GasCAP
When viewing a member's registration in GasCAP, if a handshake is on hold, a warning panel appears showing:
- Which condition(s) are causing the hold:
- *Representative is currently barred.*
- *Dealership does not have permission to sell.*
- *Dealership does not have permission to buy.*
- An **Override for the Day** button (see below)
---
Overriding a Hold
If you need to allow a dealer to participate before their AMS account is fully corrected — for example, the update is in progress but won't sync until tonight — your staff can override the hold for the rest of that day from the member's registration page in GasCAP.
**How it works:**
1. Open the member's registration in GasCAP
2. Find the affected handshake and click **Override for the Day**
3. The hold is bypassed until midnight of that same day
4. The next day, the system re-evaluates the handshake against the current AMS data
If the underlying AMS issue has been fixed by the next day, the hold won't return. If it hasn't, the hold will be active again.
To reinstate a hold before midnight on the same day, your staff can click **Cancel Override** from the same panel.
---
How Holds Resolve Automatically
You don't need to manually clear a hold once it's been set. When your AMS is updated — the barred flag is removed, or buying/selling permissions are restored — the hold goes away on its own the next time the system checks. No action required on your end beyond keeping your AMS data current.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR AuctionAccess AUCTIONS:
If you manually set a dealer's "can buy", "can sell", or "barred" status in your AMS, AuctionAccess will overwrite those changes the next time it sends an update to your AMS for that dealer. To prevent this, you will need to place the dealer in "financial hold" or "auction level hold" in AuctionAccess.
---
Summary
| Condition | Setting Required | Can Be Overridden for a Day |
|-----------|-----------------|----------------------------|
| Rep barred in AuctionACCESS | None (always active) | Yes |
| Dealership barred in AMS | Handshake Hold: Barred Dealerships | Yes |
| Dealership has no selling permission | Handshake Hold: No Selling Permission | Yes |
| Dealership has no buying permission | Handshake Hold: No Buying Permission | Yes |
**When a handshake is on hold, the dealer cannot:**
- Place proxy bids
- Make Buy Now requests
- Register for online sales
- View any dealer reports (Lot, Inspection, Inventory, Purchased, Run List, Sold, Title Absent)
To enable any of these settings for your auction, contact your system administrator or the AutoLookout support team.
Additional Help and Support
Auction Edge offers first rate technical support to our subscribing customer auctions. Our dedicated support staff is available Monday through Friday, 7am to 8pm EST.
Help Desk (Toll Free): (800) 522-8404
Support Portal: https://support.auctionedge.com/