A specialized horticultural enterprise wanted to launch a dedicated online marketplace where growers and collectors could buy and sell plants and cuttings through a real auction-style bidding experience, rather than a generic classifieds site. They needed a platform that could handle live bidding, instant Buy It Now purchases, seller ratings, and shipping details, all wrapped in their own brand instead of looking like an off-the-shelf marketplace template. To bring this vision to reality, the founders partnered with Artesian Software Technologies. Leveraging our official partnership with RainWorx (the creators of the AuctionWorx platform) we architected and launched FigBid, a fully custom, end-to-end auction website built precisely for the plant collector community.
FigBid gives buyers a dedicated place to search specifically for the products the client sells, all organised into clear categories so nothing gets lost in a huge, generic listings site. Every item can be listed as a live auction with a starting bid and countdown timer, or offered at a fixed Buy It Now price, and every listing clearly shows the current price, time remaining, and how many units are available. Sellers get everything they need to run a genuine online selling business, from photos and descriptions to shipping options, payment instructions, and a public reputation built through star ratings and feedback, all managed from their own account without touching a line of code.
Rather than building an auction platform completely from scratch, we used AuctionWorx, a proven platform from RainWorx, as the foundation, then rebuilt the entire look and feel around the client’s own branding, colours, and logo so it never feels like an off-the-shelf template. We also added custom features built specifically for how this community buys and sells, like optional shipping insurance, seller location details, and text message notifications for things like outbid alerts. The result is a polished, reliable auction site that runs on a proven engine underneath but looks, feels, and works exactly the way the client needed it to.
