Auction Item Tree Overview

Auction Items can be configured into what is termed a Tree structure. The tree structure provides two main roles:

• Trees organize the items into logical groups.
• Trees provide a basis for decentralized control.

Here are the essential characteristics of an auction tree:

• Within a tree, a single parent Auction Item can contain under it one or more child Auction Items.
• Each child item can contain one or more of their own child items (The item is then both a parent and a child at once).

The resulting structure is often described as a tree with branches and leaves. (Leaf items are those items than contain no children).

Only Leaf items can be won by a bidder.

But parent items have great purpose: they can be used to organize child items into groups, they can be used to place parental limits on the sum of their child item’s wins, and they can be used to control the visibility of child items (see Hidden Items, and Visibility)