Docs/Reference

Troubleshooting

TL;DR: Most issues resolve with one of three moves — wait a few seconds (auction pages load data late), refresh the page, or reload the extension at chrome://extensions/. Everything else is below, worst-first. If you're stuck, email auctionmatepro@gmail.com with the VIN or lot URL and we'll dig in.

The side panel doesn't open on a lot page

  1. Click the AuctionMate icon in the Chrome toolbar.
  2. Or open Chrome's Side panel control (top-right) and pick AuctionMate.
  3. Confirm you're on an actual lot page (copart.com/lot/... or an IAAI vehicle-details page) — the panel doesn't activate on search results or dashboards.
  4. Still nothing? Go to chrome://extensions/, find AuctionMate Pro, and click the reload ↻ icon. This is also the required step after every extension update — Chrome doesn't reload extensions on its own.

Fields show "–" or fill in slowly

Copart and IAAI load parts of their own pages a few seconds after the page looks done. The panel polls and fills in as data appears — give it 2–3 seconds before judging a field missing.

  • A genuinely absent field (Copart leaves Seller off most lots, for example) stays "–". That's the listing, not a scraping failure.
  • The first-ever analysis of a VIN takes the longest — 15–25 seconds while we decode the VIN, fetch market values, and pull history in parallel. Repeat visits serve from cache and feel instant.

Market value shows zero

The VIN decoded, but the market-data provider returned no comparable sales for that exact year/make/model/trim. Common on rare trims, very new vehicles, and oddities. Fix: override the Wholesale value in the Profit & Decision card with your own comp — the rest of the math runs from your number.

The bid looks wrong

If the listing shows no bids yet, Copart sometimes displays the retail estimate near the bid button; we detect and discard that case rather than show a false bid. If the bid in the panel trails the live page, refresh the lot page — current bid is read from the page you're on, and the page itself goes stale during active bidding.

A saved lot turned into "Unknown vehicle"

The underlying auction listing closed or was delisted before full details were cached. Your saved data (notes, max bid, overrides) is intact under the VIN. Open the card to see what's preserved; if the lot relists, the details repopulate.

My data isn't syncing across devices

  1. Confirm you're signed in with the same Google account in both places — check the account email in the panel header and at the web app's account page.
  2. Changes propagate when each surface is online; give it a moment, then refresh the page (web) or reopen the panel (extension).
  3. If one device looks signed in but behaves signed-out, sign out and back in on that device — a stale session is the usual cause.

I keep getting asked to sign in

Sign in once more and it should hold. If it doesn't: sign out everywhere, clear cookies for auctionmate.app, and sign in fresh. (This can happen after we ship a security update that rotates session keys.)

A reminder notification didn't fire

  • Chrome needs notification permission: System Settings → Notifications → Google Chrome on macOS, or Windows notification settings.
  • Chrome has to be running at the reminder time — a closed browser can't notify.
  • Check the reminder time you picked (15/30/60/120 minutes before sale) and that the lot's sale date was set when you saved it.

A report lookup failed

The report is returned to your balance automatically — you're never charged for a lookup that didn't return data. Try again in a few minutes; if the VIN keeps failing, email us and we'll check the provider side. If you'd rather have a refund than a retry, that works too.

Something else

Email auctionmatepro@gmail.com. Include:

  • The VIN or the lot URL
  • What you expected vs. what you saw
  • A screenshot if it's visual

Most replies come within one business day.

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