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Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

couverture

English translation:

bid history/offer history

Added to glossary by Susan McDonald
Mar 6, 2015 11:15
9 yrs ago
3 viewers *
French term

couverture

French to English Tech/Engineering Business/Commerce (general) On-line car auction
Right - bit of a sticky one here. I have just completed a long translation of an on-line car auction website. It seems that cars are offered for sale or trade-in, and dealers can then make offers on the vehicles that interest them. So several dealers may make offers on the same vehicle, and it's possible to see lists of these offers. With me so far?

Bit of background - the bulk of the translation work was a two-column Excel spreadsheet, with code in one column and the explanation of the code in column B. I translated column B - sometimes, this would only be one word, so no context. Bet many of you are familiar with this scenario!

With this lack of context in mind, the word "couverture" appears several times in the same spreadsheet:

Couvertures
couverture(s)
Aucune couverture
Couverture
Tableau des couvertures
Si oui, affiche un tableau de gestion interne des couvertures marchands

I went back to the client to get some more information - it didn't seem to me that "cover" or "coverage" was right here. The client said:

"Ce sont les couvertures marchands, c'est-à-dire le listing des offres de prix reçues pour un même véhicule. "

Which has stumped me even more. I've scoured dictionaries, glossaries and the web for some mystical translation of "couverture" but I am at a loss. Am I overthinking this?

I hope that someone out there can help - thanks in advance for your time and brain power!
Proposed translations (English)
3 bid history
4 bids placed

Discussion

Peter LEGUIE Mar 8, 2015:
Charles Yes, I suppose you mean something like "historique" in French, which is rather neutral as regards the time span. My feeling was that this is not really the case concerning "history" in English, but you may have it right.
As Nikki mentions, on-line bidding experience is probably useful here, and I am anything but an expert in that field!
Charles Davis Mar 7, 2015:
@Peter I understand the point you're making, but a "history" in this sense doesn't have to be long; unless the auction is closed as soon as the first bid is made there will always be some sort of history.

As to how long it is in this case, well of course we don't know, but online auctions usually last hours or days. It's not in the seller's interest to make it very short: the more bids, the better.
Peter LEGUIE Mar 7, 2015:
Asker Susan, would you be satisfied with "bidding price range" (or scope)? I like Charles' answer, but "history" bothers me somewhat, considering that it implies some time spent whereas e-business deals (which appear to be the case here) are very quick and snappy, with no time to make "history".
Nikki Scott-Despaigne Mar 6, 2015:
I like bid history too. In my mind, "bid range" describes all offers made, from the lowest to the highest. I'm not an on-line bidder of any sort,so I know none of that temrinology, not even enough to avoid it ;-)
Susan McDonald (asker) Mar 6, 2015:
Hi Nikki. I can see what you mean - however, this is a list of concrete offers that have actually been made for a vehicle. Like on eBay, when you have a bid history for an item. I've put "Offer history" to the client and we'll see what they say! Thanks, though.
Nikki Scott-Despaigne Mar 6, 2015:
Bid range, bidding range?
Nikki Scott-Despaigne Mar 6, 2015:
Hmmm. Howabout "range" as "couverture" seems to be describing a range of offers. You might like to ask your client if the terms describes the "fourchette" of bids, covering bids from 10K€ to 100K€, rangring from ... to .... Do you see what I mean? It might be a lead to follow for EN sources.
Susan McDonald (asker) Mar 6, 2015:
Thanks for that, Elizabeth. The client was keen to stress that this is not an eBay-style auction - the dealers make offers (I had originally translated "offre" as "bid" but have changed this to "offer" after consulting the client. I like Charles' "history" - perhaps "offer history" might be a good compromise? I'm off to ask the client again - they seem willing to help and communicative, which is so refreshing! Thanks for your information, though - that "couvrir" translation might prove useful sometime!
Elizabeth Tamblin Mar 6, 2015:
Hi Susan, I've had a look around, and came up with this:

http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-por.html?la...

according to which, soumission de couverture = cover bid.

In my Harrap's French to English Business Dictionary, one of the translations of couvrir is to outbid. Maybe just plain "bid" would work?

Proposed translations

52 mins
Selected

bid history

How it comes to be called couverture I don't know, but having had so clear an indication from your client I think you will have to translate the sense rather than the word, if you see what I mean.

"Bid history" is given in the following (believe it or not) car auction glossary. It sounds to me like what your client is describing:

"Bid History
A summary of bidding information submitted by Bidders for a particular Listing. The Bid History will be displayed based on the following guidelines:
- Shown while bidding is open.
- Shown when bidding is closed.
- Bid amounts are shown. For listing types utilizing Limit Bids, only the amount of highest bid placed is displayed."
http://auction.ent.com/networkinfo.taf?_function=glossary

A "listing", by the way, is the term for an item (i.e. car) offered for auction.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-03-06 12:18:59 GMT)
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(I take it your client is using "listing" in French in a different sense, to mean a list.)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-03-06 12:19:54 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Then again, Elizabeth may be right to suggest that at least in some cases "bid(s)" alone would be enough.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 days (2015-03-11 10:07:57 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

I'm very glad. Best wishes.
Note from asker:
Thanks for this, Charles - it definitely seemed to fit and the client was happy with "offer history". I appreciate the time you spent on this.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks for this - the client was very happy with "history" (although they prefer "offer history"). This process has been most enlightening!"
4 days

bids placed

I worked in the auction business with experience of online bidding.
I do like "bid history" too - but from the list of words, I just "feel" that it is asking for what is *within* the bid history, rather than for the bid history itself.
So that's why I'm proposing "bids placed" for "couverture". As in "bids placed by the dealers". Read the section in my link below to an online car auction site - below "View Bid History". See what you think. Hope this helps.
Reference:

http://www.british-car-auctions.co.uk/Help/Trade/Using-this-Website/Help-with-bidding/

Note from asker:
Thanks, Neeraj - much appreciated. I've gone with Charles' suggestion of history this time - the client was happy with that (modifying it to "offer history" for their purposes). I appreciate the time you took on this , though.
Something went wrong...
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