Online Auction Dashboard: Auktia's Live Board

What does the Live board show?

The Live board is a tab on every published auction, next to Items, Auction settings, Bidders and Invoices. It puts every item on one screen with the numbers that matter while bidding is open, so you don't have to click through item pages one at a time.

• High bid: the current winning bid on the item.
• Bids: how many bids the item has taken.
• Leading bidder: the bidder number (paddle number) currently winning.
• Minimum price status: whether bidding has met the minimum price. An item sells only if it does.
• Watchers: how many people are watching, as a count only, never who. See auction watchers.
• Clock: the item's live countdown, ticking every second.

How do I open the Live board for my auction?

You can keep the board open on a laptop at the counter or check it on your phone, since Auktia runs in the phone's browser for sellers as well as bidders.

1. Publish your auction. The Live board appears on published auctions.
2. Open the auction from My auctions.
3. Tap the Live board tab, next to Items, Auction settings, Bidders and Invoices.
4. Choose a sort: Closing first, Most watched or Most bids.
5. When the last item closes, open the Invoices tab to send invoices.

Which Live board sort should I use?

Each sort answers a different question, and it's worth switching between them as an auction goes on.

• Closing first: items in the order they end. Use it in the final stretch to follow the close item by item.
• Most watched: items with the most watchers at the top. Use it before the close to see where interest is building.
• Most bids: the most-contested items at the top. Use it to see which items are drawing competition right now.

What should I watch for during an auction?

On Auktia, items close one after another, all at once or 10 seconds to 2 minutes apart as you set, and extended bidding (soft close) resets an item's clock to its full window whenever a bid lands in that window. Say you run 300 items, 10 seconds apart, with a 2-minute window. The last item is scheduled about 50 minutes after the first, and any item taking late bids keeps running past its time. Closing first keeps that moving picture in order.

• Items near the close that haven't met their minimum price. They won't sell unless bidding reaches it.
• Watched items with no bids. The interest is there, and a fresh share of the auction link may bring the bids.
• One bidder leading many items, especially one you don't know. Check them in the Bidders tab, where you can approve or block bidders.
• Items taking bids in their closing window. Their clocks reset, so expect the auction to run past the last scheduled close.

What happens when the auction ends?

Once items close, the work moves to the Invoices tab, which lists every winner's invoice with the winning bid (hammer price), buyer's fee (buyer's premium), sales tax and shipping. Print all invoices, Email all invoices and Export CSV sit at the top. Winners pay on Auktia by card straight to your Stripe account, or you tap Mark paid for cash, check and other payments. See auction invoicing for the full flow.

Auktia runs timed online auctions only, with no live webcast. The Live board is how you follow a timed auction as it closes, not a camera feed for a called auction.