Alec Young A Webcast Auction is a live auction run online: an Auctioneer calls each Lot while a clerk records the bids in the Webtron Dashboard’s Webcast Console, and online Bidders watch and bid through your Portal.
This section covers setting up a Webcast, running it in the Console, and closing it off afterwards.
This guide has been rewritten to match the current Webtron Dashboard, including the new sidebar. It is a first draft, so wording and animations may still change.
How a Webcast works
A Timed Auction runs until its countdown ends. A Webcast Auction has two phases instead:
- Pre-bidding phase: before the start time. If you turn on pre-bidding, Bidders can leave bids and auto bids on LIVE Lots, much like a Timed Auction.
- Live bidding phase: from the start time (or earlier, when your clerk selects Start Auction). The Lots go into the ring one by one, or in groups, and are sold or passed while Bidders follow a livestream.
A Webcast has a start time but no end time. It finishes when every Lot has been sold, passed or withdrawn, and you then reconcile it.
What you need to run a Webcast
- Internet connection: allow at least 10 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload for a video livestream, or 1 Mbps for audio only. A wired connection is the most reliable.
- Computer: a supported version of Windows 11 or macOS, a recent processor (AMD Ryzen 5 3000 series, Intel Core i5 11th generation or newer) and at least 16 GB of memory. The Console runs in your browser and works best with room to spare.
- Browser: Google Chrome for an audio-only feed; Mozilla Firefox for video, as it lets you choose which camera to use.
- People: an Auctioneer and a clerk. The clerk’s Dashboard account needs the Reserve Bidder role so floor bids are recorded as floor bids.
If you plan a multi-camera or multi-screen set-up, send a request through the Get in Touch page and we’ll talk through the options.
Guides in this section
- Creating a Webcast Auction: the form, its tabs, and approving the Webcast.
- Creating and Editing Webcast Lots: the New Items grid, Bulk Edit, Group Edit and edits during the Webcast.
- Importing Webcast Lots via Spreadsheet: filling in and uploading the import spreadsheet.
- Editing Webcast Auctions: name, description, start time, Buyers Premium and taxes.
- Pre-Bidding for Webcast Auctions: turning pre-bidding on and off, and private pre-bidding.
- Auto and Manual Increments for Webcast Auctions: how the two kinds of increment affect Bidders and your clerk.
- Reconciling and Archiving a Webcast Auction: what to do once the last Lot has gone.
- Webcast Lots – Webcast Item Type and Special Features Overview: what makes a Webcast Lot different.
- Webcast Auction Setup Checklist: a checklist to work through before the day.
- Webcast Clerking and Livestreaming: the clerking and livestream guides.
FAQs
On a laptop or tablet with a built-in camera, Google Chrome can struggle to tell which camera you want to use. Firefox asks you to choose the camera and microphone each time you publish.
Yes. Pre-bidding runs until the Webcast starts, and the bids left then are carried into the live bidding phase. See Pre-Bidding for Webcast Auctions.
Related guides
- Timed Auctions and the Marketplace
- Creating a Webcast Auction
- Webcast Clerking and Livestreaming
- Clerking a Webcast Auction
In this section
14 guides
This guide shows how to create a Webcast Auction in the Webtron Dashboard, what each tab of the form is for, and how to approve the Webcast so it show…
This guide shows how to create Lots for a Webcast Auction in the Webtron Dashboard's New Items grid, and how to change them before and during the Webc…
If you catalogue your Lots in a spreadsheet, you can upload them to a Webcast Auction in one go. This guide covers the columns a Webcast needs, saving…
This guide shows how to change a Webcast Auction after it's created: its name and description, its start time, and its Buyers Premium and taxes, inclu…
Webcast Lots are edited through Bulk Edit, in the same way as Timed Lots. What differs is when you are allowed to make changes: before the Webcast sta…
Pre-bidding lets Bidders bid on a Webcast's Lots before the live auction starts. This guide explains how it works, how to turn it on and off, and how…
Once the last Lot has gone, a Webcast Auction is closed off in two stages: reconciling, which closes its Items and opens up invoicing and reports, the…
For Webcast Auctions, there is only one available Item Type - Webcast Lot, or just Webcast.
These guides are for the person running the Webtron Dashboard's Webcast Console on the day: the clerk. They cover the Console itself, selling Lots, gr…