Taking part in an in-person auction

An in-person auction is the kind you know: a hall, an auctioneer, and a bidder number on a card. The club uses this site to register people, list the lots and add up everyone's invoice.

You don't need an account to buy. One helps if you're selling.

What to expect

The auction page has the address, a map and the time. That time is when bidding starts; doors usually open earlier. If the flyer and the site disagree, ask the club: reply to any email you've had about the auction, or use the Email button on its page.

Before the day: adding your lots

Bringing fish to sell? Add them on the site first. You skip the line at the door, your bags arrive labelled, and some clubs take a smaller cut. Lots sellers add themselves also sell for about 5% more here.

1. Sign in. Sign in with Google or Apple is one click.
2. Open the auction's page, or find it under Auctions at the top of the page.
3. Join: scroll to the bottom, tick Yes, I will be at this auction, and click Join auction.
4. Click Add Lots near the top of the page.
5. One lot per row: what it is ("Corydoras sterbai"). Each row saves itself and gets a lot number.
6. Photos help. Add image or Full editor on a row. Many clubs put each lot's photo on a screen as it sells.
7. Print labels: Print Labels on the auction page, once everything's in. You'll get a reminder email the day before.
8. Tape a label to each bag with clear packing tape, right over the label so it stays dry.

• No printer? Write the lot number and what's in it on each bag with a Sharpie.
• Can't add lots? Adding lots hasn't opened yet, or has closed; the auction page says when. Bring your lots and register them at the door.
• Not bringing a lot after all? Delete it from your Selling page, so nobody waits for it.

Bagging tips: Bagging fish for an auction.

At the door: your bidder number

Tell the desk your name. They'll find you, or add you, and give you your bidder number, often on a card or paddle.

• Forgotten it? It's on any of your invoices, under Invoices in the menu under your name.
• The phone app may check you in as you walk in, and shows your bidder number.
• Lots that aren't on the site yet: the desk adds them and prints labels, or gives you lot numbers to write on the bags.

Bidding in the room

Hold up your number and bid the usual way. When a lot sells, somebody next to the auctioneer types in the lot number, the price and your bidder number, and it goes straight on your invoice.

• A lot with a buy now price on its label can be bought before its turn. Take it and your number to the desk.
• Keep your card safe. A bid recorded against the wrong number ends up on somebody else's invoice.
• With the phone app, Scan lots on the auction page turns your camera on a table of bags: point it at the labels and it tells you what's what, or finds the one you're after.

Get notifications when your lot is about to sell

Watch a lot on the site, and your phone tells you when it's about to be sold. Go get a coffee in between.

1. Click Watch on the lots you want.
2. Sign in, and turn notifications on right here, in a browser or the phone app. That covers every lot you watch, from then on.

What you'll get

Some clubs scan each bag into a lot queue as it reaches the auctioneer's table: the running order for the next few lots. Your notifications follow it.

The second replaces the first, so you don't end up with a pile of them. A club with no queue sends only "about to be sold", when the lot number is typed in at the table.

• On an iPhone, use the app. Safari only sends notifications from a site you've added to your home screen.
• Set your phone to vibrate. You'll feel it, and nobody else hears it.
• Got one after the lot sold? The club typed the lot in after it sold. Tell them; the lot queue fixes it.
• Turning them off: untick Push notifications when lots sell on Notifications. Unwatching a lot stops that one.

With the app, you can also get a running total of what you've bought, as you win each lot.

Bidding from home

Some in-person auctions let you bid on the site too. The auction page says so, and when online bidding opens and closes.

• Online bids work like an online auction: put in the most you'd pay, and the site bids for you. The lot still sells in the room, and your bid counts there.
• Buy now before the day: first come, first served. It goes on your invoice; pick it up at the desk after you check in.
• A silent auction table: scan the QR code on a lot's label with your phone and bid. The high bid when the table closes wins.

You need an account, and to have joined the auction, to bid online.

Paying and going home

1. Go to checkout and give your bidder number or name.
2. The desk tells you what you owe, or what the club owes you. My Invoice on the auction page shows the same.
3. Pay how the club takes it: cash, check, or card. Some clubs allow tap to pay with credit card.
4. Take your lots, and any of yours that didn't sell.

Afterwards you'll get an email with your invoice, thanking you for coming. It's your receipt, not a bill.

If you brought lots to sell

• Your invoice nets it out. Sold more than you bought? The club pays you the difference, usually by check within a week or two, to the address on your account.
• A star on your invoice marks lots you added yourself before the day. They got the pre-registration discount, if the club has one.
• Leaving early? Pay for what you've bought so far at checkout. The club pays you for your lots when they sell.
• Unsold lots come back to you at checkout. Can't find one? The invoice lists every lot you brought and whether it sold.