How to promote an online auction
Most bids on an online auction arrive in its final hours, so promotion is not one announcement but a sequence that peaks at the close. This guide gives you that sequence, week by week, with what to say at each step, which lots to lead with and how often is too often.
Updated
| Who it is for | Anyone running an online auction on their own site: a business, an auction house, a charity, a school, a club, an estate. |
|---|---|
| The one fact to plan around | Bids cluster in the last 48 hours and above all in the last hour before each lot closes. People need to be reminded then, not only told once. |
| Time it takes | About an hour to plan, then 15–30 minutes a day in the final week. |
| Cost | Nothing beyond your time. Paid ads are optional and come last, not first. |
| Channels, in order | Your own email list, your own website, your social accounts, the people and places near the goods, then paid reach if any. |
| What every message carries | The closing time with its time zone, how to bid in one line, the link, one picture. |
Start from when bids actually arrive
An online auction that runs for two weeks does not collect bids evenly for two weeks. A few arrive on the first day from people who were waiting for it, almost nothing in the middle, and then most of them in the last two days, with a rush in the final minutes of each lot. Bidders behave this way on purpose: there is no reason to show your hand early.
That shape decides what promotion has to do. There are three jobs, in order of importance:
- Remind people at the end. Someone who saw your announcement two weeks ago and meant to bid will forget. The last 48 hours are where the result is made.
- Tell them when it closes. Not "ends soon": a day, a time and a time zone, on every message.
- Tell them it exists, early enough that they can plan a viewing, ask a question or arrange money.
Everything below follows from this. The announcement matters less than you think; the reminder matters more.
The timeline
A four-week run is a comfortable rhythm for a sale with twenty to two hundred lots. Shorter sales compress the same steps; the last two days stay the same whatever the length.
- Four weeks out: announce the sale
One message on every channel you have: what is being sold, the day and time bidding closes, where to bid, and your three best lots as pictures. Give the viewing day if there is one. Put the same text on your website, because that is where a search engine or an assistant will find it later.
- Three weeks out: open the catalogue
Every lot online with its photos, even if bidding has not opened yet. People want to look before they decide to come back. Post lots that are listed but not yet open as "coming up" rather than silence; a start date is news.
- Two weeks out: the viewing and the neighbourhood
If the goods can be seen, say when and where, with a poster at the place and a card with a QR code beside each lot for the people who turn up. Tell the local paper, the trade group, the club newsletter. Local reach is cheap and these are the buyers who will collect in person.
- The last week: one lot a day
Pick a lot a day, the ones with a story or a recognisable name, and post it with its closing time. One a day is not too many in the final week; it is what people expect from a sale that is about to end.
- The last 48 hours: remind everyone, everywhere
This is the step that cannot be skipped. An email to your list ("closes Sunday 20:00"), a story on each social account, a message to your buyers group, a line on your homepage. Lead with the closing time, not with a lot. People who were going to bid do it now.
- Closing day: be present
Answer questions fast; a question in the last hours is a bid waiting for an answer. Post once in the morning with "closes tonight" and the lots that still have no bid. Do not post anything in the final hour that sends people away from the bidding page.
- The morning after: results and thanks
A short results post: how many lots sold, one or two notable prices if the sellers agree, thanks to bidders and to the viewing-day volunteers. Then the one line that keeps the audience: when the next sale is. A results post is also the best announcement of the next auction you will ever write.
Which lots to lead with
You cannot show two hundred lots in a post. Three kinds of lot earn attention on their own:
- The lot with a story. Where it came from, who owned it, what it was used for. A sentence of provenance does more than a list of measurements.
- The lot with a recognisable name. A maker, a brand, a model, a breed, an artist that your audience already searches for. Put the name in the first words.
- The lot with a low start and no reserve. "Starting at 1, no reserve" is the oldest draw in the trade because it works: people come to watch what happens.
Two rules for the pictures. Lead with the object, not a collage: one lot, one photo, filling the frame. And keep the current price off any picture that will outlive the sale, which is every picture: a post that says "€120" is wrong an hour after it is published, and a wrong price is a complaint. Put the closing time on the image, and the price only in the live listing.
Where to say it, in order
Use the channels you already have before the ones you would have to build, because the ones you have are where your past buyers are.
| Channel | What it is good for | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Your own email list | The people who bought before. The highest-value message you can send. | Announcement, 48 hours before, results. Three in total. |
| Your own website | Where search engines and assistants send people. Should always show what is live and when it closes. | Always current. |
| Facebook page and groups | Local buyers, older buyers, collectors' groups by subject. | Announcement, then daily in the last week. |
| Visual lots: art, design, jewellery, vehicles, fashion. Stories for the last-day reminder. | Feed posts for lead lots; stories daily at the end. | |
| Your regular buyers, by broadcast list or group, one at a time and personal. | Announcement and the 48-hour reminder. Not more. | |
| Posters, cards and labels | The viewing day, the shop window, the premises: people already standing next to the goods. | From the viewing day to the close. |
| Paid reach | A new audience for a sale with a clear subject. Comes last and needs a budget you can afford to lose. | The final week only, if at all. |
Each of these has its own guide on this site: posting lots on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and showing live lots on your own website.
What every message must carry
People read a post in two seconds and an email subject in one. Four things have to survive that:
- The closing time, with the time zone. "Closes Sunday 5 October, 20:00 CEST." A sale that runs across borders has bidders who will otherwise miss it by an hour.
- How to bid, in one line. "Register once, then bid on any lot." If payment or collection has a rule people should know before they bid, say it here, not after.
- The link, to the sale or to the lot, never to your homepage. On Instagram, where captions carry no links, the link goes in the profile and the caption says so.
- One picture of one lot. The sale poster is for the wall; a post wants an object.
A subject line for the reminder email that does all four: "Closes Sunday 20:00: 84 lots, including the 1962 Vespa".
How often is too often
Sellers under-post far more often than they over-post, because posting feels like shouting. The practical limits:
- Email: three per sale, as in the table above. A fourth is the one people unsubscribe on, unless it is a results message they asked for.
- Social feed: once a day in the final week, two or three on the closing day. Outside the final week, once or twice a week.
- Stories: daily in the final days is normal; stories are built for "ending soon".
- WhatsApp: two messages per sale. It is a personal channel and people treat a third as spam.
The signal that you have gone too far is not silence, it is unsubscribes and people leaving a group. The signal that you have not gone far enough is a lot that closes with no bid although its listing was viewed.
How to tell whether it worked
You do not need analytics software to judge a promotion. Three numbers from your own auction site, written down each day, are enough:
- New bidder registrations per day. This is the number promotion moves. A spike the day after a post or an email tells you which one worked.
- Bids per day. Expected to be flat until the last two days; if it is flat on the last day too, the reminder did not go out or did not say when the sale closes.
- Lots without a single view, two days before the close. Those are the ones to post.
Compare sale with sale, not day with day. The question is not whether Tuesday beat Monday but whether this sale had more registered bidders than the last one at the same point.
Questions
When should I start promoting an online auction?
Announce it about four weeks before it closes, open the full catalogue a week later, and keep the heaviest effort for the last 48 hours, because that is when most bids arrive. A shorter sale compresses the first steps; the final two days stay the same.
How often should I post about an auction?
Once a day in the final week and two or three times on the closing day is normal. Email your list three times in total: the announcement, a reminder 48 hours before the close, and the results. Send at most two WhatsApp messages per sale.
Should I put prices on the pictures I post?
No. The current price changes with every bid, so a picture that states one is wrong within hours and stays wrong forever in the feed. Put the closing time and the address on the image and leave the price to the live listing.
Which lots should I show first?
The ones with a story, a recognisable name or a low start with no reserve. Show one lot per picture, filling the frame, rather than a collage of many.
Do I need paid advertising to promote an auction?
Not to begin with. Your own email list, your website, your social accounts and the people near the goods come first and cost nothing. Paid reach can add a new audience for a sale with a clear subject, in the final week, with a budget you can afford to lose.