First, the thing that matters: the auction keeps running. Bids live on the server, not in your broadcast, so a drop does not pause a clock or lose a bid. Do not end the show to "start fresh" — the room is still there. What happens if my connection drops mid-show?
Now the causes, commonest first.
1. You moved
Walking around while broadcasting is the single commonest cause. Wifi hands off badly, and a phone in motion is a phone with a changing signal.
Stay in one place. Set up where you will stay for the hour.
2. The phone is hot or low
A low battery throttles the radio before anything else, and heat does the same. The stream is the first thing to suffer in both cases.
Plug it in, take the case off, keep it out of the sun. Charging on a stand fixes more mid-show drops than any network change.
3. Contested wifi
Somebody else streaming in the house, or you being three rooms from the router.
Try mobile data. It is often steadier than contested wifi, which is the opposite of what people assume — and steadiness is what matters, not speed. How fast does my internet need to be?
4. Upload, not download
Broadcasting needs upload, and home connections are usually far weaker going out than coming in. A line that streams films perfectly can still struggle to send.
Test it in a rehearsal rather than in front of a room. Can I practise before going live for real?
5. Other apps
Backups, updates and downloads running in the background compete for the same upload. Close them before you start.
6. The device itself
An older phone that gets warm will throttle. If every other cause is excluded, try a different phone for one show — it is the cheapest way to find out.
What to do in the moment
Do not end the show. Wait ten seconds; brief drops recover by themselves more often than not.
Switch network — wifi to data, or back.
Rejoin. Your show is still live; you are reconnecting to it.
Say what happened when you are back. "Sorry, lost signal — where were we" costs nothing and the room is sympathetic.
If an item closed while you were offline
It closed normally, to whoever was highest. That is a real sale with a real winner, not something to re-run. Check your orders rather than assuming.
Reducing the odds next time
A rehearsal on the same setup you will use, in the same spot, at the same time of day. It writes nothing real and it is the only honest test. A checklist before your first show
More: what happens if my connection drops mid-show, camera and light, the video is green, black or upside down.