Running five or ten minutes late is normal and not a sign of anything. A seller is setting up a phone, a light and a table of stock, usually alone.
How to tell late from cancelled
If the show is still listed, it is late. A cancelled show comes off the list — it does not sit there saying it is about to start.
If it says Starting soon or The show starts as soon as the seller goes live., nothing has gone wrong. The slot is held and the seller has not pressed go live yet.
If it has disappeared, it was cancelled or moved. Check the store page: a seller who rescheduled usually has a new show listed there.
What to do with the ten minutes
Do not sit on the screen refreshing. Two better uses:
- Look at the store page and see what else they have. Items often appear there before they appear in a lineup.
- Check
Coming upfor another show starting soon. Watching two sellers on a Friday is how you learn which one you actually like.
When it is worth asking
After about fifteen minutes, a message to the store is reasonable and will often get "sorry, five more minutes" — which is more useful than guessing.
Before fifteen minutes, you are asking somebody who is holding a phone and a saree to put one of them down.
Why sellers run late
Worth knowing because it changes how it feels: the setup is genuinely fiddly. Light, stand, stock in order, a connection that holds. A seller who starts at 8:00 sharp every week has solved all of that, and most have not yet.
A seller who is habitually twenty minutes late is telling you something about the rest of their operation, though. That is a different signal from once.
If it never starts
Nothing is lost. You have not paid anything, nothing was held, and no bid existed. Follow the store so you hear about the next one — that is the only action worth taking. How to follow a seller.
If you had set a reminder
A seller who cancels after people set reminders is spending something real, and most know it. One cancellation is a bad evening; a pattern is a reason to stop setting the alarm. Can I cancel a scheduled show?
More: how to join a live show, how to find a show worth watching, how a live show works.