What we are building, and what we are learning

The Metzee team3 min read

How to schedule a show, step by step

Every field on the scheduling screen, what each one changes for buyers, and the three that are easy to get wrong.

Selling live is a performance, and it is learnable

For anybody who thinks they are not a performer. The skill is not charisma, and it is not the one you are afraid of.

bidding

The last ten seconds of an auction

A close reading of the most interesting moment in the product — and what the clock is actually protecting.

troubleshooting

The video keeps buffering or will not play

Six causes in the order they actually happen, each with the fix.

app

What you need to watch a show

A browser, a connection and not much else. The specifics, with real numbers.

Nobody is bidding — what now

Four moves that work, and the honest possibility that the stock is wrong rather than the show.

Scheduling a show so people turn up

Announcing it matters more than the hour you pick. Regularity matters more than either.

What to say when you are holding the item

A structure you can repeat forty times an hour, so you never have to think of something.

Camera, light and sound for a live show

A phone, a window and something to prop it on. What actually ruins a show is backlight, shake and echo.

Your first live show, start to finish

A plan for the hour: what to have ready, what order to sell in, and what to say when nobody is bidding.

buying

How to find a show worth your evening

Browse by category, follow the sellers who are good, and let the notification do the work.

bidding

Why did the timer go back up?

On most items a bid in the last seconds pushes the clock out. On sudden-death items it does not — and that difference is worth knowing before you wait.

The Metzee team3 min read

bidding

How bidding works on Metzee

One bid, one step, everyone sees it in the same order — and the clock extends rather than cutting an argument short.

how it works

How a live auction show works

One seller, one camera, a table of things, and a clock per item. What actually happens from joining to winning.

live auctions

The ten seconds after a bid

Everything interesting about an auction happens in the gap between somebody bidding and somebody else deciding whether to.

live auctions

Why a show has an ending

A listing waits. A show does not. That difference is most of what makes buying from a maker feel like meeting one.

You should know hoe to click and when to click

live auctions

A photograph is not the thing

A listing can show you a bowl. It cannot turn it in the light, or tell you why the glaze pooled thicker on one side.