# Types of auction There are two types of auction you can run on our platform: ### Timed Auction There is where all the lots in your auction are timed to finish at the same time. These finished times could be staggered or fall in to overtime. For intents and purposes they will start finishing at the end time and that is the time you want the bidders to focus on. ### Live Auction Webcast A live webcast is where you run an live auction in the room with an auctioneer, one lot at a time, and you broadcast your auction using the platform to bidders who are bidding remotely online. This can also include video and audio. ### Buy Now This is when you sell items for a fixed price. These can either be sold as single items are as multiple items (depending upon the product level you have with us). ### Podium This is much like a timed auction in that all lots have a preset end date and time. However the number of winners is dictated by the number of spots on the podium. Typically this can be used in golf foursome auctions where a fundraising organisation might be selling 4 spots to a golf foursome match. Each of the 4 spots on the winners podium corresponds to a spot in the foursome. ### Helmsman This is a multiple unit auction type used in Coffee and Property auctions. It is unique in that there is only one clock for all lots in the auction. The clock is set to 2 or 3 minutes at the start and ticks down to towards zero. As each bid is received the clock resets to 3 mins. Bidding continues until the end of the auction when and clock hits zero and all lots will be sold at the same time. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://manual.platformbid.com/platform-bid-user-guide/auction-management/types-of-auction.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.