Chits and a whiteboard, or a live auction app?
A manual auction has real theatre: an auctioneer with a mic, owners with paddles, a whiteboard of purses. What it lacks is a record anyone can check once the room goes home.
Side by side
| What | Manual auction | DesiAuction |
|---|---|---|
| Calling a player | The auctioneer reads a name off a chit or a printed list. | The auctioneer calls the next player from the auction controls, and their role, base price and photo go up on the board and every owner's phone. |
| Bids | Paddles go up and the auctioneer decides who was first. | Bids are checked by the server and reach every screen at once, so the order is not a judgement call. |
| Purse | A helper updates each team's remaining purse on a whiteboard. | Each team's remaining purse is on the board, and a bid the team cannot afford is refused before it is shown. |
| Squad limits | Someone counts each squad and hopes nobody overspends early. | A team at its maximum squad cannot bid, and the reserve rule refuses a bid that would leave it unable to fill its minimum squad. |
| Mistakes | A wrong sale is crossed out, and people remember it differently the next day. | A sale can be reopened, and the reopening is recorded as its own event rather than erasing the first. |
| The record | The whiteboard is photographed, and the photo is the record. | Every bid and sale is kept, and the night can be replayed lot by lot. |
Calling a player
- Manual auction
- The auctioneer reads a name off a chit or a printed list.
- DesiAuction
- The auctioneer calls the next player from the auction controls, and their role, base price and photo go up on the board and every owner's phone.
Bids
- Manual auction
- Paddles go up and the auctioneer decides who was first.
- DesiAuction
- Bids are checked by the server and reach every screen at once, so the order is not a judgement call.
Purse
- Manual auction
- A helper updates each team's remaining purse on a whiteboard.
- DesiAuction
- Each team's remaining purse is on the board, and a bid the team cannot afford is refused before it is shown.
Squad limits
- Manual auction
- Someone counts each squad and hopes nobody overspends early.
- DesiAuction
- A team at its maximum squad cannot bid, and the reserve rule refuses a bid that would leave it unable to fill its minimum squad.
Mistakes
- Manual auction
- A wrong sale is crossed out, and people remember it differently the next day.
- DesiAuction
- A sale can be reopened, and the reopening is recorded as its own event rather than erasing the first.
The record
- Manual auction
- The whiteboard is photographed, and the photo is the record.
- DesiAuction
- Every bid and sale is kept, and the night can be replayed lot by lot.
When a manual auction is enough
A manual auction is enough for a small room where every owner is present, the purses are small, and nobody will ask afterwards what the fourth bid on the sixth player was. It stops being enough when owners bid remotely, when the money is real, or when the result will be argued about.
Questions organizers ask
Do we lose the atmosphere of a live auction?
No. The auctioneer still runs the room and the board goes on the big screen — the app just keeps the bids, purses and squads right while the room enjoys it.
What if an owner doesn't have a smartphone?
Owners bid from any phone with a browser. An owner who cannot bid from a phone can sit with someone who can, the way paddles are shared today.
Can we fix a sale that went to the wrong team?
Yes. The auctioneer can reopen a sold player; the reopening is recorded, so the correction is visible rather than silent.
See it for your league: by sport or by kind of league, or compare with a spreadsheet and a WhatsApp group.