Auction Wire

Auction Wire is a live countdown feed of sports card auctions ending across the major hobby platforms — eBay, PWCC Marketplace, Goldin, Heritage Auctions, Whatnot, and MySlabs. Every row shows one auction with its countdown timer, current bid, bidder count, platform badge, and a tier color indicating how close the hammer is. New bids land every few seconds; when an auction ends, it flashes SOLD and a fresh one rotates in. It's the closest simulation of the actual "auction finale" experience without logging into six different apps.

The cards are real (drawn from CardVault's 9,998-card database of actual sports and Pokemon cards), and the platforms and price ranges reflect real hobby-auction market dynamics. But the specific auctions are simulated — bid timers, bid counts, and price jumps are generated on-site for the demo feed. CardVault does not currently host live auctions. The "Bid on Platform" links take you to the appropriate external platform's search page for the card type. In a later phase, CardVault will integrate real auction API data so the wire shows actual cards ending now.

FOUR urgency tiers keyed to time remaining: 🔴 HAMMER TIME (under 60 seconds — expect rapid bid spam), 🟠 CLOSING (1-5 minutes — snipe window opening), 🟡 WARMING UP (5-15 minutes — bid activity building), ⚪ ACTIVE (15-60 minutes — casual watch). Each tier has its own color strip on the left edge of the row. At a glance you can tell which auctions need your attention now vs. which ones can be checked later.

eBay — highest volume, every tier, fee structure varies. PWCC Marketplace — slabbed-only focus, weekly Tuesday closures. Goldin — high-end consignment, monthly elite sales with extended bidding. Heritage Auctions — vintage + high-end weekly Sunday sales. Whatnot — live stream + timed auction hybrid, heavy on breaks-leftovers. MySlabs — boutique graded-card niche, usually 3-7 day timed. Each platform has its own fee schedule, buyer protection policies, and audience — the Auction Wire badges each so you know where a hit is coming from before clicking.

Bid counts reflect unique bidders, not total bids — a single bidder raising themselves in a proxy bid war still counts as one. The number typically climbs in bursts near auction close when more bidders pile in. An auction with 47 bidders and 3 minutes left will usually see the price at least double in the final 60 seconds. Auction Wire simulates this pattern: final-minute bids land faster, price jumps get bigger, and sometimes a last-second snipe dramatically changes the outcome.

Yes. Filter by sport (all / baseball / basketball / football / hockey / pokemon) and by platform (all / eBay / PWCC / Goldin / Heritage / Whatnot / MySlabs). Filters persist across feed refreshes — useful if you're only watching, say, PWCC vintage baseball. The 5-stat bar at the top reflects your filtered view: Active auctions in view, Ending in 5 min, Ending in 60 min, Just-Sold count, and Total Dollar Volume of active auctions visible.

Yes. The wire stacks to a single-column list on phones with larger tap targets. Timers update in real time on both desktop and mobile. The pause button is prominent at the top of the feed for when you need to screenshot or step away.