Your auction ended: what happens next
When your auction closes with a winning bid, the winner has 72 hours to pay through Creatures. Don't hand over the animal until they pay. If the reserve wasn't met or nobody bid, the animal isn't sold, and you can relist it.
If your auction sold
Creatures sends you a notice with the high bid and the payment deadline. It also reminds you not to ship or release the animal yet.
Open the auction from that notice. Its page shows Congrats! Your auction ended successfully. and Waiting for payment confirmation from the buyer.
To talk with the winner, select Message buyer. If you have already chatted, the button says View conversation.
Until the winner pays, the auction shows in Dashboard > Selling > Sales under Waiting on buyer. It's marked Awaiting payment, with the date the winner must pay by. It isn't listed in Active Auctions.
When the winner pays
You get a notice that you sold the animal. In Sales, the auction now works like any other sale. Plan the handoff with the buyer. After the handoff is confirmed, the money goes to your Creatures Wallet. See How seller payout works and What happens after I sell an animal?.
If the winner doesn't pay in 72 hours
The sale is cancelled. You get a notice that the buyer did not pay in time, and the winner is told too. The auction page then shows Auction Cancelled with a Relist button.
If the reserve wasn't met or nobody bid
The reserve is the lowest price you said you'd accept. If bidding stopped below it, the page shows Reserve Not Met with the last bid. If nobody bid, the page shows Received No Bids.
Either way, you get a notice, and the animal isn't sold. Each bidder had a temporary hold on their card while they bid. Those holds are released, so no bidder is charged.
Relist the animal
- Open the ended auction and select Relist.
- A new listing form opens with the old photos, description and prices filled in.
- Change what you need, such as a lower starting bid or reserve, and finish the listing as usual.
If you already listed the animal again, the page shows View Active Listing instead of Relist. To sell at a set price instead, open the arrow menu on the animal's profile and choose Fixed price.
If a buyer used Buy Now
A buyer can use Buy Now only before the first bid. When they do, the auction ends right away and they pay at checkout, so there is no 72-hour wait. The sale goes straight to Sales. If they don't finish paying, the auction reopens within 10 minutes.
Related information
- Listing an animal for auction
- Editing or ending your listing
- How seller payout works
- I won an auction: what happens next
Updated on: 29/10/2026
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