Reference / Live selling glossary

Live selling glossary

By the Ghost Agent team · November 7, 2026 · 43 terms

The words live sellers use on Whatnot, TikTok Live, eBay Live and Fanatics Live, defined plainly. Each term has its own page with the detail behind it; where we publish a number for a term, it links to the weekly Live Selling Index.

Platforms

Live sellingalso: Live shopping, Livestream commerce, Live commerce: Live selling is selling products to viewers during a real-time video stream, where items are shown, priced and bought while the host is on camera. On platforms like Whatnot, TikTok Live, eBay Live and Fanatics Live the purchase happens inside the stream, usually by auction or a buy-it-now button.
Whatnot: Whatnot is a US-based live shopping marketplace built around real-time auctions, best known for sports cards, trading card games, sneakers, toys and vintage fashion. Sellers run scheduled shows, buyers bid in chat-adjacent auctions, and Whatnot handles payment and shipping labels.
TikTok Live (TikTok Shop LIVE): TikTok Live is TikTok's livestream format; when a seller attaches TikTok Shop products to the stream it becomes a shoppable live, where viewers tap pinned products and check out without leaving the video. Sales are fixed price rather than auction.
eBay Live: eBay Live is eBay's livestream selling format, run through eBay Live Studio, where approved sellers host timed events with auctions and buy-it-now items that settle through eBay's normal checkout. It has its own fee table, separate from standard eBay selling fees.
Fanatics Live: Fanatics Live is the live shopping app from Fanatics Collectibles, focused on sports cards and trading card games, where sellers run breaks and auctions and buyers pay through the Fanatics ecosystem.

Show mechanics

Show (livestream)also: Stream, Live, Room: A show is one continuous live selling stream from start to end: the host goes live, runs through items, and ends the stream. Sellers count their business in shows the way a shop counts trading days.
Auction (live): A live auction is a short, timed bidding window for one item during a show, typically 10 to 60 seconds, where the highest bid when the clock hits zero wins. It is the core selling mechanic on Whatnot, eBay Live and Fanatics Live.
Sudden death auction: A sudden death auction is a live auction that ends the instant a bid is placed after the timer has run out, rather than extending the clock. It rewards speed and is used to clear items fast.
Buy it now (BIN): Buy it now is a fixed-price listing shown during a live stream that any viewer can purchase instantly instead of bidding. Hosts pin BIN items so the room can buy while an auction runs.
Starting bid: The starting bid is the lowest price a host will accept to open a live auction. A low starting bid ($1 is common) draws more bidders and more bids; a high one protects the floor on an expensive item.
Reserve price: A reserve price is a hidden minimum a seller sets on an auction; if bidding does not reach it the item does not sell. Many live platforms do not offer reserves, so hosts protect value with a higher starting bid instead.
Bid increment: The bid increment is the minimum amount each new bid must exceed the current one by. Live platforms set increments automatically by price band, for example $1 steps under $20 and $5 steps above.
Giveaway: A giveaway is a free item a host offers during a show, entered by tapping a button in the stream, drawn at random after a short countdown. Hosts use giveaways to bring viewers in, hold them through slow stretches, and reward followers.
Flash sale: A flash sale is a time-limited price cut on buy-it-now items during a live show, announced on camera and ended after a few minutes. It converts viewers who were watching but not bidding.
Break (card breaking)also: Box break, Case break, Group break: A break is a live event where sealed trading card product (a box or case) is opened on camera and the cards are distributed to buyers who purchased slots in advance, usually by team, player or random assignment. The buyer pays for the chance at what is inside, not for a known card.
Lot: A lot is a group of items sold together as one auction or buy-it-now listing, such as a bundle of base cards, a mixed bag of vintage tees or a five-pack of bracelets. Lots move inventory faster at a lower price per piece.
Pinned item: A pinned item is the product the host has fixed to the top of the stream so every viewer sees it, usually the current auction or a featured buy-it-now. On TikTok Live the pinned product is the main purchase path.
Hostalso: Seller, Streamer: The host is the person on camera running a live selling show: presenting items, starting auctions, reading chat and managing the room's energy. On a seller account the host may be the owner or a hired presenter; co-hosts split the work on long shows.

Metrics

GMV (gross merchandise value)also: Gross sales, Sales volume: GMV is the total value of everything sold through a show, seller or platform over a period, before fees, refunds, cancellations and shipping are taken out. It is the headline number in live selling because it is the one everyone can see.
Sales per hour (GMV per hour): Sales per hour is a show's total sales divided by its length on air. It normalises for show length so a two-hour show and a six-hour show can be compared, and it is the metric that tells a host whether to keep going or sign off.
Average sale price (ASP)also: Average order value, AOV, Median item price: Average sale price is the mean price of items sold in a show or period. Because a few high-ticket items pull the mean up, the median item price is usually the more honest number for live selling.
Sell-through rate: Sell-through rate is the share of items put up for sale in a show that actually sold. An item that gets no bid, or is pulled, counts against it.
Peak viewers (peak concurrent viewers)also: PCU, Peak concurrents: Peak viewers is the highest number of people watching a live show at the same moment. It is the standard measure of a show's reach, distinct from total unique viewers who passed through.
Chat velocity: Chat velocity is the rate of messages in a live stream's chat, measured per minute. It is a leading indicator of buying: rooms that go quiet in chat go quiet in bids a few minutes later.
Room turnover: Room turnover is how quickly the audience of a live show is replaced: the share of viewers who leave and are replaced by new arrivals over a given window. High turnover means the host is constantly re-selling the room on who they are and what is coming.
Auction pacing: Auction pacing is the rhythm of items offered and sold over a show: how many auctions per hour, how long each runs, and how quickly bids arrive within each one. Good pacing keeps the room bidding; poor pacing lets it drift.
Momentum (show momentum): Momentum is the combined direction of a live show's leading signals, chat velocity, bid pacing, viewer count and sales rate, read against the show's own earlier baseline. A show has momentum when those are flat or rising and loses it when they fall together.
Dead air: Dead air is time in a live show when nothing is for sale and nothing is happening: no auction running, no pinned item, the host off camera or silent. Viewers leave during dead air faster than at any other point.
Conversion rate (viewers to buyers): Conversion rate in live selling is the share of a show's viewers who bought at least one item. Because viewers churn through a room, it is usually computed against unique viewers rather than peak.
Watch timealso: Average watch time, Average view duration: Watch time is how long the average viewer stays in a live show before leaving. Platforms use it to decide how widely to recommend the stream, and hosts use it to judge whether the content, not just the inventory, is holding the room.

Buyers

Whale (high-spending buyer)also: Big spender, Top buyer: A whale is a buyer who spends far more than the typical customer, often enough that a single whale changes the outcome of a show. In live selling the term covers buyers known to drop hundreds or thousands across a category's rooms.
Repeat buyer rate: Repeat buyer rate is the share of a show's or period's buyers who have bought from the same seller before. It measures whether a seller is building a customer base or renting an audience from the platform.
First-time buyer: A first-time buyer is a viewer making their first purchase from a seller. Platforms flag them in the sales feed so the host can welcome them, and tools track the share of new buyers per show as a growth signal.

Money

Seller fees (commission)also: Platform commission, Final value fee: Seller fees are what a live platform charges on each sale: a commission, which is a percentage of the item price, plus a payment processing fee, usually a percentage of the total plus a fixed amount per order. Rates and bases differ by platform and change often.
Payment processing fee: The payment processing fee is the charge for handling the buyer's card payment, typically around 2.9% of the order plus a fixed amount per order, taken on top of platform commission. It is usually charged on the full amount the buyer pays, shipping and tax included.
Net sales (net of fees)also: Net proceeds, Take-home: Net sales is what a seller actually receives after platform commission, payment processing, refunds and cancellations are deducted from gross sales. It is the number that belongs in a profit calculation, not GMV.
Combined shipping and shipping cap: Combined shipping bundles every item a buyer wins in one show into a single shipment, and a shipping cap is the maximum shipping charge a buyer pays no matter how many items they win. Both lower the effective cost of each additional purchase and push buyers to keep bidding.

Operations

Post-show report: A post-show report is the summary of a live show after it ends: items sold, sales, fees, buyers, peak viewers, length, and ideally what to change next time. Platforms provide the raw numbers; analytics tools add the comparison with past shows and with other sellers.
Seller analytics (live selling analytics): Seller analytics are the metrics a live seller tracks to run the business: sales per show and per hour, item prices, sell-through, viewers, chat, buyers and fees, over time and against other sellers in the category. Platforms report a seller's own numbers; third-party tools add the market view.
Competitor tracking (rival tracking): Competitor tracking is watching other sellers' live shows in your category to see what they sell, at what prices, at what times, and to whom. Because live rooms are public, it is possible in a way it is not for most retail.
Price book (category price book): A price book is a running record of what items in a category actually sold for across live shows, used by a host to set starting bids and buy-it-now prices. Built from observed clearing prices, it is the live-selling equivalent of recent comps.
Tray label (packing as you sell): A tray label is a small label printed the moment an item sells during a live show, identifying the buyer so the item goes straight into that buyer's tray or bin. It replaces reconciling a sales export against a pile of items after the show.
Scheduled show: A scheduled show is a live stream announced in advance on the platform so followers are notified when it starts. Regular, predictable schedules are the main way live sellers grow a repeat audience.

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