Boost recurring donations this giving season with the upsell prompt!An item can be hidden by five separate settings, and they work independently — each one alone is enough to hide it. Check them in this order, because the first three hide every item and are the most commonly missed.
1. What the auction includes
Open the auction and, on its Details tab, check the What's in this auction section.
If People Bid on Items and Items Sold at a Set Price are both No, the auction has no item grid. Its home page shows a landing page instead, with event information, a Donate button, sponsors and help, and the auction's Categories and Items tabs are hidden. Set either setting to Yes and click Save to bring the grid back.
The item's type must also be one the auction includes. When you add an item, Item Type offers only those types, and adding, importing or copying an item of any other type is refused, for example with "This auction does not include Fixed Price items." If that happened, the item was never added. See Choosing what's in an auction.
2. The auction's Status
Open the auction and check Status on its Details tab.
- Hidden — nothing is visible to anyone but administrators. This is the default for a new auction, and it is the usual answer when no items appear.
- Preview — items are visible but nobody can bid or buy.
- Open — items are visible and follow their own status.
- Closed — items are visible but bidding and buying are over.
If nothing at all shows on the front end, this is almost always why.
3. The auction's Paused setting
Still on the Details tab, check Paused. When it is Yes, every item shows a Paused status and all bid and buy buttons disappear.
4. The item's Published setting
Open the item and check Published. Set to No, the item is hidden from the front end completely — from everyone, signed in or not, with no way to reach it.
5. The item's Visibility setting
On the same form, check Visibility.
- Public — everyone sees it.
- Private — only signed-in visitors see it. It is absent from the grid for anyone signed out, and opening its link directly asks them to sign in first.
If an item is missing for you when signed out but present when signed in, this is the setting.
Note: Published and Visibility are independent, and both must allow the item. An unpublished item stays hidden however Visibility is set.
If the item is there but in the wrong place
- Not under its category — check the item's Category, and check that the category is Published and set to Visible in Auction on the auction's Categories tab. A category that is not visible is not offered as a filter — its items still appear in the main grid, just not under that heading.
- Not in the Featured row — the item's Featured setting must be Yes.
- Showing as Canceled or Ended — someone has used the per-item actions. See Pausing, ending, and canceling an item.
If the item is on the grid but guests can't bid on it or buy it, see Why don't guests see bidding, My Bids, or My Orders?.
Still missing?
Confirm you are looking at the right auction. Each auction has its own menu item and its own home page, and a site running two auctions can easily have you checking one while editing the other.
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