Live Commerce

Live Commerce lets you sell lots during a live video show. You stream from your usual software (such as OBS or TikTok LIVE Studio), add a Babylon overlay on top of the video that shows the current lot, price and chat, and share a viewer link where your audience watches and bids. Behind the scenes you run the show from the Live Console: start it, move through the lots, hold or extend bidding, and moderate chat.

Before you start

• Live Commerce is a plan feature. If it is not on your plan, the Create show checklist shows Live Commerce access as Not on your plan. Ask your account owner to add it, or contact Hammerd support.
• Some parts are licensed separately and are not self-service: Live chat, Creator sales attribution and Overlay branding. The Create show checklist shows whether each is enabled for you. To turn one on, contact Hammerd support.
• Traditional live auctions (a floor auction with an auctioneer) are a separate feature. This guide covers shows. Both appear under Auction Ops → Events.
• To change overlay branding you need permission to manage account settings. The Admin role has it.
• To start, pause or end a show you must be the show's designated host, an Auctioneer, or an Admin. Other staff can see the show but not control it.
• Show Analytics needs the live commerce analytics permission, which the Admin and Auctioneer roles have.

Branding your overlays

Open Settings → Live Commerce Settings. This page controls how the overlay looks in your stream. If overlay branding is not part of your plan, the page explains that and Save will not apply your changes.

In Overlay Branding:

• Overlay Logo: an image shown on the overlay. A transparent PNG around 200 by 200 pixels works best. The maximum size is 2 MB.
• Primary Color: the main brand colour used for highlights and accents.
• Secondary Color: the background colour of overlay elements.
• Text Color: the colour of text and labels.

In Safe Zones:

• Top Safe Zone (px) and Bottom Safe Zone (px): how many pixels to keep clear at the top and bottom edges, so the overlay does not sit under the streaming app's own buttons and comments. Each can be from 0 to 500.

Click Save. The same page is linked from Settings → Business Settings, on the Experience tab, in the Live Commerce section.

Creating a show

Go to Auction Ops → Events and click Create show. This opens a four-step guide.

Step 1: Prerequisites

The checklist has two required items and three optional ones:

• Live Commerce access (required): your plan includes Live Commerce.
• Auction data connection (required): Babylon can reach the auction data a show needs. If this says Needs attention, click Re-check and try again. If it keeps failing, contact Hammerd support.
• Live chat, Creator sales attribution and Overlay branding (optional): shown as Enabled or Not enabled.

You cannot move on until both required items are complete. If they already are, the guide starts at step 2.

Step 2: Create your first show

• Show name: what staff and viewers see.
• Show type: Virtual, Hybrid or Physical.
• Timezone: the zone the start time is entered in. It defaults to your account's timezone.
• Start time (optional): when the show is due to start.
• Enable chat: let viewers chat during the show. It starts switched on when live chat is enabled for your account, and you can change it later on the show's edit page.
• Enable creator attribution and Campaign (optional): only shown if creator sales attribution is part of your plan. Use these to credit sales to a creator or campaign.

Click Next. The show is created as soon as the required fields are valid, and a confirmation shows its ID.

Step 3: Add lots (run of show)

Pick the lots to sell in this show. They are added to the show's queue, which you can reorder. You can also add lots later from the show's page.

Step 4: Connect OBS / TikTok

This step gives you the links you need:

• Open viewer page and the Viewer link (for bidding): share this with your audience so they can watch and bid.
• Open show: the show's page in the admin panel.
• Open Live Console: the control screen you use while live.
• Overlay links: Main overlay (with chat), Main overlay (no chat) and Chat overlay (optional). Use Generate now to create a link, Copy to copy it, and Regenerate to replace it.

Connecting your streaming software

For OBS:

1. Add a Browser Source to your scene.
2. Paste the Main overlay (with chat) link.
3. Optionally, add a second Browser Source with the Chat overlay link if you want chat as a separate layer.
4. Set the width and height to match your canvas, for example 1920 by 1080.

For TikTok LIVE Studio:

1. Add a Browser or Web overlay source.
2. Paste the Main overlay (with chat) link.
3. Optionally, add a second Web overlay source with the Chat overlay link.
4. If TikTok's own controls overlap the overlay, adjust the safe zones in Settings → Live Commerce Settings.

Overlay links are time limited (typically 24 hours). If the overlay stops updating, open the show and use Generate overlay URL to get a fresh link, then paste it into your streaming software again. Treat overlay links like passwords: anyone with the link can display the overlay.

Managing a show before it goes live

Open Auction Ops → Events. If you have both live auctions and live commerce, use the Shows tab. Each show's row has:

• Open Live Console (the icon button).
• View Analytics, which opens Show Analytics in a new tab.
• Edit, available while the show is Draft or Scheduled.
• In the row menu: Start Show, Pause Show, Resume Show and End Show, depending on the show's status and whether you can control it.

On a show's page you will find the Links section (the Live Console link and the Overlay link (main with chat)), the Show Queue tab and header buttons including Open Live Console, Generate overlay URL (choose Main (with chat), Main (no chat) or Chat only), Start, Pause, Resume and End. Depending on how your storefront is set up, Open Live Console in the page header may open the host view on your storefront rather than the admin console.

The Show Queue

The Show Queue tab lists the lots in running order. Use Add Lots to add more, drag rows to reorder queued lots, Pin/Unpin to pin a queued lot, Switch To to jump to a lot, and Next Lot to advance.

Editing a show

Edit lets you change the name, type, timezone, start time and venue. The Live Commerce section has Chat enabled, Creator attribution enabled and, if attribution is part of your plan, Campaign (optional). The edit page also has a Creator Links tab where you can Create Link to give a creator a tracked link, and see its Clicks, Conversions and GMV.

The Configuration section and the overlay configuration field on the edit page take advanced technical settings. Leave them alone unless Hammerd support asks you to change them. A show's designated host is also set there, so if you want someone other than an Admin or Auctioneer to host, contact Hammerd support.

Running a show from the Live Console

The Live Console is the screen you keep open while on air. Only people who can control the show can open it.

Across the top you see the show name, its status, Go live (or Resume show when paused), Pause show and End show, and when the screen last refreshed.

The screen has three columns:

• Run of show (left): the queue. Use Next to advance, Switch to to jump to a lot, and pin or reorder queued lots.
• Current lot (centre): the lot on air with its Current price, Time remaining and Bid count. Controls are Next lot, Hold bidding, Resume bidding, +15s (add 15 seconds) and Skip lot. These only work while the show is live.
• Chat (right): the chat feed. Hosts, Auctioneers and Admins see Moderation enabled and can Delete a message, Mute 5m, Unmute, Ban and Unban a viewer. You can also send an announcement: type your own or pick a Canned announcement from Select preset…, then click Send announcement.

The Event log at the bottom records each action taken during the show.

When you click End show, a summary shows the number of lots completed, bids and the hammer total.

Show Analytics

From a show's row, click View Analytics. The page shows viewer and sales figures, creator performance and campaign attribution for the show. Use Filter Period to choose All Time, Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days or Custom. Export CSV and Export Summary prepare a download and show a link when it is ready.

Common questions

I cannot see Create show

Live Commerce is not on your plan, or your role cannot reach Auction Ops → Events. Check the plan with your account owner or Hammerd support, and your role in Team members and roles.

My overlay is blank or frozen in OBS

The link has probably expired. Use Generate overlay URL on the show's page and paste the new link into the Browser Source.

Viewers say they cannot bid

Check Settings → Auction Settings → Bidder Eligibility. If it requires identity verification or a payment method, viewers must complete that first. See Identity verification and Auction settings and bid increments.

Can I delete a show?

Only while it is Draft or after it has Ended, from the row menu.