---
title: "How it works — the full lifecycle of a sponsor slot"
description: "The full lifecycle of a slot on slotsbid: sealed offers, public bidding, creative approval, winner selection, payment, and settlement."
canonical: "https://slotsbid.com/how-it-works"
---

# Three forms between your guess and your price.

A slot moves through a fixed set of states. Every time-based transition is driven by a scheduled sweep, and every step is idempotent — a double-fire cannot double-charge or double-award.

    draft → accepting_offers → live → closed → awaiting_payment → settled
                                        ↓             ↓
                                     unsold    runner_up_offer → …

## Draft

The creator has created the slot but not published it. Not publicly visible to anyone.

## Accepting offers

The page is live and reads "accepting offers · N received". Amounts stay sealed. **A slotsbid page never displays "0 bids"** — an empty auction looks worse than a rate card, so that state does not exist. Quiet weeks read as exclusive, not empty.

## Live

Once 3 distinct verified sponsors have offered, the creator can open public bidding. The ladder becomes visible, the clock starts, and sponsors bid against each other in the open. Sealed offers remain available throughout for sponsors who will not bid publicly.

## Closed, then awaiting payment

Bidding ends. The creator selects the winner from **approved bidders only** — a higher bid whose creative was never approved is passed over. The winner is invoiced with their deposit credited.

## Runner-up offer

If the winner does not pay within 48 hours, the slot rolls automatically to the next approved bidder. No chasing required.

## Settled, or unsold

On payment the auction settles, the payout is written with the fee rate frozen, the slot runs, and losing deposits are refunded. If there was no sale, every deposit is refunded in full, the creator is charged nothing, and the slot can be relisted.

## The rules that make the ladder trustworthy

- **No fake bids.** Demo pages label every specimen entry as a specimen. Live ladders carry only verified, deposit-backed bids.
- **Bidders register first.** A refundable $25 deposit per auction before the first bid — no burner names, no deadbeat winners.
- **Nothing runs without the creator's approval.** Sponsors file creative with their first bid, and the creator approves it before any money moves.
- **The sealed envelope is always open.** A sponsor who will not bid in public can always make a private offer.
- **Whole dollars only.** A rounded bid is a wrong bid, so partial dollars are refused rather than silently rounded.
- **Bids are serialised.** Placing a bid row-locks the auction, so two simultaneous bids can never both believe they won.

## What counts as a slot

Anything a sponsor would pay to appear in. The platform does not care what you make:

- **YouTube** — a pre-roll, mid-roll or end-roll read on a specific upload, or the description link.
- **Podcast** — a host read on a named episode.
- **Newsletter** — the primary sponsor slot in a dated issue.
- **Livestream** — a segment sponsorship or an overlay for a scheduled stream.
- **Anything else** — if you can describe the placement and name a date, you can auction it.

## Where a slot lives

- **Creator directory** at `/c/<your-slug>` — every public slot you are running, in one place.
- **Auction page** at `/a/<auction-id>` — one slot, its ladder, and the bid form.
- **Your own site** — one script tag embeds the same auction. The embed is deliberately session-free and carries no cookies.