How automations and workflows work
Workflows run rules on a trigger — an item ageing past a threshold, an intake batch completing, a schedule. They are most valuable for the decisions you already make consistently and least valuable for the ones that need judgement.
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Automate the decisions you already make the same way
The right candidates for automation are the tasks where you always do the same thing and the only variable is whether you remembered. Markdowns at 60 days. Relisting the things nobody has viewed. Alerting when a consignment period expires.
The wrong candidates are the ones where the answer depends on context you have not encoded. Pricing a rare piece is not a rule; it is a judgement, and automating it produces confidently wrong outcomes at scale.
Workflows worth building first
| Workflow | Trigger | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Age markdown | Item reaches 30 / 60 / 90 days | Reduce price by a set percentage |
| Stale listing refresh | No views in N days | Flag for relist with a revised title |
| Consignment expiry | Item reaches its period end | Notify staff and the consignor |
| Intake completion | Batch drafted | Queue for review, print labels |
| Seasonal publish | Date reached | Publish or unpublish a category |
Guardrails
- Floors and ceilings on any rule that changes price.
- Scope limits, so a rule applies to a category rather than to everything by default.
- A dry run or a small batch before enabling a rule broadly.
- Notifications, so you know a rule fired rather than discovering it in a report.
- An off switch you can find quickly, and know how to use before you need it.
How to introduce automation safely
- 1
Do it manually first, for a month
You cannot automate a decision you have not yet made consistently by hand. The manual month is what tells you what the rule actually is.
- 2
Write the rule narrowly
One category, one threshold. Broad rules are where surprises live.
- 3
Run it and read the output
Check what it did on the first run rather than assuming. This is the step people skip.
- 4
Widen gradually
Expand scope only after a rule has behaved correctly on a narrow set for a few cycles.
Frequently asked questions
Can a workflow publish listings without me?
Yes, if you configure it that way. Most operators start with automations that prepare and flag rather than publish, and move to unattended publishing only once drafting quality is consistently high for their categories.
What happens if two rules conflict?
Avoid the situation by scoping rules so they do not overlap. Two markdown rules touching the same items is the most common conflict and the easiest to prevent.
Can I see what a workflow did?
Runs are recorded with what was affected. Reviewing the first few runs of any new rule is worth the five minutes.
Are automations available on the free plan?
Automation depth varies by plan. Check the pricing page for what is included at each tier.
Step-by-step product docs
This guide explains how it works. These show you exactly where to click.
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