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Automations

The Automations feature lets you send outbound notifications when key events happen in your organization — like a sale or new registration — to tools like Slack or Gmail via Zapier.

Automations are not intended as a full CRM integration. It's a lightweight notification layer built on Zapier, connecting Auctria events (sales, registrations, item activity, etc.) to downstream tools. A common use case is notifying a person or channel the moment a sale occurs online — for example, emailing a staff member when a sponsorship is sold.

Prerequisites

An Auctria account.
A free Zapier account.

Accessing the Automation Dashboard

The Automation button appears by default on the Organization page. Check the Enable automation box to enable automations for your organization.

Automation Settings page in Organizations dashboard

An example from a demonstration event.

Click Manage automation to open the control center.

An example from a demonstration event.

From here you can access:

Endpoints — review connected webhooks and check error rates
Event Catalog — browse available trigger events
Logs — verify 200 OK delivery responses and inspect event payloads

Connecting Zapier to Auctria

The Auctria app is public in Zapier's directory, so it's searchable and ready to connect right away.

In the Auctria dashboard, go to Organization → Automation, then click Load Zapier Credentials. This generates an Application ID and Integration Key.
In Zapier, go to App connections and create a new connection.
Search for Auctria and enter the Application ID and Integration Key to connect the app.

Auctria will now appear in your list of Zapier app connections.

Keep Your Integration Key Secret

Treat your Integration Key like a password — never share it over unencrypted or shared channels.

Creating a Zap

In Zapier, search for Auctria as the trigger app.
Select a trigger event — this is the Auctria event that starts the Zap:
- item.added — fires when a new auction item is created. Connects fields like item name, description, and starting bid.
- participant.registered — fires when a new bidder/user registers for the event. Connects participant name, email, and paddle number.
- sales-order.created — fires when a checkout completes. Connects sales order ID, items purchased, and total amount. This is the trigger most notification use cases, like a sponsorship sale alert, will use.
- transaction.added — fires when a financial transaction is recorded. Connects transaction type, amount, and associated participant.
Click Continue, then Test trigger. You may need to verify against existing records in your Auctria event.
Choose a connected app for the action step (Slack, Gmail, Google Calendar, etc.), sign in if prompted, and pick the action event (Send Channel Message, Send Email, etc.).
In the action step's fields, click the + (insert) button inside the field you want to fill (e.g. a Slack message body). This opens the Payload tree — an expandable list of every field Auctria sent with the trigger event. Expand it and click a variable to insert it. Zapier drops in a small pill/token representing that field — this is the actual data reference, not typed text, and it's how data from the trigger event flows into the message or record Zapier creates downstream.

Clicking the + button on a Zapier field opens the Payload tree, where individual fields can be selected and inserted as tokens

Clicking the + button on a Zapier field opens the Payload tree, where individual fields can be selected and inserted as tokens.

Test the Zap.
Publish it.

Payload Fields Can Be Nested

The Payload tree can be nested — some fields (like participant details) contain their own sub-list of variables. Expand a branch to see everything available underneath it.

Example Automations

Slack notification when a sponsorship sells

Create a new Zap and choose Auctria as the trigger app.
Select the sales-order.created trigger event, then test it against a real sales order in your event.
Choose Slack as the action app and sign in if prompted.
Select the Send Channel Message action event.
Choose the channel you want notified (e.g. #event-day).
Click into the Message Text field, then click the + button to open the Payload tree. Select the item name field, then go back and select the sales order total field, so both get inserted as tokens into your message. Type your own text around them, for example: "🎉 Sponsorship sold: [item name token] for [total token]!"

Building a Slack message with inserted Payload tokens for item name and sales order total.

Building a Slack message with inserted Payload tokens for item name and sales order total

Test the Zap, then publish it.

Now every time a sale completes online, your team gets an instant heads-up in Slack.

Gmail notification for a sponsorship sale

Create a new Zap and choose Auctria as the trigger app.
Select the transaction.added trigger event, then test it against an existing transaction.
Choose Gmail as the action app and sign in if prompted.
Select the Send Email action event.
Enter the recipient (e.g. your development director), a subject line, and a body.
Click into the email body field, click the + button, and select the transaction fields you want from the Payload tree — such as transaction type, amount, and associated participant. Each one is inserted as a token you can arrange in your own sentence.
If you only want emails for certain transaction types (e.g. sponsorships), add a Filter by Zapier step between the trigger and the action. In the filter, click + to insert the Item Title field from the Payload tree, then set the condition to (Text) Contains and enter Sponsorship.

Adding a Filter by Zapier step between the trigger and action, with a condition set on Item Title

Adding a Filter by Zapier step between the trigger and action, with a condition set on Item Title.

Test the Zap, then publish it.

This way, the right staff member finds out immediately when a specific kind of transaction comes in, without being copied on every sale.

More Trigger Ideas

Other useful triggers to consider: an SMS or Slack DM to an event coordinator when participant.registered fires for VIP or major-donor tiers.

Best Practices

Secure credential storage — never disclose your Integration Key in unencrypted or shared channels.
Monitor webhooks — periodically check delivery rates in the Logs tab, especially during peak auction hours, to ensure high-volume throughput doesn't cause delivery issues.
Inspect logs — use the Logs tab under Manage Automation to confirm 200 OK responses and troubleshoot failed deliveries.

Last reviewed: August 2026