Listings sell while you sleep. Shows bring people who then follow you. Neither replaces the other.
What a listing does
Works without you. It is there at 2am, found by somebody searching, and it sells with no performance required.
Reaches people who know what they want. Search is how most buy-now items find a buyer.
Costs nothing to run. Free to list, free to relist, and it waits. Does it cost anything to list?
Suits uniform stock — things where there is nothing to inspect and nothing to ask.
What a show does
Finds a price for uncertain things. That is the whole point of an auction, and it is the only honest way to price something one of a kind. How do I know the price is fair?
Lets you answer. A buyer can ask you to turn it over, which a listing cannot do. For anything where condition varies, that is most of the sale. Why some things sell better live
Builds followers. The thing that compounds, and listings barely do it.
Clears stock fast on a good night.
The split most stores land on
Auction the uncertain, list the rest. One-of-a-kind, second-hand and condition-dependent things go in shows; repeat stock and uniform items sit as listings. Auction or buy now?
Keep listings running all the time, including while you are not doing shows. A store that only exists during a show is invisible six days a week.
Hold some unsold show stock back rather than listing everything the same night. What happens to items that do not sell?
The mistake in each direction
Only shows. Your store is empty between them, nothing is found by search, and a quiet month means no income at all.
Only listings. You never build followers, so every sale starts from a stranger — and for condition-dependent stock you are leaving money on the table because buyers cannot ask.
What you can do in a show besides auctions
A show can carry buy-now items alongside auctions — priced, first come, no clock. Useful for the repeat stock while the room is there. Buy now, explained
If you only want one
Listings. You can sell here perfectly well without ever going live, and plenty do. Shows are the growth engine, not the requirement. Can I sell without going live?
More: auction or buy now, what sells well in a live auction, do I have to go live on a schedule.