For Bhutanese farmers, reaching a border auction yard did not mean that produce would be sold promptly. A 2024 United Nations Development Programme account follows a grower who travelled a full day from Gangtey to Phuentsholing with potatoes, with no guarantee of selling the next day and waits that sometimes exceeded two weeks. An official trade-programme report separately says farmers could spend hours in a queue before negotiating with a broker and then several more days waiting for payment. While a loaded truck waits, spoilage and accommodation costs consume the value of the crop. Online auctions were introduced so produce could be offered closer to its source and farmers and traders could see the day's lots and rates on a screen. What distinguishes this queue is that a farmer's capital—a truckload of perishable food—waits too, and the passage of time can reduce the value of the thing being sold.