I lost the auction — where is my CRETA?

Safe, and waiting for you to take it back. A losing bid is not returned automatically — it stays in the auction contract until you reclaim it.

Go to Account → My bids, find the auction, and reclaim. Confirm in your wallet and the CRETA comes back to your address. You pay the network fee for that transaction, so keep a little POL for it.

This catches people out, so it is worth saying plainly: if you have bid on several auctions and lost, there is a balance sitting in the contract for each one, and each needs reclaiming. Nothing is lost and nothing expires — but nothing arrives on its own either.