Software package

Online auction package

A timed online auction system with consignments and lot cataloguing, estimates and condition reports, bidder registration with approval or deposits, soft close and proxy bidding, reserves, buyer's premium rules, buyer invoices, consignor settlement statements and a full audit log, ready to configure around your conditions of sale.

Custom build Concept demo

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Who it is for

Built for

A good fit

Auction houses, specialist sale rooms and asset disposal businesses running timed online sales, from a family firm holding a sale a month to a disposal business running several sales a week for different consignors. It suits auction administrators who set up sales and approve bidders, cataloguers who photograph and describe lots, accounts staff who invoice buyers and settle consignors, consignors who want to see their lots and statements, and bidders who want to leave a maximum bid and trust that the close is fair.

Also worth knowing

It is less suited to fixed-price resale between individuals, which the second-hand marketplace package covers, to charity fundraising auctions with pledges rather than invoices, and to houses whose main business is live room sales with video, which need the live companion as custom work. Businesses with per-consignor premium rules or collection processes with release notes should look at the custom service first.

The operational problem it solves

How it runs, step by step

The auction administrator creates next month's sale on Monday and sets the closing schedule: lots close from seven in the evening at one-minute intervals, with a soft close that extends any lot bid on in its final two minutes.

The cataloguer works through the consignments, giving each lot a number, a description, the estimates the auctioneer wrote on the consignment form, the reserve and six photographs, and writes condition reports as viewing enquiries arrive.
A consignor logs in and sees her twelve lots with their estimates and reserves.

Bidder registrations arrive during the fortnight the sale is open.

New bidders are held for approval; the administrator checks each one and approves them, two with a card authorisation taken through the payment provider because they are new and the lots they are watching are high-value.
A regular bidder leaves a proxy bid of three times the low estimate on lot forty; the platform bids on his behalf only as far as needed and emails him when he is outbid.
On closing night the administrator watches the close monitor: lot forty is extended twice by late bids, and the sequence pushes on without the following lots closing early.
Afterwards the platform applies reserves, calculates hammer prices, buyer's premium at the configured rate and the VAT rules per lot, and produces invoices to buyers and a settlement statement per consignor with commission and lotting fees deducted.
Accounts marks invoices paid as the money arrives, collection is recorded lot by lot, and a bidder who queries a bid is shown the audit log entry with its time.

Features

What the package does

The package is organised as modules that follow a sale from consignment to settlement: consignments and cataloguing, bidder registration and approval, timed bidding and close, invoicing and settlement, and reporting and audit. Each module below lists what it does; the comparison table shows which package variant includes it.

Listings and search

Consignments with reserves and commissionRecord each consignment with its terms, reserves and commission rates before lots are created.
Lot catalogue with condition reportsNumbered lots with descriptions, auctioneer-entered estimates, images and condition reports.

Scheduling

Timed sales with soft closeLots close one after another, a late bid extends closing time, and increment tables set the bid steps.

Payments and policies

Proxy biddingThe platform bids on a bidder's behalf up to the maximum they have set.
Shipping quote requests for won lotsRequest a shipping quote from carriers for lots a buyer has won.

Clients and records

Bidder registration, limits and depositsBidders register and are approved, with limits, and deposits or authorisations through a connected payment provider.

Billing and payments

Reserves, premium and tax at closeAt close the reserve is applied and the hammer price, buyer's premium and tax rules per lot are calculated.
Buyer invoices and collection trackingBuyer invoices, recorded payments and a view of which won lots have been collected.

Accounts and permissions

Consignor settlement statementsStatements for consignors showing sale proceeds less commission and fees.

Compliance and records

Audit log of bids and actionsEvery bid, retraction and administrative action is logged, so a disputed result can be reviewed.

Messaging and notifications

Outbid, closing and invoice notificationsBidders are told when they are outbid, when a lot is about to close and when an invoice is ready.

Directory and reviews

Past results archiveBidders can search the archive of past results to see what similar lots have achieved.

Integrations

Accounting system exportExport invoices and settlements to your accounting system.

Roles and permissions

Who does what

Auction administrator
- Create sales with closing schedules, soft close and increment tables
- Approve bidders, set limits and take deposits or authorisations
- Watch the close monitor and handle retractions under the rules set
- Configure premium, commission, fee and tax rules
Cataloguer
- Record consignments with terms, reserves and commission rates
- Create lots with descriptions, estimates, categories and images
- Write and publish condition reports
- Reorder lots and manage withdrawals before the sale opens
Accounts
- Issue buyer invoices and record payments
- Produce consignor settlement statements and mark them paid
- Release or apply bidder deposits
- Export invoices and settlements to the accounts system
Consignor
- See their lots, estimates, reserves and bidding activity
- Download settlement statements
- Message the auction house about their consignment
Bidder
- Register, upload what approval requires and pay a deposit where asked
- Watch lots, bid and leave proxy maximums
- Receive outbid and closing alerts
- See won lots, invoices and collection details

Example screen

Concept demo

Concept demo of the online auction close monitor showing lots closing in sequence, a soft-close extension, proxy bids and the audit log.

The close monitor as the administrator sees it on closing night: lots closing in sequence with their current bid against reserve, a lot extended by a late bid with its new close time, proxy bids being executed and the audit log scrolling alongside.

Scope and options

What is included and what is extra

In the base package

Consignments with terms, reserves and commission rates
Lot catalogue with numbering, descriptions, auctioneer-entered estimates, images and condition reports
Timed sales with staggered closing, soft close and increment tables
Proxy bids executed by the platform up to each bidder's maximum
Bidder registration with approval, limits and deposits or authorisations through a connected payment provider
Reserves applied at close with hammer price, buyer's premium and configurable tax rules per lot
Buyer invoices, payment recording and collection tracking
Consignor settlement statements with commission and fees
Full audit log of bids, retractions and administrative actions
Outbid, closing and invoice notifications

Common add-ons

Past results archive searchable by bidders
Accounting system export for invoices and settlements
Shipping quote requests to carriers from won lots

Needs custom work

Live sale companion with clerk screen and streaming connection
Per-consignor premium rules and exclusion lists
Collection with release notes, slots and storage charges

See the custom development service

Ownership, maintenance and pricing

After the build

Deployment and ownership

The package runs on your own hosting or on hosting we manage; the choice is made in the proposal and can change later. In both cases you own the code and your data. Catalogues, bidder and consignor records, results, invoices, settlements and the audit log can be exported at any time in standard formats, and nothing in the package stops you moving it to another provider. Deposits and payments are handled by the connected payment provider and never stored by the platform.

Maintenance

Maintenance is optional and scoped separately from the build. When taken, it covers security updates to the platform and its dependencies, monitoring of the bidding engine around closes, payment provider callbacks and notification sends, backups, and a monthly window for small configuration changes such as a new increment table, a fee rule or a registration requirement. Larger changes are quoted as change requests against the original scope.

Pricing model

Priced per proposal.

The package is sold as a one-off setup and customisation, with optional monthly maintenance and hosting as separate recurring lines. The setup figure depends on the expected lots per sale and bidder concurrency at close, the add-ons selected, the payment provider, the accounts system connected, how many consignors, bidders and past results are migrated and whether you host it yourself. The premium and commission your house charges are your business decisions and are not part of what you pay us. Your proposal states each line separately.

Software package

Custom build Concept demo

Variants

Custom Platform : quote for this variant

Consignments with terms, reserves and commission rates
Lot catalogue with numbering, descriptions, auctioneer-entered estimates, images and condition reports
Timed sales with staggered closing, soft close and increment tables
Proxy bids executed by the platform up to each bidder's maximum

Priced per proposal. A written proposal is the only binding figure.

Get a quote for this package Prefer a fully custom build?

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How do proxy bids and soft close work together?

A bidder leaves a maximum and the platform bids for them at the next increment only when someone else bids, never revealing the maximum. A bid in a lot's final period, including one the platform places for a proxy, extends that lot by the period the administrator set, and every step is in the audit log.

Can bidders retract a bid?

Only under the rules you configure, for example within a short time of placing it and not in the final period. Retractions are logged with the reason, and the administrator can allow or refuse them case by case where the rules say so.

How are new bidders checked?

Registration asks for what you require, holds new bidders for approval by the administrator, and can take a deposit or a card authorisation through the payment provider before bidding is allowed, per sale or per bidder category. Checks against external identity services are an add-on recorded against the bidder.

How is VAT handled on hammer price and premium?

Through tax rules configured per lot and per fee type, applied when invoices and settlements are produced and shown line by line. The package applies the rules you set; which treatment applies to a given lot or consignor remains a matter for you and your accountant.

What do consignors see?

Their own lots with estimates, reserves and bidding activity during the sale, the result after close and their settlement statement with commission and fees deducted, which they can download. They never see bidder identities.

Is this a finished product I can see running?

Not yet. The readiness badge shows the real state: the package is a custom build assembled from our listings, orders and multi-vendor settlement modules with a bidding engine for each house, and the example on this page is a labelled concept demo rather than a live auction.

We also hold live sales in the room. Is that included?

The package runs timed online sales. A live sale companion with a clerk screen, a bid log alongside the room and a streaming connection is custom work handled through the custom auction platform service.

Get a quote for Online auction package

Tell us about your locations, the people who will use it and the add-ons you need. We reply with a clear, competitive proposal.