Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for auctioneers.
A checklist built from how auctioneers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Consignments and lot register
- Catalogue and sale scheduling
- Bidder registration
- Bids and the sale-day sheet
- Buyer invoices and collection
- Consignor settlement
- Storage and delivery
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the auctioneer and owner
- For cataloguers
- For the sale clerk
- For accounts
- For warehouse staff
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Sale results by lot and category
- Sell-through of lots offered
- Buyer invoices unpaid, oldest first
- Commission and premium earned by sale
- Consignor settlements issued and pending
- Goods in storage by age
- Bidder activity across sales
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS and messaging
- Payment gateway
- Online bidding platform
- Accounting export
- Shipping and carriers
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can one lot have several photographs and a condition report?
- How are reserves handled?
- Can it record absentee and phone bids?
- Does it calculate buyer’s premium and seller’s commission?
- Can goods be held until payment?
- Can it run several sales at once?
- Can past sale results be loaded?
- Who owns the data?
- What does it cost?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Lot details are retyped several times
- Bidders are hard to identify at the desk
- Absentee and phone bids are kept apart
- Settlements take careful hand work
- Unpaid buyers and uncollected goods pile up
Prefer to talk it through? See the auctioneers page.