How to Catalog a HiBid Auction, Start to Finish
A HiBid auction lives or dies on its catalog — searchable titles, honest descriptions, clean photos. This guide is the whole workflow in order, from the first photo to the moment the catalog is live on HiBid, with links to the detailed guide for each step.
Step 1 — Photograph the Lots
Work in one pass: number a lot, shoot its full shot list (overall shot first — it becomes the HiBid thumbnail — then labels, details, and flaws), move to the next. For sales past a hundred lots, barcode separator sheets let you shoot straight through without stopping to tag anything. The full technique, including phone settings and category-specific shot lists, is in the auction photography guide.
Step 2 — Let AI Draft the Catalog
Upload the photos to Auction Maker and it groups them into lots (splitting on barcode separators automatically) and drafts a keyword-rich title and structured description for every lot — brand, model, specs, and condition cues read from the images. This replaces the 10–20 hours of typing that used to be the HiBid cataloging bottleneck.
Step 3 — Review Like an Editor
Verify brand and model against the photos, add what the camera can't know (serial numbers, hours, whether it runs), confirm condition notes match reality, and bulk-fix lot numbers, categories, and consignor codes. The standards that make descriptions sell — search terms in the title, structured details, disclosed flaws — are covered in writing lot descriptions.
Step 4 — Export the HiBid-Ready Files
One click exports a HiBid-formatted CSV of your lots and a ZIP of photos named by lot and photo order (12-1.jpeg, 12-2.jpeg) — nothing to rename, nothing to reformat.
Step 5 — Import into Auction Flex and Publish
HiBid catalogs publish through Auction Flex. The Auction Flex import guide walks both wizards step by step with screenshots — the Inventory Import for your CSV, then the Batch Image Import that attaches photos by lot number automatically. From there your auction goes live to HiBid's bidder audience on your schedule.
The Whole Loop, Timed
- Photography: about a day for a typical 300-lot sale
- AI drafting: minutes, running while you do something else
- Review and bulk fixes: an hour or two
- Export + Auction Flex import: under an hour
That cadence — versus days of manual typing — is what lets a small HiBid operation run weekly sales. The economics of that cadence are in how much auctioneers make.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What software do I need to list on HiBid?
- HiBid catalogs are managed through Auction Flex (HiBid’s sister cataloging product). A common workflow is to build the catalog in an AI cataloging tool like Lot Lingo, then import the finished CSV and photos into Auction Flex, which publishes to HiBid.
- How long does it take to catalog a 300-lot HiBid auction?
- Photography is typically a day. The traditional bottleneck — typing 300 titles and descriptions — is 10–20 hours by hand, or an hour or two of review when AI drafts them from your photos.
- How should HiBid lot photos be shot?
- Three to eight photos per lot: a clean overall shot first (it becomes the thumbnail), labels and model plates, and honest damage close-ups. Landscape orientation, centered subject — HiBid crops thumbnails.
- Can AI write my HiBid descriptions?
- Yes — tools like Lot Lingo draft keyword-rich titles and structured descriptions from your lot photos, formatted for HiBid export. You review and edit every word before anything publishes.
Catalog Your Next HiBid Sale Faster
See what the workflow looks like on your own lots — start a free trial on the HiBid sellers page.