Export your catalog from Lotdesk to Wavebid

Wavebid asks you to map each column to one of its fields, so a clean file with plain headings is most of the job. Lotdesk writes that file, the photographs to go with it, and the steps for Wavebid's mapping screen.

What you click

Open the sale and choose Export for your platform, with photographs.
Find Wavebid and choose Download with photographs (ZIP).
Open import-steps.txt in the ZIP. It is the vendor's own import screens, in order, with the field names this file uses.

What is in the ZIP

The CSV: wavebid-catalogue.csv (11 columns), one row per lot in lot order.
An images folder: every photograph under the name the platform matches by, like 771-1.jpg.
warnings.txt: what to look at before you import, in plain sentences.
import-steps.txt: the steps, ready to print.

What Lotdesk does to fit the format

Money: plain figures, no dollar sign and no comma, which is what Wavebid's import requires.
Names: the lot title is written under Name, the one heading Wavebid documents besides Lot #; the other headings are plain and are matched on the mapping screen.
The reserve is written into the file for the house's own use. Wavebid cannot undo an import, so keep the original file.

The columns it writes

#	Header in the file	What goes in it
1	`Lot #`	the lot number (a sublot keeps its letter, like 27A)
2	`Name`	the lot title
3	`Description`	the description
4	`Quantity`	the quantity
5	`Category`	the category
6	`Starting Bid`	the start bid
7	`Reserve`	the reserve (private)
8	`Low Estimate`	the low estimate
9	`High Estimate`	the high estimate
10	`Consignor`	the consignor's own code, or the consignor's name
11	`Condition`	the condition note

Open the sample sale's file now

This is the real output for the sample sale, from the same code a house's own sale goes through. The reserve cell is always blank in a public file.

Wavebid: the sample sale's CSV · with the photographs (ZIP)

What the free lots include

Your first 25 lots are free, with their photographs and the printable catalog. The export files, CSV and ZIP, come with the $79 a month plan. A house whose plan has ended can still take its sale out.

The same files read back in: Lotdesk recognizes Wavebid's headings when you bring a sale in, so a sale can go out and come back. See bringing a sale in from a spreadsheet, and the other direction, how Wavebid reads the file.

What this format rests on

Status	What it says	Where it comes from
Vendor documentation	Wavebid imports a CSV and asks you to map each column to a Wavebid field; only columns that are mapped are imported. Only Lot # is required, and the lot title maps to Name.	Wavebid support, Importing Catalogs, dated 2026-06-08 (read through a search result's excerpt; a direct fetch was refused)
Vendor documentation	Money values take no dollar sign and no comma. An import cannot be stopped once begun and cannot be undone.	The same article
Vendor documentation	Photographs are matched to lots by file name through Uploading Photos.	Wavebid support, Uploading Photos
Unverified	Wavebid publishes the fields you map to, not a fixed header list for the file. Names other than Lot # and Name (Description, Starting Bid, Reserve, Low Estimate, High Estimate, Consignor, Condition) are Lotdesk's, and are mapped on screen.	Not published. Per the vendor's published documentation; check against your own import screen.

Date these sources were read: 2026-10-01. A format can change without notice; if your import screen shows something different, trust your screen and tell us.

Open a book — free for your first 25 lots Look at the sample sale first