Help · Catalogue and CSV

Lotdesk hands you a CSV; it does not log in to your cataloguing or bidding system and put the lots there. Each of those systems publishes its own import format, and Lotdesk's columns are Lotdesk's own, so plan on a short step between the two.

Before you import:

1. Read your system's own import instructions. AuctionFlex, Wavebid, HiBid and LiveAuctioneers each document the columns they accept. Use the current page, not a memory of an older one.
2. Map or rename the columns. Some systems show a mapping step where you point each of their fields at a column in your file; others need the headers to match their template. Open the file in a spreadsheet, rename the headers or reorder the columns to match, and keep a copy of the original.
3. Check title length. Lotdesk lets a title run to 200 characters. Some systems are shorter: LiveAuctioneers' catalogue text format sets 49 characters for a title, and AuctionFlex 360's bulk import sets 50. Shorten titles in the spreadsheet if yours is stricter.
4. Check the consignor. Lotdesk writes the consignor's name. If your system matches vendors by a code, replace each name with the code, which you can keep against each consignor on the Consignors screen, or create the consignors there first.
5. Photographs are separate. The Photos column is a count. Photographs go to most systems as their own upload, usually with filenames that tie them to lot numbers.
6. Try a few lots first. Import three or four before the whole sale.

For the columns Lotdesk writes, see Exporting the CSV.

Not what you needed? Write to support@lotdesk.app, with the details in what to tell us.