Bring your sale with you from Auction Flex
A sale you started in Auction Flex does not have to be typed again. Lotdesk reads the spreadsheet and the photographs, and shows you what it understood before it stores a single lot.
What comes with you, and what does not
| Comes with the sale | Stays where it is |
|---|---|
| Lot numbers, sublots like 27A included | Bidder records and registrations |
| Titles and descriptions | Invoices and what was paid |
| Quantity and category | Settlements and payouts to consignors |
| Start bid, reserve, low and high estimate | Anything that happens after the hammer |
| Consignors, by code or by name | The platform's own account and settings |
| Photographs, matched to lots by file name |
This reads files you give it. It does not log in to Auction Flex and does not change anything there.
How it goes
- From Auction Flex, take the sale's lots out as a spreadsheet (CSV or Excel) and gather the photographs into a ZIP, named by lot number like
771-1.jpeg. - Open the sale in Lotdesk and use the link on its page for bringing a file in. Choose the spreadsheet and, if you have one, the ZIP of photographs. A spreadsheet can be up to 5 MB and a ZIP up to 50 MB; a bigger set of photographs goes in over two goes.
- Read the preview. Lotdesk says whose file it thinks it is, shows every column and the field it will fill (change any, and ask again), and shows the first 10 lots exactly as they will be stored, with how many would be added, changed, left alone and skipped, and why. Nothing has been stored yet.
- Press import. The report says in plain sentences what was read, what was used, what was skipped and what became of every photograph.
- If it is not what you wanted, undo the whole import. That is possible for 30 days and takes back the lots, the photographs and the sections and consignors it made.
Lotdesk recognizes the headings of the Auction Flex inventory import (Lot#, Consignor/Vendor Code, Lead/Title, Description1, Total Reserve and the rest) and the plain names of the Auction Flex 360 template. Auction Flex's export screens are its own and differ between versions, and Lotdesk has not been run against an export from yours: if the headings differ, the file is still read and the preview lets you point each column at its field.
Before you press import
- Auction Flex identifies a consignor by a code. A code Lotdesk has not met becomes a consignor named for the code; rename it afterwards on the consignors page.
- The estimates and start bids in a desktop file are per item. Lotdesk keeps them per lot, and says so in the report when a lot has a quantity above 1.
- Keep running the sale where you run it now if you like: the sale goes back out in the Auction Flex format. See exporting to Auction Flex and how Auction Flex reads the file.
The rules it follows
- Doing it twice is safe. A lot is keyed by its number in the sale: the same number is updated, not added again, and a lot that already matches the file is left alone. An empty cell never blanks what the book already has.
- A row the rules refuse is skipped and named; the rest go in. A title past 200 characters, a description past 2,000, a start bid above the low estimate, a lot number no platform takes. Nothing is cut or guessed.
- A file is read, never run. A cell that begins with
=is kept as text, a formula is read as the value last saved in it, and a link to a photograph is listed but never fetched. - The free 25 count. An import counts against them: lots past the 25th are held, with the plan named as the reason, and the same file imported again once the house is on the plan brings in exactly those. A sale holds up to 3,000 lots.
- Only the owner's login brings a file in or undoes one.
What the Auction Flex formats rest on
| Status | What it says | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor documentation | The desktop Inventory Import reads a CSV. A Consignor Code that already exists in Auction Flex and a Lot # (or Inventory #) are required; a row whose consignor code is unknown is skipped. | Auction Flex help center, Inventory Import, dated 2025-07-11 |
| Vendor documentation | Photographs come in as a separate step, matched to lots by file name. | Auction Flex help center, Inventory Import, dated 2025-07-11 |
| Third-party account | The twelve columns and their order for the desktop import: Lot#, Consignor/Vendor Code, Lead/Title, Description1, Quantity, Ship, Full Category, Start Bid Each, Total Reserve, Min Est Each, Max Est Each, Long UDF1. | Lot Lingo's guide to importing into Auction Flex, a third party's tool |
| Third-party account | Photographs named like 771-1.jpeg; more than 1,000 images split across folders. | Lot Lingo's guide, a third party's tool |
| Unverified | Long UDF1 carries the condition note. Auction Flex has no condition field, so this is Lotdesk's choice; any user-defined long field would do. | Not published by the vendor |
| Vendor documentation | Auction Flex 360 reads a CSV only, from a template at Lots, Import Lots, CSV Template. The Seller Code maps the consignor, a field-mapping step matches your headers to its fields, and photographs are named 1-1, 1-2 (1.1 and 1_1 are also read). | Auction Flex 360 help center, Mass Import Lots & Images, dated 2025-10-31 |
| Third-party account | Auction Flex 360 limits a title to 50 characters on bulk import. | AuctionWriter's guide, dated 2025-03-11, a third party's tool |
| Unverified | The Auction Flex 360 template's own header names are behind a login, so Lotdesk writes plain names and the field-mapping step matches them. | 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 lotsLook at the sample sale first