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How Crossroad Sellers works, for bidders, auction house staff and owners.

These pages are for auction house staff. Sign in with a staff account to read them. The titles are here so you can see what is covered.

Common questions

Your First Day on the ConsoleNew here? The words, the order things happen in, what you actually do, and why you cannot break anything.
Step 2: Create the AuctionThe auction form field by field: title, description, the four dates, pickup, delivery, increments and the pre-authorization, and what the platform will not let you change once it is live.
Step 4: Catalogue the LotsThe lot form field by field, the Save & Add the Next One flow for a long day in the warehouse, the spreadsheet route, and every rule the platform enforces.
Step 5: PhotosPhotos on the lot form and the phone app: how they upload, the order and the main photo, rotating, removing, the sizes the platform makes, and why every ready lot needs one.
Step 8: Registrations: Approve, Limit, Suspend, BanWhat to check on a registration, what Approve does, bidding limits, tax exemption, the shared-address flag, and Suspend, Reinstate, Ban and Lift ban.
Step 9: Auction Day and Closing NightWhat happens by itself as lots close, what the Live page shows in the last twenty minutes, approving late registrations, raising a limit, phone and absentee bids, and voiding a bid.
Step 10: After the Close: Invoices and PaymentsWhat the close does by itself, the invoices list, one invoice page, recording cash and checks, the card on file, refunds, adjustments, voiding, printing, and the second chance when a buyer never pays.
Step 11: PickupThe pickup sheet, sorted for walking the shelves with both numbers side by side, the pickup reminder buyers get, and what to check at the door.

Getting started

Your First Day on the Console — New here? The words, the order things happen in, what you actually do, and why you cannot break anything.
Setting Up Your Sign-In (Staff and Owners) — Your first sign-in as staff or an owner asks for a second check before the console opens: a passkey (face, fingerprint or screen lock, no app) or an authenticator app. Print this page for a new starter.

Cataloguing

Step 2: Create the Auction — The auction form field by field: title, description, the four dates, pickup, delivery, increments and the pre-authorization, and what the platform will not let you change once it is live.
Step 3: Tag Numbers and Number Blocks — Each cataloguer gets a block of tag numbers to write on the items; at publish the platform maps them to clean public lot numbers. How to assign blocks and what the two numbers mean.
Step 4: Catalogue the Lots — The lot form field by field, the Save & Add the Next One flow for a long day in the warehouse, the spreadsheet route, and every rule the platform enforces.
Editing, Withdrawing and Deleting Lots — What can change before and after publishing, deleting a duplicate, withdrawing a lot with a reason, and the rule about lots with bids.
How Listing Photos Are Screened — Every uploaded photo is checked before it can publish, what the three outcomes are, the adult-content tick on the lot form and what it does, and what a bidder's report does.
Categories, and Requesting a New One — Every lot is filed under one shared category chosen from a dropdown; if the one you need is not there, request it and pick the nearest meanwhile.
Lots from a Spreadsheet — Importing a catalogue into a draft auction: the columns, the steps, what is skipped and why, and the photos it cannot carry.

Photos and the phone app

Step 5: Photos — Photos on the lot form and the phone app: how they upload, the order and the main photo, rotating, removing, the sizes the platform makes, and why every ready lot needs one.
The Phone App — Cataloguing with no signal: signing in, picking the auction, adding lots and photos, what happens when two people edit one lot, deleting, and syncing.
Device Signing and the Work Log — Who did what on every lot, signed by the phone or browser it came from: reading the auction's Audit page, downloading it, and how long it is kept.

Running an auction

Step 6: Check It and Publish — What to check before publishing, exactly what the Publish button does and refuses, the owner-approval path, and what bidders can see from that moment.
Submitting an Auction for the Owner's Approval — If your house has owner approval on: what Submit does, the three answers you can get, and what sends an approved auction back.
Step 9: Auction Day and Closing Night — What happens by itself as lots close, what the Live page shows in the last twenty minutes, approving late registrations, raising a limit, phone and absentee bids, and voiding a bid.
Phone and Absentee Bids — Placing a bid for a bidder who called or wrote in, why it is recorded under their name with yours beside it, and why nobody at the house sees a bidder's maximum until the lot closes.
How Your Auctions Travel: Share Counts — The share buttons on every public auction and lot, what a shared link looks like, and the counts staff see on the auction page.
Voiding a Bid — A bidder typed $5,000 for $500: steps to void the bid, what a void does to the price, and what it never does to the record.
Step 7: Announce It — Tell your mailing list the auction is open, send yourself the test first, let the closing-soon reminder go out on its own, and share the auction and lots to social media.

Bidders

Step 8: Registrations: Approve, Limit, Suspend, Ban — What to check on a registration, what Approve does, bidding limits, tax exemption, the shared-address flag, and Suspend, Reinstate, Ban and Lift ban.
Bidders Who Share an Address — Several accounts seen from one internet connection get a flag on the Bidders page and on any lot they bid on together; what it means and what to check.
Same Phone as a Banned Bidder — When an account confirms the same mobile number as another account at your house, a tag says so on the Bidders page and on Live; red when the other account is banned here. What it means and what to check.
Bidding Limits and Holds — What a limit is, setting the default and per-bidder limits, raising one on the night, and the holds and per-auction pre-authorization that back it.
Tax-Exempt Bidders — A bidder with a resale certificate: how they ask, how you grant it on the Bidders page, what it changes on invoices, and how to revoke it.

After the close

Step 10: After the Close: Invoices and Payments — What the close does by itself, the invoices list, one invoice page, recording cash and checks, the card on file, refunds, adjustments, voiding, printing, and the second chance when a buyer never pays.
Step 11: Pickup — The pickup sheet, sorted for walking the shelves with both numbers side by side, the pickup reminder buyers get, and what to check at the door.
Step 12: Shipping — Export the shipping orders as one spreadsheet for Pirate Ship or USPS Click-N-Ship, buy the labels there, and enter or upload the tracking numbers so each buyer is emailed.
Step 13: Pay the Consignors — Consignor settlement statements: built as drafts at the close, commission per lot, fees and notes, finalizing, recording the payout, and the consignor portal. The owner does this.
Second-Chance Offers — Offering an unsold lot, or one whose buyer defaulted, to another bidder after the close: steps, what accepting does, and the rules.
Step 14: Results, Reports and the Record — The results page for one auction, second-chance offers from it, the reports (sales tax, consignors, unpaid, one auction), the audit page, and ratings. The auction is done.

After the auction

Ratings and Reviews — Rating a buyer from an invoice, reading reviews of your house, the administrator's one public reply, why ratings stay hidden until both sides have rated, and where scores show.

Records and reports

The Audit Log — The house's permanent record of who did what: what is always in it, how to read it, and the two things it is built to catch.
Reports — The four reports (sales tax, consignors, unpaid, one auction), the steps to run and download each, and how the figures are made.
Bringing Your Lists Across — Importing the HiBid bidder list, a catalogue of lots, or the old system's consignor list: steps, what each row becomes, what is skipped, and which of the three the owner alone can do.
Answering Bidders' Questions — Bidders' questions arrive as tickets: steps to answer, close, and pass a software problem to the platform; and what the automatic reports are.
Answering Bidders' Questions About Lots — Bidders ask about a lot from its page; publish, answer privately or decline it from Sidebar → Questions, in one place across every auction.