HiBid's published fee table lists a 2% auction fee for auctions with online bidders, plus $0.25 per unique bid capped at $150 per auction (AuctionFlex pricing page, checked November 5, 2026). The page does not say what the 2% is charged on, and its own FAQ prices internet-only auctions at $0.25 per unique bid capped at $150 and puts the webcast maximum at $225, so ask HiBid whether and how the 2% applies to your sale. Gavelist, a cataloging tool that builds the Auction Flex 360 import file for HiBid sales, takes 0% of sales and charges a flat $0.15 per lot. Below is every HiBid seller fee on that page, what each one covers, and how the separate cost of cataloging compares.
By Ben Cope, founder of Gavelist. Gavelist is not HiBid and does not sell HiBid's services; the HiBid figures below are quoted from AuctionFlex's own page with the date we read it.
HiBid seller fees in 2026
AuctionFlex's pricing page lists these under "HiBid Auction & Bidding Fees" and says: "These fees apply to all auctions with online bidders on HiBid."
| HiBid fee | Amount (as published) | What the page says it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Auction fee | 2% | Auctions with online bidders on HiBid |
| Unique bid fee | $0.25 per bid, cap $150 per auction | Online, webcast and absentee bids |
| Webcast setup fee | $75 per auction | Per webcast auction |
| Listing-only rate | $195 per listing | No internet bidding |
| Credit card authentication | $1.00 per authorization, cap $50 per auction | Optional, only charged when enabled |
| Real estate event fee | $100 or $200 | Based on total hammer price of real estate lots: $100 for $0 to $99,999, $200 for $100,000 and up |
Three details from the same page are worth knowing before you budget:
- What a unique bid is. "A unique bid is one bid placed by one bidder on one lot. If the same bidder bids multiple times on the same lot, only the first bid counts as unique."
- When the bid cap kicks in. The page's own example: "A 500-lot auction with 3,000 unique bids hits the $150 cap and never goes higher."
- Fees can change for some sellers. The page notes: "HiBid reserves the right to assess additional fees to select auctioneers based on auction performance."
The fee table shows the auction fee as "2%" and does not say on that page what the 2% is calculated on. Ask HiBid how it applies to your sale before you budget.
Do you also pay for AuctionFlex 360?
AuctionFlex 360 is the web-based auction management software on the same page, described there as software "to catalog and manage sales, with seamless integration to HiBid for bidding." Its published monthly plans are:
| AuctionFlex 360 plan | Monthly price | Users |
|---|---|---|
| Solo | $95 | 1 user |
| Team | $145 | 2 to 5 users |
| Business | $195 | 6 to 9 users |
| Enterprise | $295 | Unlimited users |
These are separate from the HiBid fees above. Gavelist's HiBid route runs through Auction Flex 360: Gavelist builds an Auction Flex 360 lot-import CSV and a photo ZIP named by lot number, you import both into your auction in Auction Flex 360, and you upload the sale to HiBid from there. Gavelist does not post to HiBid itself.
Is the 2% a cataloging fee?
No. HiBid's fees are bidding-platform fees: the cost of running the sale and reaching online bidders on HiBid. Cataloging is the work before that: photographing each lot, working out what it is, writing the title and description, and building the import file.
The two costs are built differently. HiBid's auction fee is a percentage. Cataloging cost depends on how many lots you have. That is why a cataloging tool has no reason to take a cut of your hammer price. Gavelist charges per lot to make the catalog and takes 0% of the sale, on HiBid or anywhere else you sell.
Gavelist exports ready-made files for HiBid (through Auction Flex 360), LiveAuctioneers, Proxibid, BidWrangler, AuctionNinja and Auction Flex 360, an import workbook for Auctioneer Software, an eBay drafts CSV, and a generic CSV for AuctionZip, AuctionMethod, Wavebid and any other spreadsheet-import platform. For HiBid sellers specifically: 23 of the 41 Gavelist accounts that exported a catalog between June 1 and October 13, 2026 exported a HiBid file (Gavelist production data, read October 15, 2026).
A worked example: HiBid fees and catalog cost on one sale
Example inputs: a 500-lot online auction with 3,000 unique bids, no webcast, no card authentication, cataloged in Gavelist on Pay as You Go.
- HiBid unique bid fees: 3,000 × $0.25 = $750, capped at $150. You pay $150.
- HiBid auction fee: 2%. Ask HiBid what it is calculated on for your sale, then multiply.
- Cataloging the 500 lots with Gavelist: 500 × $0.15 = $75, with 0% of the sale.
- Cataloging the 500 lots by hand: at 8 to 15 lots an hour, Gavelist's working range for full-scope manual cataloging, that is 33 to 63 hours of your time (500 ÷ 15 and 500 ÷ 8). If you hire it out, Sound Auction Service in Washington state publishes $3.00 per lot (checked November 5, 2026), which is $1,500 for 500 lots.
The catalog cost is the part you choose.
How fast the catalog is ready
Most sales of up to 500 lots finish describing in under 10 minutes once describing starts. At the high-volume end, according to Gavelist production data, one five-person estate auction team cataloged 10,235 lots in its first six weeks on Gavelist; see the 10,235-lot case study.
For the import steps, see how to import a catalog CSV into HiBid through Auction Flex and the HiBid integration page. If you are comparing HiBid's own AI cataloging with a separate tool, see the HiBid AI alternative page.
FAQ
Does HiBid charge a percentage of sales? HiBid's fee table on AuctionFlex's pricing page lists a 2% auction fee for auctions with online bidders, plus $0.25 per unique bid capped at $150 per auction (checked November 5, 2026). The page does not say what the 2% is charged on. The page's own FAQ prices internet-only auctions at $0.25 per unique bid capped at $150 and puts the webcast maximum at $225, so ask HiBid whether and how the 2% applies to your sale.
How much does HiBid charge auctioneers? As published on November 5, 2026: a 2% auction fee, $0.25 per unique bid with a $150 cap per auction, a $75 webcast setup fee per webcast auction, a $195 listing-only rate with no internet bidding, and an optional $1.00 credit card authentication capped at $50 per auction. Real estate events carry a $100 or $200 fee.
What is HiBid's unique bid fee? $0.25 per unique bid, capped at $150 per auction. A unique bid is one bid by one bidder on one lot, so repeat bids by the same bidder on the same lot count once.
Do I need AuctionFlex 360 to use Gavelist with HiBid? Gavelist's HiBid route goes through Auction Flex 360: Gavelist builds the Auction Flex 360 import file and photo ZIP, and you upload the sale to HiBid from Auction Flex 360. AuctionFlex 360's published plans start at $95 a month for one user.
Is HiBid's 2% a cataloging fee? No. It is a bidding-platform fee for running the sale on HiBid. Cataloging is separate. Gavelist catalogs for $0.15 per lot and takes 0% of the sale.
Does Gavelist charge a percentage of my sales? No. Gavelist takes 0% of auction sales on every plan. It charges $0.15 per lot on Pay as You Go, or $79 a month for 1,000 lots, $160 for 2,500, or $250 for 5,000, with $0.09 per lot over a plan.
Sources
- AuctionFlex, "AuctionFlex 360 & HiBid Pricing," accessed November 5, 2026. auctionflex.com
- Gavelist, "Pricing," gavelist.com/pricing, November 2026.
- Gavelist production data: HiBid export share, June 1 to October 13, 2026 (read October 15, 2026); describing time for sales of up to 500 lots (August 16 to October 15, 2026); one high-volume estate auction house, jobs created March 20 to May 2, 2026.
- Sound Auction Service, "Services," accessed November 5, 2026. soundauctionservice.com