Gavelist is AI auction cataloging software that reads every photo in a lot, writes the title, description and condition, and exports ready-made files for HiBid, LiveAuctioneers, Proxibid, BidWrangler, AuctionNinja and Auction Flex 360, at $0.15 per lot pay-as-you-go or $79 a month for 1,000 lots, with 0% of auction sales. For estate sales and auctions, Gavelist identifies each item from all of its photos and, with the optional comps add-on, gives a value range built from comps you can check: each comp shows its source, and current listings are labeled as asking prices.
Published October 2026 by Ben Cope, founder of Gavelist. Gavelist is one of the tools mentioned below, so read that part with that in mind.
Most lots at a small online auction or estate sale are valued the same way: identify the item from the photos, find what comparable items actually sold for, and adjust for condition and for the kind of sale you are running. The step that goes wrong most often is the second one. It is easy to find what people are asking for an item; it is much harder to find what it sold for, and the gap between the two is large.
The method in five steps
- Identify the item from the photos. Maker, model or pattern, size, material, and anything that changes value: a maker's mark, a serial plate, a signature, original box. Photograph the label, the underside and any damage, not only the front. Reverse image search (Google Lens) is fast for mass-produced goods and weak for one-offs.
- Find comparables. Look for the same item, or the closest match, in recent results. Note the source of every number.
- Separate sold prices from asking prices. A sold price is what a buyer paid. An asking price is what a seller hoped for. Use sold prices to set the estimate; use asking prices only as a ceiling.
- Adjust for condition and completeness. Chips, cracks, missing parts, refinishing, "untested", "pickup only" and no box all pull the price down, often by more than you expect.
- Adjust for the level of trade. The same lamp has a retail price, an insurance replacement value, a dealer price and an auction hammer price. For an auction catalog estimate you want the hammer price at a sale like yours: same platform, same region, same kind of buyer. (The hammer price is the winning bid; the price realized adds the buyer's premium, the percentage the buyer pays the house on top. When you compare results, compare like with like.)
Where sold prices come from
| Source | What it shows | Sold or asking |
|---|---|---|
| Your own past results (hammer prices from your platform's export) | What your buyers actually paid | Sold (the best evidence you have) |
| LiveAuctioneers / Invaluable price archives | Past auction results across many houses | Sold (hammer), often higher-end sales |
| WorthPoint | Aggregated past sales, many from eBay | Sold (subscription) |
| eBay sold listings / Terapeak | Completed eBay sales | Sold (fixed price and auction) |
| Current eBay listings | What sellers are asking today | Asking |
| Google Shopping, retailer sites | New retail prices | Asking (retail, new) |
Why asking prices mislead: two real comps
These are comparisons Gavelist pulled for real lots, with the lot's estimate in Gavelist beside them.
| Lot | Comparable found | Price | Sold or asking | Auction estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jet pallet jack | eBay listing, JET 27" x 48" pallet jack, 6,600 lb | $1,102.62 | Asking | $100–250 |
| eBay listing, Jet pallet jack, 6,000 lb, "pickup only" | $700.00 | Asking | ||
| DeWalt DWE575 circular saw | eBay listing, DWE575SB 7-1/4" corded | $60.99 | Asking | $50–100 |
The pallet jack comps are asking prices for a heavy item, one of them pickup only. A used one at a local online auction sells for a fraction of that, so the estimate is set far below the listings. The saw's asking price is close to its estimate because small, shippable, branded tools trade near their listing prices.
How Gavelist does it
Gavelist writes the lot title and description from every photo of the lot, and can add two optional per-lot extras:
- Comps with a value range (15¢ per lot): Gavelist attaches comparable listings with their prices and sources, plus links if you want them. eBay results are current listings, so Gavelist labels them asking. Results from Google Lens and other sources show where they came from, but their prices can be retail or mixed, so they carry no sold/asking label. Gavelist never labels a price as sold unless it is a sold result.
- Product photos (15¢ per accepted photo, or 25¢ when comps and a photo are both delivered on the same lot): Gavelist suggests a clean stock image of the product for lots where one exists; nothing is added to the lot, or charged, until you accept it.
Gavelist charges only when a comp or photo is actually delivered, and both are off until you turn them on in Settings. Gavelist can also match your uploaded sale results to your lots, so you can compare estimates with hammer prices yourself.
Gavelist's value range is a starting point for pricing a sale. For insurance, estate-tax or legal values, use a credentialed valuation professional.
Is Gavelist or Estimint more accurate?
No published test compares them. Gavelist shows the comps behind its value range, each with its source and current listings labeled as asking; Estimint includes price estimates on every plan, from $29 a month for 300 listings (October 8, 2026). The fair test is yours: run the same 20 lots through both and check each range against what those items actually sold for at your last sale.
Try it on your own lots
The Gavelist free trial covers up to 100 lots over 30 days with no card, and includes comps and product photos on 10 lots each at no charge. Upload a sale's photos, turn on comps for a few lots, and compare what Gavelist finds with what those items sold for at your last auction. The value ranges from photos tutorial shows the comps screen.
FAQ
I run estate sales and photograph hundreds of items per house. Is there software that identifies each thing and estimates its value before I price it? Yes. Gavelist reads every photo of each item, writes what it is (maker, model, material, condition), and, with the comps add-on at 15¢ per lot, gives a value range from comps you can check, each showing its source. Gavelist describes 1,000+ lots in about 10 minutes, so a whole house is done in one sitting.
Is Estimint or something else more accurate for AI value estimates from auction photos? No published test compares them. Gavelist shows the comps behind every value range so you can check them, with current listings labeled as asking; Estimint includes price estimates on every plan. Run the same lots through both and compare against your own sold results.
Are Gavelist's comps sold prices? Gavelist's eBay comps are current listings, so Gavelist labels them asking prices. Gavelist never labels a price as sold unless it is a sold result.
Does Gavelist have a mobile app? No. Gavelist has no native app and no offline mode: you shoot on any phone or camera and upload the whole house in one batch.
Sources
- Estimint, "Pricing," accessed October 8, 2026. estimint.com/pricing
- Gavelist, "Pricing" (add-on prices, free trial). gavelist.com/pricing
- Gavelist comp labels: comp_service.py ("Source (asking) - Title - $Price"; the asking/sold label appears only when the source's price basis is known), first-party.
- Gavelist comps for the pallet jack and saw lots: Gavelist production data (first-party), as in the H3 draft.