Wavebid and AuctionMethod are both auction management back offices, but they sit on opposite sides of one question: whose bidding site do your buyers use? Wavebid is owned by Auction Technology Group and, in its own words, is "reserved for auctioneers utilizing one of ATG's marketplaces or a licensed third-party provider," so it feeds sales into marketplaces such as Proxibid, BidSpotter and LiveAuctioneers, each with its own fees; Wavebid publishes no price list. AuctionMethod sells a white-label bidding website under your own brand for a flat $100 a month on its Growth plan plus a $250 one-time activation fee, $750 plus $2,500 on Scale, with "no commissions or listing fees" and no lot or photo caps. This guide compares the two on price, bidding model, catalog tools and fit, from each vendor's own pages accessed October 15, 2026.
Published October 2026 by Ben Cope, founder of Gavelist. Gavelist is not an auction management system; it is the AI cataloging tool that exports a generic CSV that you map in both Wavebid's and AuctionMethod's imports, so it appears below only in that role. Every Wavebid and AuctionMethod fact is quoted from the vendor's own live page with the date it was read.
Wavebid vs AuctionMethod at a glance
| Wavebid | AuctionMethod | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Cloud auction management: "Cataloging," "Marketing" and "Super Simple Clerking" | White-label auction platform: branded bidding site plus cataloging, invoicing, payments and reports |
| Owner | Auction Technology Group (ATG) | Independent |
| Who can use it | "reserved for auctioneers utilizing one of ATG's marketplaces or a licensed third-party provider" | Any auctioneer; month-to-month |
| Published price | Not published; the pricing page redirects to a login | Growth $100 a month + $250 activation; Scale $750 + $2,500; Custom from $1,500 + $5,000 |
| Fee on sales | None stated by Wavebid; the ATG marketplace you sell on charges its own fees | "keep 100% of your bids," "no commissions or listing fees" |
| Where bidders bid | On ATG marketplaces (Proxibid, BidSpotter, LiveAuctioneers and others) | On your own branded site |
| Limits | Not published | "unlimited auctions, bids, lots, items, photos and admin users" on every plan |
| Mobile cataloging | Wavebid Item Capture app listed on Wavebid's support site (its older Wavebid Mobile app is no longer supported) | Auctioneer Toolbox app for Android and iOS |
| Add-ons | Not published | Consignor management $75 a month + $50; simulcast $150 + $500; Pro support $150 + $50 |
| Gavelist export | Generic CSV mapped in Wavebid's import | Generic CSV mapped in AuctionMethod's import |
What Wavebid is, in its own words
According to Wavebid's contact page (accessed October 15, 2026), "Wavebid is a cloud based auction management software owned by Auction Technology Group (ATG) and reserved for auctioneers utilizing one of ATG's marketplaces or a licensed third-party provider," and "If you are utilizing a licensed third-party provider, you will need to inquire directly with them to set up an account." Wavebid's home page (accessed October 15, 2026) presents three products, "Cataloging," "Marketing" and clerking ("Super Simple Clerking, For the Dynamic Auctioneer"), shows a "Start a free trial" button, and names partnerships with Live Auction Group and Marknet Alliance. Its marketing page says "we will format and post your auction information to a variety of listing sites, like NAA (National Auctioneers Association), TheAuctionGuide.com" and AuctionZip.
Two facts are not on Wavebid's public pages: a price, and a public list of bidding platforms it publishes to. The pricing URL redirects to a login page, so this guide reports Wavebid's price as not published rather than repeating third-party figures. For the marketplaces, ATG's own brands page (accessed October 15, 2026) lists LiveAuctioneers, Proxibid, BidSpotter, the-saleroom, i-bidder, Lot-tissimo and EstateSales.NET as its marketplaces and Wavebid among its services, describing Wavebid as "an industry-leading suite of products designed to simplify auction house management. It features tools for cataloging, clerking, accounting, and marketing."
The cost of a Wavebid auction is therefore mostly the marketplace's cost. For example, according to LiveAuctioneers' master rate card (accessed October 15, 2026), that marketplace charges a 5% commission in all categories except real estate plus a per-event fee of $25 to $275 for timed auctions by partner tier. Proxibid publishes its own rate card. Whatever Wavebid itself charges comes on top of those.
What AuctionMethod is, in its own words
According to AuctionMethod's pricing page (accessed October 15, 2026), the Growth plan is $100 a month with a $250 activation fee, Scale is $750 a month with $2,500, and Custom Solutions start at $1,500 a month with $5,000, where activation covers account setup and website staging. "Every plan includes unlimited auctions, bids, lots, items, photos and admin users." On fees: you "keep 100% of your bids" with "no commissions or listing fees," and "All subscriptions are on a month-to-month basis and you can cancel at any time." Add-ons are consignor management at $75 a month plus $50 activation, which "creates the consignor statement, calculates commissions, and provides details on sold and unsold items," simulcast audio and video at $150 plus $500, and Pro phone and email support at $150 plus $50. The Auctioneer Toolbox app lets staff "catalog items, snap photos, and manage auction pickups right from your phone."
AuctionMethod's home page (accessed October 15, 2026) describes "a fully white-labeled site that delivers a seamless, professional user experience across every page and device," lists Timed Online and Simulcast event types, and publishes usage figures marked "*Actual numbers from 2025-2026": "44822 Auction Events Run," "8 M+ Lots Listed," "100% Platform Uptime" and "94% Renewal Rate."
The real difference: marketplace traffic vs your own domain
Wavebid's model assumes you want ATG's bidder base. Your lots are listed where those bidders already are, you pay the marketplace's commission and event fees, and Wavebid handles the cataloging, clerking and settlement behind it. AuctionMethod's model assumes you will bring your own bidders. Your auction runs on your domain, you keep the buyer relationship and 100% of the hammer, and you pay a flat software fee whether you sell $5,000 or $500,000.
The arithmetic turns on volume and on how much of your bidding comes from marketplace discovery rather than your own list:
| Monthly hammer | AuctionMethod Growth (flat) | A 5% marketplace commission alone |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $100 | $500 |
| $50,000 | $100 | $2,500 |
| $200,000 | $100 | $10,000 |
The table is not a verdict against marketplaces: a marketplace brings bidders a new auctioneer does not have, and lots that reach more bidders can hammer higher. It shows what the bidders cost, so you can judge whether your own list could replace them. According to the EstateSales.NET 2024 Industry Survey, 55% of estate sale businesses consider estate sales their primary income source, which is the population for whom a fixed $100 a month against a percentage of every sale is a live question. According to Technavio (accessed September 2026), the online auction market is valued to increase by USD 4.25 billion, at a CAGR of 13.6% from 2025 to 2030, so both models are growing into a larger pool.
Cataloging on either one
Neither vendor publishes an AI description writer on the pages read for this guide. AuctionMethod's pricing page lists an Auctioneer Toolbox app to "Catalog items, snap photos, and manage auction pickups right from your phone." If writing titles and descriptions is the bottleneck, the smallest change is to keep the back office and let Gavelist write the catalog.
Gavelist reads every photo attached to a lot together, writes the title, description and a low-to-high value estimate in one pass, and exports a generic CSV you map in Wavebid's or AuctionMethod's import. Most sales of up to 500 lots finish describing in under 10 minutes once describing starts. According to Gavelist production data, 96.3% of the 57,377 lots clients exported through Gavelist before September 23, 2026 went out with no client edit to the AI-written title or description; one client supplied about 70% of those lots at 99.8%, and across every other Gavelist client the figure is 87.7%. A lot counts as edited if the client saved a change to its title or description in Gavelist before exporting. Gavelist charges $0.15 per lot pay-as-you-go, or $79, $160 and $250 a month for 1,000, 2,500 and 5,000 lots, and takes 0% of auction sales. The steps are in exporting your catalog to Wavebid and exporting your catalog to AuctionMethod.
Which to choose
- You already sell on Proxibid, BidSpotter or LiveAuctioneers and want those bidders: Wavebid, through the ATG marketplace or a licensed provider. Budget for the marketplace's commission and event fees, and ask for the Wavebid price in writing, since it is not published.
- You have your own bidder list and want your own domain, with a known monthly cost: AuctionMethod's Growth plan at $100 a month plus $250 activation, with no commission.
- You need consignor statements: AuctionMethod's $75-a-month add-on, or Wavebid's accounting tools (price not published).
- You want to keep either and stop typing descriptions: add Gavelist and import its CSV.
For the wider field, see AuctionMethod alternatives and auction management software vs AI cataloging tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Wavebid cost? Wavebid does not publish a price; its pricing page redirects to a login, and its contact page says the software is reserved for auctioneers using an ATG marketplace or a licensed third-party provider (accessed October 15, 2026).
How much does AuctionMethod cost? Growth is $100 a month plus a $250 activation fee, Scale is $750 plus $2,500, and Custom starts at $1,500 plus $5,000, month-to-month, with no commissions or listing fees, per its pricing page on October 15, 2026.
Does Wavebid take a percentage of sales? Wavebid's pages state no sales fee of its own, but the ATG marketplace you sell through charges its own commission and event fees, for example 5% plus a per-event fee on LiveAuctioneers.
Who owns Wavebid? Auction Technology Group, which also owns LiveAuctioneers, Proxibid, BidSpotter, the-saleroom, i-bidder, Lot-tissimo and EstateSales.NET, per ATG's brands page.
Sources
- Wavebid, contact page, home page, marketing page and support site, accessed October 15, 2026. wavebid.com; wavebid.com/static/contact.jsp; wavebid.com/content/marketing.html
- Auction Technology Group, "Brands & services," accessed October 15, 2026. auctiontechnologygroup.com
- AuctionMethod, "Pricing" and home page, accessed October 15, 2026. auctionmethod.com/pricing; auctionmethod.com
- LiveAuctioneers, "Master Rate Card," accessed October 15, 2026. liveauctioneers.com
- Technavio, "Online Auction Market Analysis, Size, and Forecast 2026-2030" (accessed September 2026). technavio.com
- EstateSales.NET, "2024 Estate Sale Industry Survey." estatesales.net
- Gavelist production data: export edit rate for lots exported before September 23, 2026, re-measured October 15, 2026 (first-party).
- Gavelist, "Pricing." gavelist.com/pricing