Auction Platform App Starter · Industry version
Art Auction Platform Template
Consignments, provenance, reserves, and settlement splits — an auction platform built for selling art, owned by the gallery running it.
Selling art at auction is a chain of trust: the consignor trusts the terms, the buyer trusts the provenance, and everyone trusts the settlement math. This starter generates a platform where each link is a record — and hands the whole chain to the gallery, artist collective, or auction house that runs it.
- 6 core entities
- Full bid history
- Code you own
- Vibe + Governed modes
01 · The problem
Why a generic Auction Platform falls short
An artwork is not inventory with a photo. It has a maker, a medium, dimensions, an edition position, a condition report, and a provenance trail — and serious buyers read all of it before bidding. Generic listing schemas flatten that into a description box, which reads to collectors exactly like what it is: a platform that doesn't know the market it's serving.
Most auctioned art belongs to someone else. Consignment terms — the seller's commission rate, the confidential reserve, who covers photography and insurance, when the consignor gets paid — govern every sale, and they're negotiated per work or per consignor. A platform without consignment structure forces the real agreements into email, and settlement day becomes a reconciliation argument.
The money mechanics are unusual too: a buyer's premium added on top of the hammer price, a reserve that must never leak to bidders, and in some jurisdictions artist resale royalties on secondary sales. Get the split arithmetic wrong once and a consignor relationship built over years is damaged in an afternoon.
02 · Data model
The data model, adapted
Everything in the base Auction Platform starter —
listingsbidssellersbuyersordersreviews— plus the entities this industry actually runs on:
| table | what it holds |
|---|---|
artists | Makers with biography, medium focus, and market history across your sales — the anchor collectors browse and follow. |
consignments | Per-work agreements: commission rate, reserve, cost responsibilities, and payout terms that settlement executes against. |
provenance_records | Ownership and exhibition history per work — the documented chain that separates a confident bid from a hesitant one. |
03 · Screens
Modules through the industry lens
Catalog built for artworks
01Listings carry artist, medium, dimensions, edition details, condition notes, and linked provenance — the fields a collector actually scans. Estimates display as ranges while reserves stay sealed in the consignment record.
Reserve-aware bidding
02Bidding shows 'reserve not yet met' without revealing the number, and a hammer below reserve produces a conditional result for consignor decision rather than a void. Soft-close extensions keep the final minutes fair for works drawing late interest.
Split settlement
03When a lot sells, settlement computes hammer price plus buyer's premium, deducts commission and agreed costs, and produces the consignor statement — every figure traceable to the consignment terms. The math your consignors will check is math you can show.
04 · In practice
Workflows it models
Consignment intake
01A collector consigns three works: each gets photographed, condition-noted, and cataloged with provenance, while the agreement records commission, reserves, and payout terms. The works enter the next sale's catalog linked to everything settlement will need.
Timed online sale
02The sale opens with staggered lot closings; collectors follow artists they collect and bid from anywhere. A flurry on lot 14 in the last minute triggers the extension rule, and the closing sequence stays orderly through the final lot.
Settlement and statements
03After payment clears, each consignor receives a statement: hammer, premium, commission, costs, net, and payout date, drawn from the consignment record. Unsold works return or roll to the next sale per their agreed terms.
Art Auction Platform template — frequently asked questions
Does it handle consignment commissions and reserves?
Both live on the consignment record — commission rates and cost terms drive settlement automatically, and reserves stay confidential while bidding surfaces only whether they've been met. Statements trace every deduction to the agreement.
Can it track provenance and condition?
Provenance is a linked history per work — ownership, exhibitions, documentation — and condition notes sit on the catalog record. That depth is what makes online bidders comfortable at serious price levels.
Does it support editions and multiples?
Edition position, size, and medium are structured fields, so a print sale lists 12/50 as data rather than prose. Artist records tie editions together across sales, building the market history collectors look for.
Who is this for — galleries, artists, or auction houses?
Any of them: a gallery running seasonal timed sales, an artist collective selling directly, or a small auction house going online. Whoever runs it owns the platform, the collector list, and the relationships — which is the point.
Related
Dual7 App Starters
Build your Art Auction Platform on your terms
Consignments, provenance, reserves, and settlement splits — an auction platform built for selling art, owned by the gallery running it. Describe your version to start — the output is a project you own.